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      The Black Cat

      Released May 7, 1934 1h 5m Horror List
      89% Tomatometer 35 Reviews 69% Audience Score 2,500+ Ratings Stranded Budapest honeymooners follow a mad doctor (Bela Lugosi) to a black-lipped architect's (Boris Karloff) Art Deco manor. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Dec 28 Buy Now

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      Critics Consensus

      Making the most of its Karloff-Lugosi star pairing and loads of creepy atmosphere, The Black Cat is an early classic in the Universal monster movie library.

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      Critics Reviews

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      Anton Bitel Little White Lies The Black Cat is a wittily self-ironising affair, mixing and matching its incongruous parts to produce something thoroughly Poe-stmodern. Apr 5, 2021 Full Review J. Hoberman Village Voice Wildly expressionistic, the movie has nothing to do with the Poe story from which it takes its title and everything to do with Ulmer's sense of the Nazi menace. Oct 20, 2016 Full Review TIME Magazine A dismal hocus-pocus which seems to confuse its actors as much as it fails to frighten its audience. Oct 19, 2008 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills A nutty 66-minute wonder whose ridiculous script Ulmer lifts into a zone of black comedy—not in the giddy tenor of James Whale, but something more coldly ironical... May 10, 2024 Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand Edgar G. Ulmer’s baroque masterpiece... is the pinnacle of expressionism in Hollywood horror cinema. Oct 27, 2023 Full Review Emma Wolfe SpookyAstronauts I will say it is very impressive what they did with the architecture. I cannot believe this film is from the 30s. Rated: 5/10 Dec 28, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

      View All (211) audience reviews
      Elvis D Un thriller psicológico fascinante que tiene a los iconicos Boris Karloft y Bela Lugosi juntos, pero su mayor error es pretender ser una adaptación del cuento original de Edgar Allan Poe, ya que no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con dicho relato y solamente toma el título y algunos pocos guiños implícitos. Deriva demasiado presentando una historia diferente que sirvió como antecedente para el thriller psicológico aplicado en películas futuras. Como película de Karloft y Lugosi es aceptable, pero nunca debió ser etiquetada como una adaptación de las obras Poe, ya que en eso fracasa mucho. Mi calificación para esta película es un 7/10. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/29/23 Full Review Lucas C The Black Cat is a great movie. Bela Lugosi is great as Dr Vitus Werdegast and Boris Karloff is amazing as Hjaimar Poelzig. Its a anther Universal classic and I highly recommend this movie. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/09/23 Full Review Valerii Ege D In the same movie, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff appeal to me, but the story and acting are like an awful theater play. The story has some interesting offerings, but the process is really, really bad. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 09/03/23 Full Review Steve D Too slow and un-scary even for its time. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/12/23 Full Review Zachary V Somewhat campy and self aware - the establishing shots of Boris Karloff's character are so clearly intended to appeal to audiences already familiar with Universal's Frankenstein. The story has enough twists and turns to entertain, and the tension between Lugosi and Karloff work both within the story and as a 'monster mash' between two already iconic horror actors. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/13/22 Full Review dave s While it's always fun to see Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi together in a film, but The Black Cat proves to be a bit of a disappointment. Granted, the strange sets and the effective lighting manage to establish an eerie atmosphere at times, but the convoluted plot undermines things fairly significantly, not to mention the incredibly annoying and ever-present score that never seems to compliment what's happening on the screen. To top things off, the opening credits indicate that the film was ‘suggested by' Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story, which is clearly misleading as the film has absolutely nothing to do with Poe's masterpiece. Linking the movie to the short story would be the equivalent of saying that Stars Wars was ‘suggested by' Joyce's Ulysses. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Black Cat

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Stranded Budapest honeymooners follow a mad doctor (Bela Lugosi) to a black-lipped architect's (Boris Karloff) Art Deco manor.
      Director
      Edgar G. Ulmer
      Screenwriter
      Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar G. Ulmer, Peter Ruric
      Distributor
      Screen Gems, Realart Pictures Inc., Cinema Classics, Universal Pictures
      Production Co
      Universal Pictures
      Genre
      Horror
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      May 7, 1934, Wide
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Sep 1, 2016
      Runtime
      1h 5m
      Sound Mix
      Mono
      Aspect Ratio
      35mm, Flat (1.37:1)
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