Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Smoreni Zmaj Stuart Gordon, to horror fans known for adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Castle Freak, Dagon, and second episode of this show), this time goes for adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat". This episode is very faithful to both the original material and the real life of the famous writer, and it is a real refresh in a series that has become quite monotonous. The film follows Poe trying to write a new story, while at the same time cares about his wife suffering from tuberculosis and struggles with poverty and alcoholism. The story is chaotic and confusing, but very atmospheric, and Jeffrey Combs perfectly plays the role of an alcoholic who sinks deeper and deeper into madness. Sepia colors greatly contribute to the dark atmosphere. The only thing standing out from sepia is color of blood and it makes gore scenes extremely striking. The piano scene is perhaps the best I've seen in this series. Together with the adaptation of "Dreams in the Witch-House" by H.P. Lovecraft, also directed by Stuart Gordon, "The Black Cat" is, in my opinion, the highlight of "Masters of Horror" and makes Stuart Gordon the most successful director of the series.8/10

maniacalmacabre90 I'd heard that the second season of MASTERS of HORROR was really bad so going into this a had very low expectations. Every body knows the e.a.p. Story the black cat, nut seldom do the film adaptations follow it closely. This version is VERY complimentary of that story, they even went that extra mile in making the actor look almost exactly like Edgar Allen Poe. I was pleasantly surprised by how graphic the violence was depicted. I really loved this movie. In fact the only bad thing I can say about it is the ending *SPOILER*The ending is just a crock of sh!t! They pull that whole it was all a dream bit. And it's like really? After enjoying every minute up till that point and than boom! Nose dive!

Navaros 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.

Paul Andrews Masters of Horror: The Black Cat starts as the broke Edgar Allan Poe (Jeffrey Combs) tries to sell some poetry to his publisher George Graham (no not the Arsenal football club legend!) but he thinks Poe should get back to writing what he writes best, fantastical stories of horror. Poe disagrees & continues to squander his money on drink, however his priorities have to chance when his wife Virginia (Elyse Levesque) becomes seriously ill & he has to find money for her medicine. As Poe sit down to write the sort of story Graham (Aron Tager) wants his wife's black cat Pluto seems to haunting him & driving him mad...This Canadian American co-production was episode 11 from season 2 of the hit-and-miss Masters of Horror TV series, the second Masters of Horror story to be directed by Stuart Gordon I was deeply disappointed by The Black Cat. The script by Gordon & Stuart Paoli feels more like an autobiographical character study rather than horror for the first 40 odd minutes before it finally gets going during it's last quarter. As a lover of the horror genre myself I should be fascinated with this episode which bases it's central premise around Edgar Allan Poe who was responsible for the source material & ideas for a lot of genre films but to be honest I couldn't give a toss about him, I haven't got a clue whether this is an accurate representation of him & what he was like & frankly I couldn't care less either way. So straight away I've got a problem with it, then there's the fact that the majority of the time Poe is painted as some drunk, aggressive, rude, lying brute who I really disliked & that made it very difficult for me to care about anything which was going on. Then there's the clichéd lame cop-out ending which destroy just about everything that has gone before although I admit I didn't see it coming mainly because I thought the likes of Gordon was better than it. I was pretty bored during the opening half but at least things pick up towards the end, it's well written enough I suppose & I can see how some might be drawn in & like it but it didn't do much for me.Director Gordon does a fine job, this one looks good with great period sets & detail as it was set in the first half of the 19th Century (Poe himself lived between 1809 & 1849). Almost all the colour has been removed & this isn't too far away from being black and white apart from the brilliant creative decision to emphasise all the reds, from the bright red wine to the predictable spurts & splatterings of bright red blood, it's a nice touch which works very well & gives The Black Cat a bit of style. There's not much gore here although there is one big special effect when someone gets an axe stuck in their head in a great scene with plenty of blood, a cat has it's eye poked out, someone coughs up loads of blood & animal lovers should beware a few critters bite the dust so bear that in mind. This one lacks any great scares & there are only a couple of horror themed sequences throughout.Technically The Black Cat is excellent with great production values & it's very well made with a convincingly realised & authentic looking period setting. The acting is good although while I've liked Combs in just about everything I've seen in him I thought he was a bit bland & unlikable in this.The Black Cat certainly isn't a Masters of Horror I will look back on with any great fondness, I'm sorry but it's as simple & straight forward as that. Another week, another Masters of Horror episode, another disappointment.