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Anybody who places Lucio Fulci on the level of either Mario Bava or Dario Argento is only kidding themselves. Fulci completely lacked the vision or technical finesse of those two Italian horror masters. That isn't to say Fulci films are worthless. Occasionally, he managed to turn out an entertaining product filled with sex and violence. They aren't great art mind you, but films such as "Zombi" or "The Beyond" get the job done. Reportedly, he hated making the Gothic horror film "The Black Cat". Due to his hit and miss nature and his dislike of the project, I expected this to be rather unbearable. However, I was pleasantly surprised.The film functions well as an enjoyable Gothic horror diversion. There's a lot of fog-bound sets and dimly lit corridors. For once, Fulci shows some restraint. There are a few choice scenes of violence, but overall there's a lack of operatic entrails spilling which is the man's main claim to fame. The script is more often than not dumb and features little in the way of interesting characters (even more so than an Argento film). Fortunately, the film is never boring, which is the worst sin a horror flick can commit. Plus, for someone rather desensitized, there are a few moments which actually caused me to shock. I'm not sure exactly why Fulci disliked this project, because its honestly no better or worse than most of his output. Special mention must go to the cat. It always manages to look menacing and probably turns in the best performance in the whole film. (6/10)
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