flicks, that the plot had been reduced to less than an ac-
of the dead. One after the other, the villagers die
cessory to a series—almost uninterupted and senseless—
of gory effects.” L.A. [Leonardo Autera], “L’orrore entra in
in strange and gruesome ways: a young man loses
convento,” Corriere della Sera, July 3, 98.
his life in a car accident; two young lovers, Mau-
0. According to the official ministerial data, it was seen
reen and Stan, are asphyxiated in the railroad car
by 6,398 spectators and grossed an amount corresponding
where they had been looking for some intimacy;
to 7,096 Euro. (http:// infoicaa. mecd. es/ CatalogoICAA/
Ferguson, the local drunkard, falls to his death
Peliculas/ Detalle?Pelicula= 240382). It must be noted that
the Icaa catalog dates the Spanish release to May 7, 983,
from a scaffold, and Maureen’s mother Lilian dies
and not July , 98 (as IMDb does).
in the fire that engulfs her house. Inspector Gorley
6 1981: Black of Scotland Yard realizes that all these deaths have
I moved away from the original story … because it
something in common and he begins to investigate.
wasn’t very cinematic. Since one of my interests was
A young American photographer named Jill has
the relationship with one’s sixth sense—even though
found a cat’s footprints near many of the bodies
I don’t believe in it, I’m fascinated by it from a nar-
and starts suspecting that Miles has something to
rative point of view—I invented this character with
paranormal powers, who is in touch with the un-
do with the crimes. When Gorley remains victim
earthly world, and we inserted this Poe thing in it …
of a strange accident and news of his death spreads,
the black cat was evil, the executor of his occult de-
Jill decides to continue investigations alone…
sires; there was a split between good, that is, what
“I hate cats. They are ingratiating animals,
he did consciously, and evil, which was his subcon-
they think only about themselves and they are sly.”
scious.3
Lucio Fulcio didn’t hide his dislike for felines, and
even titled one of his films Un gatto nel cervello
Proietti’s interpretation is admittedly offbeat but
(A Cat in the Brain) to depict his on- screen alter
close to the original core. Poe’s The Black Cat is
ego’s descent into madness. Moreover, he often
a story about crime and punishment, as many
employed animals as a subject or object of horror,
of the Baltimore- based writer’s works; but unlike
from the infamous dog vivisection scene and the
Dostoyevsky, Poe’s tales had guilt and remorse
bats attack in Una lucertola con la pelle di donna
turn into paranoid, horrific elements which al-
(a.k.a. A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, 97) to the suf-
lowed the writer to meditate on the inner nature
focated cat in La casa nel tempo. That said, one
of human evil, and Poe’s feline was a projection
might think that Black Cat was born as a personal
of the man’s darkest impulses, hidden and barely
project, a way to dig into the director’s own ob-
disguised, which eventually come to the fore and
sessions and make a movie about men and
give away his real nature. Sbarigia had Fulci in
animals the way Mario Bava would have done (as
mind as the director from the start, and the story
in Reazione a catena, 97). Truth is, as Fulci him-
was close to the filmmaker’s world.
self admitted, Black Cat was a work- for-hire as-
What interested me in this tale was to comment on
signment—or, to be more precise, a favor to a pro-
the relationship between a man and a cat, with the
ducer friend, Giulio Sbarigia.
latter being like the man’s inner house. The two char-
Of course, Fulci loved Edgar Allan Poe. But
acters are identical, even though the cat is to win: for
he was also very well aware that the 843 short
the cat may be cruel, but after all he is only the judge,
story The Black Cat was quite difficult to adapt
the conscience of this man. The man hates the cat,
into a feature length film, being more apt for a
but, like in the story, he can’t kill him, because how
short or an anthology, as in Roger Corman’s
could one kill his own sick and tortured soul? Im-
possible. We often try to kill off our bad conscience,
Tales of Terror (962) or Dario Argento’s episode
to no avail.4
in Due occhi diabolici (990). Previous adapta-
tions had been very loose, and sometimes the
The director liked Proietti’s script and sug-
source wasn’t even mentioned, as in the Ernesto
gested some changes and additions (such as the
Gastaldi- scripted thriller Il tuo vizio è una
fire scene, possibly a homage to Corman), and
stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave (972, Ser-
Fulvio Lucisano’s distribution company I.I.F.
gio Martino). Usually, they retained only the
granted a substantial advance. At first, according
basic elements of the story and the final twist,
to Variety, the film was to be an Italian/British
in which the narrator finds out, much to his hor-
co- production, with Sbarigia teaming up with
ror, that he has buried alive his hated cat
none other than Harry Alan Towers, and shoot-
together with the body of the woman he has as-
ing was to take place in Canada. Towers even
sassinated. But sometimes all that was left of the
claimed that he and Sbarigia were going to co-
original was the title, and a black cat wandering
produce a series of Poe adaptations “with a
around in some scenes, as in Edgar G. Ulmer’s
Northern American look and with Italian visual
outstanding 934 film of the same name.
quality.” But eventually Towers backed out and
Fulci got to work on a pre- existing script,
Sbarigia carried out the project alone.
penned by Biagio Proietti. After his work on the
According to Rome’s Public Cinemato-
TV mini- series I racconti fantastici di Edgar
graphic Register, filming started on July 28,
Allan Poe (979, Daniele D’Anza),2 Proietti had
9806 with the working title Il gatto nero di Park
been summoned by Sbarigia to write a movie
Lane and lasted eight weeks, mostly in England
based on Poe’s work. As the scriptwriter ex-
(Miles’ house was located in the suburbs of Lon-
plained,
don), with only one scene filmed in Rome, the
1981: Black
7
man falling to his death on a bed of spikes,
shot in an abandoned furnace. A couple of
years earlier, on Alien (979), Ridley Scott and
his crew had gone to a great deal of trouble
to shoot the scenes featuring Jonesy, the
/>
crew’s cat, and had to employ four felines
during filming. Fulci claimed that he opted
for a more practical solution: an animatronic
cat was built for the scenes that required spe-
cific movements, while a second unit headed
by Roberto Giandalia and cameraman
Roberto Forges Davanzati shot 7,000 meters
of film, studying every possible movement of
a real feline.7 According to Sergio Salvati,
however, five cats were employed, and each
had a specific ability. It was Giandalia who
shot the impressive credit sequence.
The casting of Patrick Magee came after
a series of refusals. Fulci’s first choice for Pro-
fessor Miles was Peter Cushing: the British
actor was sent the script in May 980, and, as
film scholar David Miller notes, “he meticu-
lously annotated it with costume require-
ments and instructions to himself on his per-
formance (‘Play Miles oddly. Slightly mad to
start with’).”8 But his observations—such as
the necessity of a vet to be “standing by”
when filming scenes involving the cat, so as
to avoid any cruelty to animals—also provide
a likely reason why he eventually backed out.
the stylized American poster for Lucio Fulci’s Black
Fulci’s reputation as a director specialized in
Cat (1981).
gory horror films must have played a part in
the decision as well … unless Cushing was still
even claimed to have beaten his lead, after
haunted by the memory of the laughably bad
Magee had sexually harassed the script girl.
The Uncanny, another horror movie about feline
Black Cat was one of Magee’s last movie roles.
revenge he shot in 977. The Variety article men-
Around the same time, he appeared in another
tioned Donald Pleasence as the lead, who al-
offbeat Gothic adaptation, Walerian Borowczyk’s
legedly demanded too much money,9 then
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes (98), before his un-
Richard Johnson (in what would have been his
timely death in August 982, at only 60.
second teaming with the director after Zombi 2)
The trio of leads was completed by Mimsy
was briefly considered too. Eventually Fulci set-
Farmer and David Warbeck (in his first Fulci
tled for Magee, whom he had admired on stage
film), and the cast included also the director’s
in London, playing Faust.
regular Al Cliver (in a secondary role as a bum-
The British actor, whose notorious bad
bling country cop), Bruno Corazzari, Fulci’s
temper had become aggravated by his drinking
favorite victim Daniela Doria, and ex- sexy
problem, proved very difficult to work with, as
starlet Dagmar Lassander. Cliver recalled the di-
the director admitted. Fulci’s d.o.p. Sergio Salvati
rector’s mocking attitude towards the latter: “I
was adamant that Magee was constantly drunk
remember that at a certain point we had to shoot
on set: he was still effective for the role, but
a scene where Lassander had to get off a motor-
somewhat slow to work with, and Fulci—who
boat and walk away quickly… . Dagmar started
spoke little English, and was notoriously cruel
wiggling exuberantly, and Fulci yelled on the
to actors he didn’t like—had a field day teasing
megaphone: ‘Ms. Lassander, this is a horror
him with a whole array of nasty Italian expres-
movie, not an erotic flick!’”2 For her part, the
sions.0 As for the director, in an interview he
actress called Fulci
8 1981: Black a very difficult director to work with. He demanded
The scripts for those films were very poor and often
absurd things from the actors. In Black Cat there was
things didn’t add up, and since I took care of the di-
a scene with a fire, and he wanted me to run through
alogue I had to fix them … the dialogue writer
the flames and come out a door. I pointed out to him
doesn’t meet the scriptwriter. He starts working af-
that if the door didn’t open, I’d be trapped amid the
terwards, when the film is finished, and when things
flames. In reply, he started yelling like mad. We shot
don’t add up, a scene or a detail are missing, he must
the scene and what I had foreseen duly happened.
find a solution and ask the editor, “Do you have a bit
Not only the door didn’t open, but it fell on me… .
when, say, he runs and goes to the phone?” If Tomassi
Anyway, it wasn’t Lucio’s fault. The problem was that
had it, we were good, or else I’d call Fulci, who often
he asked actors to do things that were dangerous
would still be on the set: “Lucio, I need you to shoot
even for an expert stuntman.3
a bit where we see this and that.” And he, invariably,
replied: “Don’t break my balls, what d’ya need that
The theme of communicating with the be-
for? What are ya goin’ to do with it?” But then he shot
yond through scientific devices recalls partly
it, we developed it and edited it… . Sometimes, when
Richard Matheson’s 97 novel Hell House and
we were screening [the rough cut] Lucio didn’t know
pushes the film toward territories akin to Pupi
why a certain thing was happening. He asked,
Avati’s Zeder, with a scientist obsessed with the
“What’s going on? Why does that guy go over there?”
afterlife and the possibility of explaining its mys-
… This, because many parts of the scripts were un-
teries by way of technical measurements. But
believable, moreover when filming he often took de-
tours from it.
the presence of the British thesp adds an odd
note, as it recalls Samuel Beckett’s one- act play
Colizzi refers to the scene where the young
Krapp’s Last Tape, which had been written spe-
Maureen (Daniela Doria) and her boyfriend
cifically for him in 97. In Beckett’s play, Magee
sneak into a refrigerating cell by the lake (which
played the 69-year-old titular character, who
had been turned into a bachelor flat by the local
records his daily life events, thoughts and moods
boat caretaker!) to make love, only to find them-
on tape, and meditates on the meaning (or lack
selves locked inside and die asphyxiated, which
thereof) of his existence. In Fulci’s film, he looks
fails to make much sense even after the dialogue
like an embittered and imbibed version of
changes in post- production. But other things
Krapp, clinging to his tape recorder and im-
are left unexplained: who and how made Jill’s
mersed in the voices he hears, isolated and
photos disappear? What is the function of the
emarginated from the living and morbidly at-
scene in which her house is invaded by spirits
tached to the wor
ld of the dead.
and her bed levitates, besides aping The Exorcist?
Had Fulci and Proietti played their riff on
Fulci himself was dismissive about the latter
Poe’s tale as a one- character story about a man’s
scene when interviewed in the Italian newspaper
vengeance against humanity, the result would
L’Unità about the special effects industry in Italy:
have been much more convincing. Instead, the
“It did not fit in with the style of the film, I know,
bland mystery plot, which includes a predictable
but it was imposed by the producer. He said that
series of violent deaths, is too repetitive to be in-
‘it fitted in well.’”6
volving. Moreover, the contrast between Miles
Perhaps even more than Fulci’s other works
and Jill (the latter, being a photographer, is there-
of the period, Black Cat is a display of technique,
fore attached to a vision of life where only visible
with the camera dollying and tracking around
facts and events matter) is mechanical and sup-
Professor Miles’ house, and the director in-
ported by throwaway dialogue, thus failing to
dulging in his trademark close- ups of eyes—
convey the necessary tension and dread. On top
here both human and feline—aided by Sergio
of that, as noted by some critics, “the essence of
Salvati’s excellent scope cinematography. As
Poe’s story, the relationship between the man and
Proietti noted, “What Lucio did really well were
the animal—exclusive, obsessive and belonging
the things I was most worried about, that is the
to the realm of the Fantastic—fades; and the
actual things the cat did in the film. The mur-
priceless ambiguity between real events and the
ders: he opened doors, ran, attacked, jumped,
projection of the subconscious, which was the
scratched… . Lucio exasperated them, in a pos-
true matrix of terror, disappears.”4
itive sense. When scripting the movie, I had
Dubbing director Pino Colizzi, who also
skipped these parts because I was afraid they
took care of the Italian dialogue, recalled that
wouldn’t be able to shoot them in a convincing
often during post- production he had to fix plot
way.”7 Fulci even filmed subjective shots at
holes together with editor Vincenzo Tomassi:
ground level from the cat’s point of view, as Ar-
1981: Black
9
gento would later do in Due occhi diabolici, an
Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989) Page 17