Two Evil Eyes | 31 Nights of Horror Challenge

For this year’s 31 Nights of Horror Challenge, the Day 16 prompt was Italian Horror. I am not a fan of Italian horror so I did not know what movie to choose so I turned to Amazon Prime for a suggestion and really just picked the first thing that came up. It was Two Evil Eyes (1991).

#31NightsofHorror Challenge Italian Horror: Two Evil Eyes (1991).

Storyline

“The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar”: Gold-digger Jessica Valdemar and her lover Dr. Robert Hoffman plot to take the money of her old and terminal husband, Ernest Valdemar. Robert has hypnotized Valdemar to give his money to Jessica. Out of the blue, Valdemar dies while hypnotized and is stranded between the world of the living and the dead. Robert finds the experience fascinating, and Valdemar asks him to take him out of the trance since other spirits are stalking him. However, Jessica shoots Valdemar’s corpse twice, expecting to end his contact with the world of the living.

But soon, she learns that Valdemar had already been possessed by evil forces. “The Black Cat”: In Pennsylvania, tabloid photographer Roderick Usher explores gruesome crime scenes where Detective Legrand is investigating. Rod has been living with his violinist girlfriend, Annabel for four years. Rod immediately hates the animal when she brings home a stray black cat. He takes photos torturing the cat for his book, and the cat vanishes. When Annabel sees the photos of the cat in a bookstore, she concludes that Rod killed her cat and decides to leave him.

Meanwhile, Rod finds a stray cat in a bar identical to the one he killed, and the owner, Eleonora, gives him the animal. Annabel leaves the house, but she overhears the cat and returns to her room.

Rod kills her and builds a wall to hide her body behind a bookshelf, and prepares a solid alibi. But the black cat dooms his fate.

Out Thoughts on Two Evil Eyes

Aside from Adrienne Barbeau being a dead ringer doppelganger for my late mother-in-law, even down to her mannerisms, this movie was a solid dud.

The first segment directed by George A. Romero was classic George, even down to the make-up but maybe I do not appreciate Italian horror. The second segment, The Black Cat was awful. It seemed forced and the story was all over the place. I had no idea if I was watching a musical or a soap opera gone wrong. 

2 out of 10

 

Trivia

Dario Argento originally wanted the film to be a collaboration between four directors: him, George A. Romero, John Carpenter, and Wes Craven. Carpenter and Craven pulled out, so Argento and Romero decided to tackle the project as a two-part story, each directing his own segment separately.

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