I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Don't Believe the Hype

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Like the early 1910s silent-era versions of The Raven, this version of The Black Cat blends a representation of Poe's life with his work. There's a tendency to represent horror authors as themselves as horrific as their work, capable of the same violence, or as insane as their characters. This seems to be particularly the case with Poe, the poison pen of Rufus Griswold having unfortunately secured the image of Poe as a drunken addict. Griswold appears in The Black Cat as a potential piano buyer, oddly.That issue aside, it's a pretty good episode of Masters of Horror. Combs is nicely made up as Poe and thus has now done two of the greats, having done Lovecraft in the anthology Necronomicon, where he wasn't a bad likeness either but not as good as Christopher Heyerdahl. The accent Combs gives Poe is a little hard to take, but for all I know it may be an accurate one. The work is gorier than I recall the story being, thanks to Stuart Gordon. One wishes the blood did not look so much like Karo syrup in some scenes. There's a scene with an ax that also was a little too blackly humorous, or attempted to be, in the vein of Reanimator. Anyhow, it's perhaps worth watching - if I seem too critical it's only because I noticed there were many positive comments already and thus didn't think I needed to write about its strengths.

"The Black Cat" has long been one of my favorite Edgar Allan Poe tales, a spectacularly gruesome and disturbing story, but also one of real psychological depth and precise prose. Upon my belated discovery that Stuart Gordon, a man responsible for some loose but still excellent Lovecraft adaptations, had directed an adaptation for the "Masters of Horror" series I rushed out to rent it, expectations skyrocketing especially after I read the plot outline, which seemed far more faithful than basically any other adaptation of the story which is commercially available and longer than a few minutes.I was not disappointed. "The Black Cat", scripted by the director Gordon and Dennis Paoli, is a work infused with real respect and affection for Poe and his work, and does what few Poe adaptations have manged to do (if any at all): it captures the morbid, Gothic nature of the story without letting go of the ever-present psychological resonance of his stories. This effort captures the atmosphere wonderfully and makes sure to include the story's most iconic moments, captured here in all their disturbing, gory glory, but also, by making the lead character Poe himself, is a wonderful tribute to his writing and life and devoted Poe enthusiasts will surely have fun with this more or less historically accurate view of Poe and some of the events in his life (outside of the more fantastical areas of the story, of course).Stuart Gordon doesn't seem to have really gotten the reputation he deserves after his many quality efforts in the genre, and "The Black Cat" did nothing to put me off his work. It's everything I want from a Poe adaptation and although it walks a fine line and risks becoming too snide and self-referential, it ultimately succeeds wonderfully. Jeffrey Combs is utterly superb in the lead role as well.9/10

The Black Cat stars brilliant, multi-talented veteran actor Jeffrey Combs as Edgar Allan Poe. But if you didn't see Jeffrey Combs' name on the credits before watching it, you'd never even know it was him! Much like how Mr. Combs has created completely distinct, fascinating, individual persons in his previous great roles (Weyoun, Brunt, Shran etc.), he yet again in The Black Cat transforms into something completely distinct from anything he's done before. The greatest achievement an actor can ever achieve is to perform each role so well that he is not even recognizable as the same actor in his new role. Jeffrey Combs has already achieved this great feat many times prior to The Black Cat, and he has done it equally as perfectly once again in The Black Cat.*Easily* one of the very best horror performances ever put on film! This is a 10/10 for Jeffrey Combs' performance alone, which is as immaculate as always. Words *cannot* properly convey how amazing Mr. Combs' performance is, therefore you simply must go right ahead and watch The Black Cat to fully understand & appreciate the brilliance.

I don't know (nor care) how much research went prior to writing the teleplay for "The Black Cat" and neither do I know to what extent the little details about Edgar Allan Poe's private life are truthful. Basically I just assume that it was Start Gordon's intention to illustrate how creative brilliance and mental madness are two inseparable qualities a horror novelist must dispose of. The tormented protagonist in this umpteenth adaptation of E.A. Poe's legendary tale of "The Black Cat" is no other than … E.A. Poe himself! "The Black Cat" also marks Stuart Gordon's second attempt at the narration of a Poe tale, after his straight-to-video version of "The Pit and the Pendulum" in the early 90's. As expected, this is one of the better episodes in the Masters of Horror's second season, though slightly more flawed than I initially expected … or hoped. Jeffrey Combs' performance is – as always – mesmerizing, the filming locations and costumes are downright exquisite and perfectly capture the depressingly harsh atmosphere of the 19th Century first half, but the script is slightly lackluster and even a bit tedious at times. Combs stars as (and creepily resembles) Edgar Allan Poe and the story takes place during an incredibly difficult period of his life. Poe is completely out of writing-inspiration, struggles with financial problems as well as alcoholism and his beloved young wife Virginia fell victim to a severe illness. Unable to deal with all of this, he develops a strange paranoid condition where he thinks the black house cat is some kind of immortal demon that gradually destroys his entire existence. Even though the episodes in the Master of Horror series barely last an hour, this almost seems to be long in this case and the lack of relevant subject matter inevitably leads to a couple of redundant padding sequences. The actual share of the titular black cat only begins halfway through the tale, and before that it's primarily Poe's own drinking abuse that dominates. There's only one gory part in "The Black Cat", but I assure it's one that counts! Oh yes, this one-hour film features – hands down – THE greatest axe murder ever depicted. Combs receives excellent support from Elyse Levesque as Virginia. I never heard of her before, but she's quite talented and extremely good-looking. With a number of episodes still waiting on my personal must-see list, "The Black Cat" ranks as the second best of series two so far, second to Brad Anderson's "Sounds Like".