Two Evil Eyes (Blue Underground Blu-Ray Review)

Is Two Evil Eyes Treasure or Trash?

Blu-ray Distributed By Blue Underground / October 29, 2019

The Masters of Modern Horror – George Romero and Dario Argento – bring you an unprecedented pair of shockers inspired by the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. In Romero’s The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar, a conniving wife (Adrienne Barbeau of THE FOG) and her lover use a hypnotic trance to embezzle a fortune from her dying husband, only to receive some chilling surprises from beyond the grave. Then in Argento’s The Black Cat, a deranged crime scene photographer (Harvey Keitel of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN) is driven to brutal acts of madness and murder by his girlfriend’s new pet. But will this cunning feline deliver a final sickening twist of its own?

Martin Balsam (PSYCHO), E.G. Marshall (CREEPSHOW), John Amos (THE BEASTMASTER) and Tom Atkins (NIGHT OF THE CREEPS) co-star in this wild horror hit that also features grisly makeup effects by Tom Savini (MANIAC). In celebration of its 30th Anniversary, Blue Underground is proud to present TWO EVIL EYES in a new 4K restoration from its original camera negative, packed with exclusive new and archival Extras!

Jamie’s Take (3.5 / 5)

It’s been a long time since I have seen Two Evil Eyes. In fact, I think the one and only time I had ever seen the film was back in the early 90’s when this was released on VHS tape. I remember seeing George A. Romero’s name on the cover and to me, that was all I needed. I had already been introduced to Creepshow and Dawn of the Dead and went on a kick in seeing everything he had done up to that point. I also had heard of Dario Argento from Fangoria magazine and had wanted to see his films which seemed to have only been available in edited formats. So without hesitation, I took this VHS tape home and while I enjoyed the film, it felt like something was off. I couldn’t put my finger on it but I never had the desire to revisit Two Evil Eyes until now.

Two Evil Eyes begins rather abruptly by showing Edgar Allen Poe’s home and gravestone and then suddenly jumping into the first story, The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar. Adrienne Barbeau stars as Jessica Valemar, a rich wife of a dying old man named Ernest whose doctor is shtupping Jessica. The good doctor uses hypnotism on Ernest to keep his pain low but also by leaving him in a vegetation state while the doctor and Jessica plan on how they will go about taking Ernest’s dough.

Strangely enough, Ernest does pass away but only while being hypnotized where his body is deceased but his mind and spirit are still alive, moaning and groaning at all hours of the day and night. When Jessica tries putting two bullets into the head of her husband, the results get even worse and in true EC Comics fashion, the two lovebirds end up getting what’s coming to them.

The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar feels like a lost episode from Creepshow. It’s classical style is much like Romero’s 1982 film where most of the stories ended with some type of revenge, with all the characters paying for their sins. The story does have pacing issues and could have used some tightening, especially in the opening act as it takes some time to get the meat of the story. Thankfully Romero cast a lot of regulars that have been in his other films that lift the story from mediocre to entertaining. Adrienne Barbeau is great as always but here you also have E.G. Marshall, Bingo O’Malley, Anthony Dileo Jr, Christine Forrest, and Tom Atkins. It’s a creepy little story that if shorter with faster pacing, could have been stellar.

The Black Cat is in fact the stronger of the two Poe adaptations. The Black Cat is a love letter to Poe with various references to other works by the author. In fact, the opening scene is lifted right from The Pit and the Pendulum as crime photographer Roderick Usher (Harvey Keitel, one of my all time favorite actors) takes photos of a dead woman who was killed by this torture device. The opening gristly image is all the more shocking as it comes off the much tamer The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar.

Roderick’s girlfriend adopts a stray cat who welcomes Roderick by scratching his hand. As she starts to show more love and affection to the cat, Roderick starts to torment the cat, feeling jealousy towards the feline until he decides to photograph himself strangling the poor creature and hiding the remains, making his girlfriend believe the cat ran away. Broken hearted, she becomes obsessed with finding her cat thus making Roderick all the more angry until after an argument he ends up slicing her up with a butcher knife and disposing of her body within the wall of their home.

The Black Cat gets even more gruesome and nasty but by saying much more would give away the shocking conclusion. Needless to say it doesn’t end well for Roderick and while the episode ends rather quickly, it still was a satisfying entry. But for those who are cat-lovers, this is definitely not for you.

I thought The Black Cat really shined in not just performances but also by the stylistic direction of Dario Argento as he pulls off some amazing camera trickery along with creating a certain mood of dread. The Black Cat could be considered mean-spirited at times as its tone and theme is much darker than what some viewers may be expecting. By following The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar, The Black Cat seems all the more shocking (and admittingly out of place).

The issue with Two Evil Eyes is that it feels like an incomplete movie. I have never seen an anthology film where it was just two stories. I couldn’t help but think of the old Showtime series Masters of Horror where each hour long episode was directed by a rather famous genre film director. Two Evil Eyes feels like the beginning stages for Masters of Horror. There is no wraparound story. There is nothing that pieces either film together aside from the fact that both films are based off a short story by Poe. Both short films are good but put together in one movie just doesn’t seem to work right as they are both so different in style.

Blue Underground’s new 4K restoration release looked pretty damn good to me and while certain shots do seem a little soft or grainy, that may be due to the age of the film. It’s a pretty impressive release and was even given a 7.1 audio option (I thought the 2.0 option sounded better for dialogue). The three disc set contains all of the extras off the older Blue Underground set and adds not only a new commentary track by author Troy Howarth but various new interviews from cast and crew. The third disc is the motion picture soundtrack by Pino Donaggio.

I do feel that Two Evil Eyes is worth checking out. If you are a Romero fan, an Argento fan, a Poe fan, or an anthology fan you may as well give it a shot. You get two very different type of films, both with tremendous actors. There’s some gnarly make up effects by Tom Savini, a fantastic score…hmmm…I think I am bumping up my can rating as I type this review.

Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?

Jamie says: Hidden Treasure!

Jamie's Take:	(3.5 / 5)
Blu-ray Extras:	(5.0 / 5)
Average:	(4.3 / 5)

Special Features:

Disc 1 (Blu-ray) Feature Film + Extras:

NEW! Audio Commentary with Troy Howarth, Author of Murder By Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento
Theatrical Trailer
Poster & Still Gallery

Disc 2 (Blu-ray) Extras:

Two Masters’ Eyes – Interviews with Directors Dario Argento & George Romero, Special Make-Up Effects Supervisor Tom Savini, Executive Producer Claudio Argento, and Asia Argento
Savini’s EFX – A Behind-the-Scenes look at the film’s Special Make-Up Effects
At Home With Tom Savini – A personal tour of Tom Savini’s home
Adrienne Barbeau on George Romero
NEW! Before I Wake – Interview with Star Ramy Zada
NEW! Behind The Wall – Interview with Star Madeleine Potter
NEW! One Maestro And Two Masters – Interview with Composer Pino Donaggio
NEW! Rewriting Poe – Interview with Co-Writer Franco Ferrini
NEW! The Cat Who Wouldn’t Die – Interview with Assistant Director Luigi Cozzi
NEW! Two Evil Brothers – Interview with Special Make-Up Assistant Everett Burrell
NEW! Working With George – Interview with Costume Designer Barbara Anderson