The Black Cat (1966)

One thing I'll say about the 1966 sleazoid film version of Poe's "The Black Cat" is that it doesn't deviate from the source material one iota. Since I dreamed last night of a woman transforming into said cat, and vice versa (I also dreamed I was eating rotten fish), I knew that, since I saw her transform and there seemed to be a movie poster behind her, that, well, I had to get right up and WATCH THAT MOVIE. And review. (Note: This is the kind of film, distributed by the same company, that Sandra Bernhard use to show, on her USA late-night extravaganza of monster, nudie, and cult film clips "Reel Wild Cinema." I'm not sure, but she may have even shown this particular film.)

There is a beautiful 1966 couple, the woman having perfectly curled hair that is so flawless we're convinced it's a wig and a man with a smile like a shit-eating shark. Lou and Diana, played respectively by Robert Frost and Robyn Baker. The woman is drop-dead gorgeous, the man passably handsome. He celebrates the death of his parents over a glass of wine and a fine dinner. ("Dad's Will was long, but Mom had the longest will!" As in, "to live," he jokes, in a weird, creepy sing-song at the beginning, much to the shock of his lady friend.)

He's an animal lover, as there is a veritable zoo in the basement of his newly-acquired manse. These are beautiful people that live high life. The soundtrack is bebop and jazz and fast drumbeats and surf guitar. He tries to inebriate a pelican. Somewhere along the way, he becomes Poe's, BAD MAN.

Diana has a gift for him in the form of a black cat in a box, which he names Pluto. Just as in Poe's famous story, he descends, for unspecified, perverse reasons, into night-clubbing and alcoholism. But this isn't 1839. He drives a hot convertible and must be the envy of a lot of guys. And then he cuts the cat's eye out. I don't remember what initiated this act of sadism, but it is a brutally effective piece of early splatter, as we get a close-up of him holding the cat's eye in the palm of his bloody hand.

More carousing. Bad musical numbers by singer Scotty McKay and his band, all of whom, at one point, wear eye patches. They sing a song to him called "Sinner Man", going "sinner man, where you gonna run to? You ought to be praying..." Hep cats, everyone.

Speaking of cats, Lou hangs Pluto in one of his satanic fits. The only difference between this and the Poe narrative being he hangs him from a twisted electrical cord that he plugs into the wall. The kitty begins to smoke, and the model manse out of "Falcon's Crest" that he inherited, goes up in flame.

He then learns that his father "hated insurance," and that he has just lost everything. None of that makes any sense, as far as plot points go, but he ends up in a sanitorium for a while, and the maid, Lilian (Sadie French) informs Diana that Lou was beaten by his father as a kid, or was a bad seed, or something I never quite caught or can't remember. Lou leaves the sanitorium after convincing the doc he doesn't believe the demonic kitty has come back from the grave to do him in. Although, they have a new "Pluto" with a weird sort of white eye that just appeared out of the blue (black?).

Diana objects to the rampant kitty abuse, and thus, Lou feels compelled to bury an axe in her forehead. He's going to dismember the cat, see? But she pays for the sins of the animal by trying to protect it. So far, all of this is the same plot and narrative as told by Poe, a century earlier. The axe murder, incidentally, is one of the two or three good special effects in the film. (The burning of the model mansion? Not so much...)

He bricks the body up behind a wall in the basement. A couple of cops from a bad sixties cop show show up, guns drawn, no warrant, and inform Lou that Diana isn't "at her mother's house." A fact the killer was already aware of.

(Lou has a weird habit of pulling strange faces when upset. But, even stranger, is the way he falls against a wall with his arms held closely together, his hands at ear level as if he is fainting against the wall in shock. Very peculiar performance from Mr. Frost, who has NO other screen credits to his name.)

One detective notices the mortar on the brick wall is still wet. Lou confidently taps on it. A cat meows. The rest, as they say, is horror history.

The film ends with the detectives firing their guns at Lou's hot car as he drives off into oblivion.

Completely faithful to Poe's version, it's still a sleazy movie from 1966 that would have disappeared into the grindhouse void of forgotten relics, had it not been resurrected by Something Weird Video (whose digitized "SWV" watermark can be seen in the lower right-hand side of the screen at the beginning of the picture.)

Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but an hour of good, unclean, funky feline fun. THAT'S what it is, ladies and gents. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a brick wall to build.

The Black Cat Trailer