Two Evil Eyes (1990)


Creepshow was a resounding success for George A. Romero and Stephen King, so much so that a second movie was made in 1987.  It wasn't as good as the first and part of the reason for the delay was getting everything arranged to make it happen.  There were conflicts with producers on where to go with the series, ultimately resulting in Tales from the Dark Side and Monsters being late night anthology shows inspired by Creepshow.  There was also the desire to have a either an anthology movie or a television program featuring a number of horror greats.

What became Two Evil Eyes started with Romero wanting to recruit Dario Argento, Wes Craven and John Carpenter to each direct a segment based on Edgar Allen Poe along with himself.  Craven and Carpenter eventually backed out and at point Michele Soavi was also attached.  Eventually this whittled down to just two stories, one by Romero and the other with Argento, both filmed around the Pittsburgh area.

The first is "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Waldemar", written and directed by Romero and based on "The Facts in the Case of M. Waldemar".  It involves the title character, a dying man of wealth (Bingo O'Malley) whose wife Jessica (Adrienne Barbeau) has teamed with his doctor Robert Hoffman (Ramy Zada) to rob him blind before he passes away.  In order to do so Hoffman has hypnotized the old man, manipulating him under the guise of relieving his pain.  When he dies while hypnotized the couple must deal with not only disposing of the corpse but also with what may lay beyond. 

In "The Black Cat" Roderick Usher (Harvey Keitel) is a photographer of lurid subject matter whose girlfriend Annabel (Madeleine Potter) acquires a new feline companion.  The cat hates Rod, so he ultimately tortures it to death to take a series of photographs.  He lies to Annabel about what happened, but she figures it out, even after the cat inexplicably returns.  His possessiveness, and fear of what the cat represents, leads him down a pathway to his ultimate fate. 

Neither story is 100 percent faithful to the originals, but that's to be expected when translating tales from the mid-19th century to the modern day.  What Romero and Argento do better than the similar film Spirits of the Dead is still keep the denouements similar to what was in the story.  Like Corman's films there is a lot of window dressing added to stretch out what would be only a few minutes of screen time otherwise.

When I saw this movie back in 1990 it was my first introduction to Argento and, at the time, I had no idea what to think of it.  I believe, years later, my first true film I watched by him was either Suspiria or Opera due to books on horror and cult movies that suggested his work, and he quickly became both one of my favorite directors as well as one of the more frustrating ones.  His version of "The Black Cat" features an American cast and undoubtedly convinced him to make a go at mainstream horror with Trauma, which unfortunately marked the beginning of the end of the best part of his career.  

I had mainly been interested in this movie, either renting it or on cable, because of Romero.  I was not a big fan of his segment, but looking back on it I can see where he was still trying to do the Creepshow thing.  Unfortunately, like the second film, the lack of the colors and comic book aesthetic takes a lot away from it.  There is good acting and a decent ending - albeit with some mediocre special effects save Tom Savini's makeup - but the story itself doesn't entertain like it should.  "The Black Cat" does, with Keitel playing one of his usual slimy roles and Savini being used to greater effect than in the first.  

Although "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Waldemar" is nowhere near top-tier Romero this movie doesn't disappoint like so many similar films.  With close to an hour each both directors get to stretch out and make the movie they want.  It would have been interesting to see the original concept but, flawed as it is, this is still one of the better attempts to modernize Poe's stories.

Two Evil Eyes (1990)
Time: 120 minutes
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Ramy Zada, Bingo O'Malley, Harvey Keitel, Madeleine Potter
Directors: George A. Romero, Dario Argento



 

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