Two Evil Eyes (1990)

Two horror tales based on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, directed by famed horror directors George A. Romero and Dario Argento.

1: “The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar” (George A. Romero). Jessica Valdemar, an attractive 40-year-old woman, rides in a taxi to the downtown Pittsburgh office of Steven Pike, her elderly husband’s lawyer, with some paperwork for Mr. Pike’s approval. Pike sees that Jessica’s 65-year-old husband named Ernest Valdemar, who is dying from an unnamed terminal illness, is liquidating a number of his assets for cash and suspects Jessica of having undue influence on him. Jessica denies the allegations that she is any negative influence over her husband, while Pike makes a phone call to the house to talk with Ernest Valdemar, who speaks over the phone in a weak but coherent voice explaining about his decision to let Jessica take control of his money and assets from his personal signature on the written documents that she has.

2: “The Black Cat” (Dario Argento). Rod Usher makes his entrance in a building decorated with the abject remains of dismantled corpses. A naked woman lies bound to a table, sliced in two by a huge pendulum-like blade. Rod is a professional crime scene photographer for as he puts it: “still life’s my art,” a talent which ensures that he is frequently called upon the local authorities—led by Detective LeGrand—to document the horrors of the baroque crime scenes which are apparently commonplace in Pittsburgh where Rod lives. After arriving home at a semi-fancy row house, Rod works in his darkroom in the basement developing the photos when his work is interrupted by the appearance of a mysterious black cat, which has apparently been adopted by his live-in girlfriend Annabel. Rod and Annabel’s relationship is uncomfortably distant.