Own the rights?
8 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Poe Lives On!, 8 November 2004 Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC
Horror meinsters George Romero and Dario Argento each direct an hour long(or so) segment based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Romero's is first and is based on a lesser Poe story "The Strange Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar." A wealthy man is dying and hypnotized by a doctor who is aiding the rich man's beautiful wife for money and other fringe benefits. This segment is fairly well-conceived by Romero(who also wrote the script). The horror is more subtle than what you might expect and not very gory. Adrienne Barbeau, still quite a dish, does a good job as the ruthless wife and Ramy Zada does a mediocre job as her accomplice. E. G. Marshall has a bit part that he devours with gusto. The second segment by Argento naturally is the more bizarre and bloody. It is based on the oft-filmed story "The Black Cat." Argento creates a story about a photographer, played by Harvey Keitel, specializing in crime scene photos that also enjoys killing cats. Eventually his instincts lead to much higher organisms. This is also a decent piece as a whole. It has a load of famous actors: John Amos, Martin Balsam, and Kim Hunter. Argento puts a weird dream sequence that is nicely shot but has little relevance to the plot at all. This segment has a big payoff scene at the end that was very original if nothing else. Although certainly more suspenseful then Romero's piece, I liked the first one a bit more. It seemed to have greater continuity. Neither piece has any real life to it, and I think the film suffers a bit from the two story format. It is entertaining though and does provide a few honest chills.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Powerful and violent!, 18 August 1999 Author: ary luiz dalazen jr. (ajr@fortalnet.com.br) from Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Two experts and veteran film makers, George Romero and Dario Argento, transform two unknown Edgar Allan Poe's stories in a powerful and authorial cinematography's experience.Argento directs the best episode, about a photographer whose specialty resides in deaths and murders, and who is becoming a psychopath due to the metropolitan brutality that he testifies (and Argento exaggerates in this scenes,as always:the beginning of the film is a truly punch in the stomach).Harvey Keitel is great in this role, the kind of acting that made him famous. Argento uses quick edition, complex and original camera movements (as in the moment in which Keitel kills two detectives), and an extremely gloomy and unpleasant photography to accentuate the morbid climate that permeates most of his films. Even being violent and quite slow, "Two Evil Eyes" will please the horror fans, for being a show of impressive visual.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Great horror film, 15 July 2001 Author: Ferran Gimenez from Barcelona, Spain
This film dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe contains 2 of his stories. "Mr. Valdemar", directed by George Romero & "The black cat" directed by Dario Argento. The first story or segment is very good. The second is even better, although I didn´t quite understand the end of it.If you like straight good horror films then you must watch this one.But remember you´re going to watch two Edgar Allan Poe stories and no matter who´s directing them, got it?.(8 out of 10)
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Romero fumbles, but Argento scores, 17 July 2007 Author: TrevorAclea from London, England
Two Evil Eyes threatened to be another disappointment from Dario Argento, especially since the first half of this modernised Edgar Allen Poe double-header, The Facts in the Case of Mr Valdemar, directed by George A. Romero, felt like a competent but uninspired network TV compilation episode. So it's a real surprise just how much dark fun Argento has with The Black Cat, playfully riffing both on Poe's other short stories and classic movies (there's even a subtle Psycho moment where Martin Balsam's nosey neighbour finds himself at the foot of another staircase looking for another missing woman) as Harvey Keitel's crime photographer - first seen photographing the aftermath of a Pit and the Pendulum incident - finds his life going to Hell when he gets rid of the girlfriend's cat. It's not prime Argento, but compared to his stale going-through-the-motions later efforts like Phantom of the Opera, The Card Player and Phenomena, it'll remind you why you liked him in the first place.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Not The Masterpiece One Might Expect From Romero/Argento, But Certainly Good Horror, 10 July 2007 Author: Benjamin Gauss from Salzburg, Austria
When the two greatest Horror directors alive (and two of the greatest of all-time), George A. Romero and Dario Argento make a movie together, a fan of Horror might rightly hope for a masterpiece. "Due Occhi Diabolici" aka. "Two Evil Eyes" from 1990 features two separate 1 hour films based on the work of Edgar Alan Poe, "The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar", directed by Romero, and "The Black Cat" directed by Argento. "Two Evil Eyes" is certainly great entertainment and a pleasant Horror experience, however it does not quite come up to the high expectations one might have of a film by these two brilliant directors. It must be said, however, that it may be very difficult for a Poe-themed movie to impress me after Roger Corman's brilliant Poe-cycle from the sixties, starring my all-time favorite actor, the great Horror icon Vincent Price. These films, such as "Pit And The Pendulum", "The Haunted Palace" and "Masque Of The Red Death" (just to name the three most ingenious masterpieces of this brilliant cycle) are essential all-time Horror greats, no Poe-themed film has ever come close to those flicks, and it is very unlikely that any ever will.The second segment, Argento's "The Black Cat" is, in my opinion, a lot better than Romero's "Mr. Valdemar", not only for the fact that one of the greatest living actors, Harvey Keitel, plays the lead, but also since it is far more twisted and atmospheric. "The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar", mainly based on Poe's short story of the same name, tells the tale of a woman named Jessica (Adrienne Barbeau), who, alongside her ex-lover (Ramy Zada), is willing to do quite anything to inherit the entire property of her terminally ill older husband (Bingo O Malley)... The 1 hour segment has some very eerie moments, and a chilling atmosphere over-all. As mentioned above, however, Roger Corman handled the same topic with a lot more depth in 30 minutes as the final segment of "Tales Of Terror" (1962). Admittedly, Corman had a brilliant cast, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and Debra Paget."The Black Cat", is also mainly based on Poe's short of the same name. However, this second segment furthermore contains elements from certain other Poe works. A crime-scene photographer with a familiar name, Roderick Usher (Harvey Keitel) and his younger girlfriend Annabel (Madeleine Porter) live happily together in a nice old building. Until one day Anabel takes a black cat home... The second segment is highly atmospheric, nightmarish and very eerie, and crowned by Harvey Keitel's leading performance.All said, "Two Evil Eyes" is neither a highlight of Romero's nor Argento's career, however it is still a good film. Let's not forget we're talking about two geniuses here! If you set your expectations too high and expect a masterpiece of the brilliance of "Night Of The Living Dead" Or "Suspiria" you'll be disappointed. Nevertheless, this is great Horror entertainment. Just keep in mind that you're not about to watch something comparable to Romero's or Argento's masterpieces in quality, and you will have a great time as a Horror fan. My rating: 6/10 for Romero's segment and 8/10 for Argento's segment, makes an overall 7/10. Recommended!
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: OK two part horror film based on Edgar Allen Poe stories., 7 October 2005 Author: Paul Andrews (poolandrews@hotmail.com) from UK
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Due Occhi Diabolici, or Two Evil Eyes as it's more commonly known to English speaking audiences, starts with a brief tribute to Edgar Allen Poe & then it's into the George A. Romero written & directed short-ish story entitled 'The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar'. Rich businessman Ernest Valdemar (Bingo O'Malley) is dying, his wife Jessica (Adrienne Barbeau) wants all of his money so together with her ex-boyfriend Dr. Robert Hoffman (Ramy Zada) she devises a plan to hypnotise Ernest into signing over his entire estate to her. However Ernest dies unexpectedly while hypnotised which somehow keeps his consciousness somewhere between the dead & the living world. But there is something else in the world beyond ours that intend to use Ernest & his body for their own sinister purposes...Next up it's the Dario Argento co-written (along with Franco Ferrini) & directed story 'The Black Cat'. Rod Usher (Harvey Keitel) works as a photographer who discovers one day that his girlfriend Annabel (Madeleine Potter) has taken in a stray black cat. This mysterious cat seems to dislike Rod & his relationship with Annabel starts to break down, whatever Rod does he can't seem to escape the cat which eventually drives him to murder...Before I say anything about Due Occhi Disbolici I have to comment on the IMDb's main page, why is it listed as both horror & comedy? There is no comedy or humour in this whatsoever, or if there is it's so subtle I couldn't notice it. Anyway, this American Italian co-production is an OK horror film based on two short stories by Edgar Allen Poe with each segment running at just under an hour apiece. This is part of the problem I have with Due Occhi Diabolici as I feel the stories are a little too long & drawn out. I prefer my anthology film to have maybe three or four stories that run at the 20 odd minute mark like Asylum (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), Creepshow (1982) & Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990). Unfortunately I think the stories are basic & don't justify their almost feature length status, both Romero & Argento seem to stretch their thin material out way beyond it's usefulness. I much prefer Romero's story 'The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar' to Argento's 'The Black Cat', it has a better twist ending & is more of a straight horror tale that actually makes sense as far as something like this can. 'The Blcak Cat' on the other hand is a bit of a mess with no focused story as far as I could tell, the origins or motives of the cat itself is never explained & as a whole this story felt very unsatisfying & muddled. With a budget of about $9,000,000 Due Occhi Diabolici looks nice enough but for the most part a little bland & forgettable which you wouldn't usually expect to say about anything involving Argento. While he sporadically shows his flair for camera movements & cool angles like some cat point-of -view shots, a shot where the camera is placed on a swinging pendulum as it passes through a severed body & his camera following a set of keys as they fall to the floor I felt that 'The Black Cat' lacked his trademark visual style & imagination. There are some decent gore scenes & the special make-up effects by Tom Savini are pretty good, some blood splattered gunshot wounds, an impalement, flesh eating kittens, someone gorily killed with a meat cleaver, a body cut in half & one without any teeth & a couple of rotting zombies. The acting is solid from a good cast made up of familiar faces including Tom Atkins & E.G. Marshall with Harvey Keitel standing out as being class. I thought that Due Occhi Diabolici was a decent way to pass a couple of hours & was entertaining enough but I don't think I'd be in any hurry to watch it again. I personally think that both Romero & Argento have made much better films than this but at the same time they have made much worse. Definitely worth a watch especially for Romero's story but nothing spectacular.
5 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Argento shows up Romero in this two in one picture., 21 February 2005 Author: Captain_Couth (sirjosephu@aol.com) from Sacramento, CA
Two Evil Eyes (1990) was a historic collaboration between two of the best horror film makers of their day, Dario Argento and George A. Romero. What could have been an awesome event turns into a one sided affair. The end results have Dario Argento showing up his friend and fellow film maker by making a superior film that overshadows the latter's work. The two directors worked on putting two stories from macabre writer Edgar Allen Poe's proses. One film is a tired retread whilst the other is a work of true suspense and black comedy.I don't think it was a great idea for the two to work on a film like this. Romero's film was pretty lame. The film had little to do with the story and revamping it like the way they did was a terrible idea. But Argento's tale was a superior piece that worked in several other Poe tales and the acting by Harvey Keitel pushed the short well over the top. The Argento short is canceled out by the terrible Romero one. Instead of being a sure fire classic it's just an okay film. Just watch the second tale, The first one is non-essential and you can fast forward it. Better luck next time Mister Romero.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: delivers, up to a point, for both sets of fans; it's Poe with a chaser of slightly modern twists, 5 February 2008 Author: MisterWhiplash from United States
It's always tricky to evaluate a filmmaker when at work on a film that is in an in-between realm of short and feature. Actually, by technical ruling (or what would be considered by most festivals), it is feature-length with each segment. But I found Two Evil Eyes an underrated effort, after reading many mixed reviews (many leaning to the lesser side for especially Romero's film, and some faint praise for Argento's). The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar and The Black Cat are not the tippy-toppest best for either filmmaker, and for Romero it's a strange kind of quasi-conventional experiment while Argento stays in somewhat familiar territory. Each has its own strengths, own weaknesses, and it's a fine little treat.'Valdemar': This starts with the veneer of what comes in the range of something like a cross between daytime Soap and a 40s melodrama. A woman (Adrienne Barbeau) married Mr. Valdemar late in life, and as he's about to die (and soon does) she stands to collect a load of money with her cuckold- a smooth operating doctor who has a knack for hypnosis. What unfolds after his death, and their cover-up in order to secure more funds, is something still like a 'living-dead' movie for the director, but more psychological in head-games and, to be sure, a faithfulness to the Poe source. It is a peculiar feat to adjust to in seeing Romero, at least in the first half hour, directing more like an old pro of the studio era than with his trademark panache in editing and shocks.This time he brings on the dread in a gradual fashion, built on guilt and paranoia, and then as Valdemar is in that freezer, a Gothic form of psychosis: two people stuck with a body, and a voice, they can't get rid of and become absorbed with. I liked it a lot- maybe more than I should have from what I read (the 'Soap' argument against it I read before, though Romero does try to give his actors more to work with than any hack would)- as it preys on the fear of death as not a final measure, with one last wicked kick in the nuts with that bed scene. Top shelf Romero? Not quite, but it's still oddly gripping, like a polished piece of clichés giving way to a wild head game of "old-school" horror. 8/10 'Black Cat': Argento's dip in the Poe pool goes to the lengths that he as a director always goes to: elaborate-to-the-Italian-horror degree style in camera and deranged horror, and even bits of dark horror that almost make Poe seem tame. I can't say how much this is tied into Poe more than I can Valdemar, but try as I might I couldn't see this as being totally peak Argento either, despite (or almost in spite of) everything he has going for it. Like Valdemar, it's about someone not coping with life after death; a photographer (Keitel) into the macabre, with a (color me shocked Argento) violinist girlfriend, has a black cat, whom the photographer strangles while taking some provocative photos. She knows he's behind it, but he can't stop himself- he needs another cat- just like the old cat- which will meet some grisly consequences.Keitel's always game for something like this part, which plays like his Bad Lieutenant gone Grand Guignol, which makes for one of the best pleasures of the project. He doesn't have a whole lot of range in the role, but it's a fun one for him, chewing on the meat that Argento throws out for him scene after scene. Argento, meanwhile, even for *him* overdoes it with the horror music in certain scenes, and dares to go to too much excess with the symbolism of the white spots on the cat. But it's totally a wonder to see that dream sequence, where Keitel is in the midst of a medieval Pagan sacrifice, with a sharp cut-away in the most violent bit. And I loved the pleasure that Argento takes in enlivening Poe's macabre with his own, with the violence extending from mania into the visual. I had my complaints at times, but it's hard to not throw up one's hands with Argento and say "why carp!" when he's unabashed in his passions of mostly constant camera movement (tracking, cranes, close-ups, pans, you-name-it) and illogical steps in plot (i.e. why Keitel's character would even put out a book with cat deaths knowing his girlfriend might see them, let alone so soon). 8/10 Bottom line, fans of the directors should check out the films, and decide for themselves how they do. It's two tall tales of curses and death, derangement and the surreal, and it's a concoction worth at least one viewing.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Worth Seeing for Argento film than Romero film., 20 June 2005 Author: Lucien Lessard from Canada
These two tales of horror are inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe. The Two Tales are titled "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" and "The Black Cat". "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" is written and directed by George A. Romero (Bruiser, The Dark Half). "The Black Cat" is directed by Dario Argento (The Stendhal Syndrome, Trauma)."The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar". The story is about a conniving wife (Adrienne Barbeau) and her lover (Ramy Zada) use a hypnotic trance to embezzle a fortune from her dying husband (Bingo O'Malley). His wife and her lover are receiving surprises messages from the behind the grave, when her husband died unexpectedly."The Black Cat". The story is about a talented but unfocused photographer (Harvey Keitel) is driven into madness, when his girlfriend's (Madeleine Potter) new pet. This man is driven to brutal acts of crimes and murder.Romero's take on "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" is a mix of high camp, heavy handed and some real silliness but what it makes it watchable is the good performances by the three leads:Barbeau, Zada and O'Malley. E.G. Marshall has a small role. Romero's wife:Christine Forrest and Tom Atkins appears in Cameos.Argento's take on "The Black Cat" is near perfect. Harvey Keitel gives a powerful performance and this one hour film is a study of obsession. The only fault is the shortcoming conclusion. This story has a good cast like Sally Kirkland, Martin Balsam, John Amos and Kim Hunter. This is One of Argento's best works as a director. Written by the director and Franco Ferrini (Demons).Blue Underground did an excellent job of doing an newly transferred from an original vault negative on this two-disc set. Also the sound is been remastered to Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound (Also in DTS 6.1 ES Surround Sound). The DVD has the original theatrical trailer, poster & still gallery and talent bios. The film features grisly terrific make-up effects by Tom Savini and great music score by Pino Donaggio (Carrie, Dressed to Kill, The Howling). Disc two has an entertaining featurette with interviews by Romero, Argento, Savini and vintage interview with an young 14 year-old Asia Argento. Second Disc also has 12 minute featurette with Savini about the F/X work, other Savini featurette showing parts of his house back in the late 1980's and an outtake from "Document of the Dead" with interview with actress Barbeau.This independent production was briefly released into theaters in the U.S but become a wild horror hit in Europe. This is a Cult Film. I would really love to see Dario Argento's take on "The Black Cat" as a full length two hour film. Imagine what would Argento could have done with that. George A. Romero's "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" rates (*** ½/*****). and Dario Argento's "The Black Cat" rates (**** ½/*****). Both films rates together (****/*****). Do not miss this forgotten horror stories done by Two Talented Directors.
not a bad two hours to kill, 9 June 2008 Author: TermlnatriX from N. Virginia, US
Romero's half is actually not bad. Seems to work with the expertise of his genre and Poe's story. Builds the suspense gradually and has a creepy tone to it. And then Tom Atkins shows up as a detective, puffin' a cigar while holding a gun. That's worth a watch alone.7/10 Argento's half ain't bad either. Nudity and visual trademarks are present. Thought Keitel's character wearing a beret alone was dumb, but at least that was something to laugh at. It had an unnecessary scene involving medieval times which added nothing. The third act turned into a parody of some kind, not to mention the kid that comes in for a session with the trimmed sleeves "he's lying, lying!" Retarded ending, but funny.6/10
Add another review
