Two Evil Eyes

Two Evil Eyes stitches together two Edgar Allan Poe tales into one feverish horror package. In the first tale, a cunning wife schemes to drain her ailing husband's fortune, only to find that greed has a sharper appetite than she does. In the second, a sleazy reporter acquires a strange black cat that seems to bend luck and death to its will, pulling him toward a brutal reckoning. The stories unfold with a lush visual sense and a lean, suspenseful pace, blending European atmosphere with American shock. Both halves hinge on obsession, deceit and the thin line between sanity and nightmare.

Released in 1990, Two Evil Eyes is a joint project from Dario Argento and George A Romero, adapting Edgar Allan Poe stories The Black Cat and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. The film marries Argento's tactile color and surreal imagery with Romero's blunt realism, creating two distinct moods under one umbrella budgeted at about 9 million.

Box office data for Two Evil Eyes is not widely published, reflecting a limited art house release rather than a blockbuster run. The film found its audience on home video and in genre catalogs, where its two director format became a talking point.

Within horror circles the film stands as a notable collaboration between two directors from different sides of the Atlantic, reinterpreting Poe with distinctive looks. Argento twists gothic decay into striking color and artful camera moves while Romero keeps a sterner, more direct tone for the other half. Fans often cite atmosphere and practical effects as a reminder of classic anthology cinema.

Critics praised its craftsmanship and mood while noting uneven pacing between the halves. The film probes greed, guilt and mortality, turning Poe's gothic suspicions into stylish sequences that reflect both peril and curiosity about what lies beyond reason.