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!

Middling entry in the erratic TV series, purporting to illustrate the conception of the much-filmed Edgar Allan Poe short story as a hallucination experienced by the famously troubled author! Given director Gordon's involvement, it features some gross-out gore: Poe's wife suffers from TB, so she is seen spurting pools of blood throughout, while at the climax he attacks the titular feline (after having gouged out one of its eyes) with an axe…but only manages to graphically split the head of his spouse – who, unfortunately, gets in the way – in two! Though it was inevitable that Gordon's frequent muse Jeffrey Combs would be assigned the leading role here, it is also remarkable how well he is made to resemble him! This episode, then, is interesting in what it tries to do and fairly stylish into the bargain (in view of the period setting) but, alas, the central plot and its twist ending have grown stale with the constant retelling!

The life of a genius is not an easy one. In literature, the status is often incumbent on the adage, "ok, you're good, but what have you written lately." This then will be the eventually legacy of the actual man who was in fact the great American writer and classical poet, Edgar Allen Poe. Pressed by the enormous pressures of poverty, reoccurring alcoholism and the lack of inspiration, Poe suffers for his art. With historical retrospect,, we have come to lay wreaths of glory and monumental accolades on his works and therefore it's difficult to see how a great man could not have found success earlier. In this film we have another great artist Jeffery Combs, playing the part of the legendary and literary icon. One marvels at how uncanny Combs captured the haunting visual image of Poe and then imbued him with such mortal conviction. He thus awaken the conflicts of the Poet and his struggle for a horror story which would not only scare audiences throughout the decades, but may have paid his wife's medical bills. By immersing himself in a surreal fantasy, he discovers that fact and fiction are separated only by pain. All in all, I suspect this particular film will easily become a classic. ****

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.