Two Evil Eyes (1990)

George A. Romero and Dario Argento collabed on this two part mash-up, adapting a couple of stories from the great Edgar Allen Poe. Both segments are well crafted and display each of the iconic horror film-makers' personal brands of cinematic 'flair'.

The first is Romero's take on Poe's, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" - about a doctor who hypnotizes a dying old rich man into signing all of his worldly assets over to his gold digging trophy wife who is actually having an affair with said doctor. When the man dies before their riches are secured, they decided to stash his body in the basement freezer until the check clears. Things get spooky, however, when it they begin hearing an agonized voice emitting from the corpse and realize that he was, in fact, under hypnosis at the time of his death, thus, is stuck in a sort of 'limbo'. Things end with the two double crossers getting their comeuppance when the frozen old coot springs to life for revenge...

Argento tackles the classic, "The Black Cat", starring Harvey Keitel as a crime scene photographer whose live-in girlfriend adopts a cat that is less than friendly towards him. When he takes a series of photos of him physically abusing the cat and has them published in a book, followed by the suspicious disappearance of the cat, she gets pissed off and plans to leave him. After catching him trying to kill - what is likely the same cat given to him by a bartender - she freaks out and he kills her and plasters her body behind a wall in the house. From there, he must go about covering it up and avoiding nosy neighbors and police inquiries concerning her whereabouts as he continues to go insane.

Both directors handled their respective stories very well - with Romero's being a bit slower and more subdued and 'ghostly', while Argento's definitely had a bit more of an "edge" to it. Much of the credit, of course, would have to go to Keitel who is terrific as usual. Few actors are as brilliant at conveying anger like he does and this portion of the film has him drunkenly attacking a women, cats, cops... It's awesome. "The Black Cat" is, for me, definitely the stronger of the two segments, though Romero's DID end on a genuinely creepy note, I thought. "Two Evil Eyes" is absolutely one to check out.