TWO EVIL EYES (1990)
Label: 88 Films
Region Code: B
Rating: Cert.18
Duration: 120 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1, Italian PCM 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Directors: George A. Romero, Dario Argento
Cast: Bingo O'Malley, Adrienne Barbeau, Ramy Zada, E.G. Marshall, Christine Forest, Tom Atkins, Harvey Keitel, John Amos, Martin Balsam, Kim Hunter
Two-parter fright anthology Two Evil Eyes (1990) pairs icons of horror George A. Romero (Creepshow) and Dario ARgento (Suspiria), with each adapting a story by author Edgar Allan Poe, each with special effects by Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead) and a score from Pino Donnagio (Don't Look Now). By 1990 both directors were looking at the most vital part of their careers in the rear view mirror, but this anthology film offers up some late era chills for fans of both directors, even if it's still considered a minor entry in both of their careers, and with good reason.
Romero opens the anthology with ‘The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar’, a spooky tale about a terminally ill older man named Ernest Valdemar (Bingo O'Malley) who is being kept alive well beyond his expiration date by his money-grubbing, younger wife Jessica (Adrienne Barbeau, The Fog). She's banging her husband's physician, Dr, Hoffman (Ramy Zada, After Midnight), the duplicitous couple having conspired to keep the terminally ill man in a state of hypnosis, feeding into a plot to pull the wool over Valdemar's lawyers eyes, played by E.G. Marshall (Creepshow), In a state of hypnosis he verbally authorizes his lawyer, over the phone, to liquidate his assets for cash and deposit them into his wife's account. There's a stipulation that if the old man croaks before the money is transferred that the agreement will be terminated and she will get nothing, so when the old man keel's over prematurely it puts the pair into a bit of a bind. What to do? They put the old man's body in a freezer in the basement with a plan to thaw out his body once the money has been deposited, then they will declare him dead. It's a strange plan but it gets stranger when Valdemar's voice can be heard moaning throughout the house, emanating from the basement. When they open up the freezer he's still frozen solid and very dead, but it turns out that because he was in a state of hypnosis when he died his soul has been trapped in a void between life and death. This new wrinkle intrigues the scientific brain of the doc who investigates further but Valdemar's wife is scared witless by the whole ordeal, and with good reason.
This story is a good and proper chiller, a bit padded for time in places, but it also gives the story a little room to breath and work up a good head of steam. The cast stars a bunch of Romero familiars, it was great to see Adrienne Barbeau reunited with her Creepshow co-stars E.G. Marshall, and Tom Atkins, the latter of whom shows up as a detective investigating the bizarre case at the end of the piece.
It may not be top tier Romero but it's some of the best he did from this point on in my opinion, well-lensed with a terrific looking old stone house with a cool looking spiral staircase, plus it's great to see Romero playing with a sub-genre, the supernatural, we didn't often see. There's some vengeful spirits and supernatural happening, and I dug the odd hypnosis element, though I did think that the doc using hypnosis on himself was a bit weird. For the Savini fans we get a cool-looking frozen undead creation that was pretty creepy, and a gruesome death by digital metronome that holds up very nicely, definitely the bloodiest part of this segment.
Argento tackles Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale 'The Black Cat' starring Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction) as Rod Usher, his name an homage to another Poe story. Rod is crime-scene photographer who really gets into his work, the film opens on a scene of a woman cut in half that pays homage to another Poe classic, 'The Pit and the Pendulum'. Right from the get-go you see that the photographer has a curious fascination with death. Throughout the film he is driven a bit more mad by the arrival of a vicious black cat that his violinist gal pal Annabel (Madeleine Potter) has brought home.
The relationship with his girlfriend begins to sour leading to drinking excessively and eventually strangling the black cat and photographing it. He then decides to use the image of the strangled cat on the cover of his new still life book, which is how Annabel discovers that he's killed her beloved cat. She confronts him which leads to Rod losing his shit, killing her with a meat cleaver, and then concealing the corpse behind a wall of his apartment. If you're familiar with the story you know that the damn black cat returns to ruin his well-laid plans in a grotesque and shrieking reveal with some horrific special effects from Tom Savini, who himself turns up in a scene as a grave-robbing lover of dentistry.
Keitel is a man who never seems to do any sort of subtle acting, he's both intense and a bit over-the-top here, but it works for the character and the film I guess. The special effects are a bit more abundant here than with the Romero story, with Savini creating several memorable crime scene corpses, there's even a homage to Cannibal Holocaust (1980) I'd forgotten about, which happens in a surreal dream sequence that finds Rod swept back in medieval times. It's a bit out of place here but I enjoyed the scene for the strangeness and gruesome imagery, but the whole piece doesn't really have an Argento-feel, aside from some nice fluid camera movement.
Be on the lookout for John Amos (The Beastmaster) as an allergy-riddled detective investigating Annabel's disappearance and Martin Balsam (Psycho) and Kim Hunter (The Swimmer) as an elderly couple who live in the same apartment building as Rod.
Watching this again I was reminded of how I always thought we needed some sort of bridge for the two stories, there should have been an appearance of Keitel's crime scene photographer in Romero's story, it would have been a nice touch to bring the stories together. Of the pair I prefer Romero's supernatural chiller, it breathes a little better, the story is more in line with my preferences as a horror fan, and I think it holds up a bit better than Argento's tale, which is a story that has been told many times over in cinema and a bit better, if not as gruesomely.
Audio/Video: Two Evil Eyes (1990) arrives on region-B locked Blu-ray from 88 Films as part of The Italian Collection (#43), presented in 1080p HD widescreen, framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. This is a solid upgrade in regard to A/V from my Blue Underground DVD, I never did get the Blu-ray of it, so I don't have it handy for the sake of comparison. Romero's story is more brightly lit, the image is crisper and cleaner looking, while Argento's is darker and and a grainier, favoring darker colors and shadow. The source looks clean and grain is decently managed, each half of the film having a bit of that specific late-80's/early-90's film-stock sheen that to my eyes doesn't seem to age as well. There's just something about that era of cinematography that doesn't appeal to me the way more vintage horrors have. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 7.1 and Italian LPCM 2.0, toggling between the pair I think the Italian stereo presentation carries the Pino Donaggio (Carrie) score more robustly, but as this was shot in English the 7.1 was my preferred option, though I wish there was an English stereo option. There is an odd reverb/echo that can be heard in certain spots during both segments which was slightly annoying, but it's not a deal-breaker, optional English subtitles are provided.
Extras begin with a 13-min semi-appreciation from film journalist Kim Newman, describing both stories as minor works coming from the directors, even speaking poorly of Tom Savini's special effects work, saying that at the time was he probably overbooked with work and stretched a bit thin, and how the film would have been improved upon with a third story and director, it's an honest appraisal, even if he says he has not re-watched the film in a number of years.
We also get a 35-min interview with second unit director Luigi Cozzi and actress Caroline Munro, neither of which have much to do with this film. Cozzi speaks about his career, adapting to newer filming techniques, working with Dario Argento, and serving as AD on this film. He also mentions how John Carpenter had originally signed on for a third segment before pulling out. Caroline Munro, who does not appear in either story, shows up to speak about working with Luigo Cozzie on Starcrash (1978) and The Black Cat (1989), giving a very flattering account of her experiences working with him. We also get a fun trailer that highlights most of the gore-gags from the film, and the alternate Italian opening/closing credit sequences that run about five minutes. Unfortunately they were not able to carry-over the extras from the 2003 Blue Underground release, these include interviews with Romero, Argento, Tom Savini, Claudio Argento and Asia Argento. The booklet included with the limited edition version includes an interview with Argento who speaks about his collaborations with Romero, how the film struggled to find distribution and an audience, working with American actors, and appraising his own films and his legacy.
Two Evil Eyes (1990) arrives on single-disc Blu-ray from 88 Film as part of The Italian Collection, coming in an oversized clear keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork, we get an English friendly U.S. version and the Italian titled 'Due Occhi Diaboliici'. The Limited Edition first print version which is available exclusively through 88 Films website includes a gloss-finish slip with the U.S. artwork, a 4-page booklet with an interview with director Dario Argento by Calum Waddell, plus 4 heavy card stock reproductions of the Italian lobby cards.
Special Features:
- Limited Edition O-Card slipcase [First Print Run Only]
- Limited Edition Lobby Card Reproductions [First Print Run Only]
- Limited Edition Booklet Notes by Dr Calum Waddell [First Print Run Only]
- Double Vision: An Interview with Kim Newman (13 min)
- Two Evil Eyes: An Interview with Second Unit Director Luigi Cozzi and Cult Actress Caroline Munro
- Italian Opening and Closing Credits (5 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (1 min)
- Reversible Sleeve with Alternative Italian Poster Design
Two Evil Eyes (1990) gets a spiffy-looking HD release from 88 Films with some decent extras and excellent packaging with cool ephemeral goodies that we collectors love. If you're a fan of the film this would certainly be a nice addition to your UK collection, and I think both segments of the film have aged slightly better than my memory served.
