Two Evil Eyes — Two Evil Eyes(Blu Ray & CD set)
Two Evil Eyes (aka Diavolika matia, Edgar Allan Poe) was a joint USA/ Italian venture, and while at times it does wonder towards slight TV soap-ness and campiness- there’s enough in both tales to please fans of horror cinema. Each director managers to give their own distinctive twist & flavor to each of their choices, with the just above TV-like production working fine enough.
After a belief, if slightly awkward start with sees fleeting snippets of Poe’s crave site, his house & stature we move into the first tale- The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar, this is directed by George A. Romero, and it nicely sits with the directors Zombie bound output. The first story finds money-grabbing & creed wife Jessica Valdemar (Adrienne Barbeau) hooking up with shifty & sleazy Dr. Holfman( Ramy Zada)- to do away with her older rich husband Ernest( Bingo O’Malley) whose on his death bed. First, the pair hypnotized him to sign his money over his wife, then when he passes they put him in the deep freeze. As the tale unfolds things get more slowly-but-surely ghoulish & grim, as it seems Ernest isn’t as dead as they hopped. The tale features darkly humorous touches like talking with a frozen corpse, some fairly unsettling reanimated moments, and a great deranged finale.
Next we, of course, have the Dario Argento tale, and this takes one of Poe’s better-known story The Black Cat- but it’s a very twisted take on the story. We have clearly disturbed & unpleasant crime scene photographer Roderik Usher- played with often great mean flavor by Harvey Keitel, who lives with his witchy and violin playing partner Annabel. One day a Black cat literally appears from nowhere in the pairs flat- and this starts scratching/taunting Usher- who decides to take revenge on both the cat & Annabel. This tale features Argento's often acrobatic & gravity-defying camera work, nasty & brutal gore, and some very quirky characterizing.
As each tale only lasts an hour- the stories stay relatively tight & compact, meaning the whole two-hour runtime seems to fly by- sure at times it does feel a little bit like a TV horror anthology series, say a precursor to the Masters of Horror series that came later- but there is enough extremeness( for the time) & slightly raised production costs to help it stand out from other 90’s anthologies.
Moving onto this recent three-disc set- and first up the print looks nice & crisp, though you’d expect this with a 1990’s production. On the extras side on the first disc, we get a commentary from genre expert/author Troy Howarth- and as usual he offers up a wonderfully informed & fact-packed track- he goes on from discussing the origin of project, which at points, was going to be TV series of Poe stories, or a four-way collaboration between Argento, Romero, Carpenter & Stephen king. He moves onto giving in-depth bios of various actors- for those in both big & small roles. The difference in style between the two tales, alternative stories both Argento & Romero wanted to do, and publication history behind each of the chosen tales. So all in all another very worthy track from Howarth.
On the second disc, we get a whole host of on-camera interviews- and seven of these are brand new to this release- each of the new interviews run between seven & nearing thirty minutes apiece- with the longest interview been with assistant director Luigi Cozzi. These new interviews are with both cast & crew, and the most interesting one is with the film's composer Pino Donaggio- as he discusses the two very different scores for the film, and working directly with Dario Argento. Aside from the seven new interviews, you get five on-camera interviews from the previous edition of the film & these including interviews with both directors.
Moving onto the third & final disc, and of course, this is the soundtrack Pino Donaggio-it features twenty-one tracks in total and has a runtime of fifty-seven minutes. And fitting the two very different segments of the film; each soundtrack is different- the first nine tracks are of course from Romero’s The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar- and these are more formal orchestrated cues, with the occasional addition of gloomy gothic choir & forlorn/ haunted piano flourishes. This half of the soundtrack very much plays into the expected horror score tropes, but it’s well enough put together- moving from grandly gothic, onto darkly fleeting & darting, through to brooding & malevolent.
The second part of the soundtrack is of course for Argento’s The Black Cat- here we find twelve tracks. And the sound here is completely different been more often electronic focused, and varied in both in tone & genres- we move from the rising & bright darting synth, beats, and wailing & waving child-like vocalizing of “Dreaming Dream”. Onto the dramatic & darkly choppy blend of synthetic strings & hiss/ snapping beats of “Watch That Axe, Annable”. Through to the sassy 'n' driving jazz fusion of “Shadyside” with it’s waling ‘n’ darting horn work, and it’s lightly rocked-up backdrop of keys & driving guitars. Through to the more formal & darkly graceful string orchestration of “Black Cat”. In finishing, a most worthy soundtrack- highlighting Donaggio's scope & talent for using both formal & less formal soundtracking tools/ genres.
We get a glossy twenty-page booklet-this feature a new fourteen-page write-up about the film, the Poe Stories that influenced it, and it’s production. Also through-out we get a nice selection of stills & pictures, full credits, and tracklisting for the soundtrack.
It’s great to see Two Evil Eyes getting the classy Blue Underground treatment- sure neither parts of the film are the greatest work from either Romero or Argento, but together they make for an enjoyable curio that will appeal fans of both men's work, as well of course of fans of Poe's work too.