Two Italian interpretations of the works of Edger Allen Poe and in particular his story ‘The Black Cat’. The first is a giallo from Sergio Martino called Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key. It follows the life of Oliviero and Irene, who live together as husband and wife but hate each other uncontrollably. She is beaten, he is a drunk and a failure. Both are caught in the gravitational pull of Oliviero’s dead mother and her cat, wonderfully named Satan! Bodies fall, blood flows and sexual desire run like bursting rivers. The second film is the simply titled Black Cat and comes from the king of 80s Italian gore, Lucio Fulci. This is the story of Robert Miles and the village possessed by a strange series of events. People die due to accidents and a black cat stalks the land. The locals are some what concerned by all this and view the crumbled house of Miles as the most likely place for any business of evil. that and his stalking graveyards in late night and general weirdness.

Martinos film is by far the third best giallo film of the 70s. I say this full well knowing that it will cause offence. Wait however! Blood and Black lace was released in 65! so that is out of the picture, Argentos best film of the period is in at two, Deep Red. Then of course we have number one and that is Bay of Blood! So anyway Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key is a complex mix of personal legacy and sexuality. The pull of one over the uncontrollable elements of the other. Thats my reading and I stick to it!! Then of course you have the blood splatter greatness of The Black Cat, a film that could be seen as as much about voyeurism as about demonic pussy cats. I love its clever camera work, Fulci’s use of convention is superb and he was actually a better director than his fans give him credit for. That is to say, he was not only the blood splatter king but great at film construction and execution (No pun intended!)

Tasty twosomes do not come as often as we would like. You often get one quality film packaged with a dud or worse still a film that you already have and has no extras of note. What some of us in the know, know about all this is simple. Fulcis film has already been issued on DVD and in a version that was very good. This goes one better with a good restoration and some SUPERB extras! The commentary, interview and documentary are my choices!

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key is filled some ok stuff and I sat for almost two hours listening and reading. The Martino piece is the gem though in the crown.

In all buy them and remember it is limited edition 3000 copies containing Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key and The Black Cat….So go now!