A Cat in the Brain

As most Fulci fans would agree, his best movies came out in the late seventies and early eighties. In 1988 he had to pull out of directing the terrible Zombie 3 after only a few weeks, due to ill health. What that ill health was is anyones guess. But judging by Nightmare concert of 1990 vintage, he is obviously still suffering. I am of the opinion that producers were pressuring him to put his name to something, and in the end, this is what came out.

It is a real mish mash of a slasher story spliced with scenes from other movies. Of course, fulci plays the lead. Or rather, is on screen with things happening around him. He is supposed to play himself, though i doubt anyone could be that wooden in real life. It is often difficult to tell WHAT is happening as the film jerks from scene to scene with nothing to link them together. Fulci spends most of his time looking puzzled and shocked, just as i am sure you, the viewer, will be.

It has plenty of gore in it as you would expect and will be most peoples reason for acquiring this movie. Fair enough. Just don't expect the cinematic punch of Zombie or the Beyond. At the end of the day its a horror movie, albeit a confusing one. I think it did its job, as i was left feeling somewhat disturbed and unwashed afterwards. Get it if you're a real gore hound or a fulci fan, other than that theres not really much to recommend it. Very strange psycological gore fest. Hmmmmmmmmmm....... Poor Fulci.

Its bittersweet to see Lucio Fulci slumming in a film that is mostly cheap, unoriginal gore effects and dull filler footage, but Fulci bares more of his persona and sincerity to this film than his much better films. Playing himself in a ludicrous giallo plot, Fulci plays a "Greatest Hits" of his parlor tricks and cheapest techniques. This is even cheaper than his later work so there's nothing inventive or sophisticated in his camera-work or cinematography I'm afraid. But Lucio plays with his own identity and genre trappings. He returns to his roots in slapstick comedy and straightforward giallo and merges it with his metaphysical horror and psychotic splatter. It doesn't hang together as a good movie, but an interesting experiment and fun experience for fans who love him. Its a love letter to fans from a dying artist. He didn't get the chance to make great works too often, but he always had the vision and energy and even something this bizarre and unsuccessful is evidence of some kind of genius Fulci had. This is a fitting reflection of him and his imperfect but audacious career and soul.

Lucio Fulci has the lead in this film where he plays a director of horror flicks who suffers from depression and neurosis as an effect of his own movies. Reality and fiction blur, everywhere he goes is blood and murder, Fulci becomes insane. Meanwhile his psychiatrist turns to a sadistic slasher...

Watch this film for the gore, because the satire is rather unsatisfactory! There are many violent scenes like brutal stabbings, chainsaw-murders and as an entrance-sequence a cat is eating a brain... combined with much nudity and even some trashy moments like the Nazi orgy. Fulci does a solid job with playing himself and the gore-F/X are pretty stunning, especially at the end of "Nightmare Concert" T there´s much red juice is running!

The main weakness of this film is his forced wittyness, however mostly the jokes don´t function! Maybe some insider-jokes were featured which I didn´t understand, but the self-irony about a director who becomes a mentally victim of his own works stays empty at all!!

6/10

I don't know what it is exactly, but the film is happily sitting on my shelf, with no thought of ever leaving me...Fulci has crafted one of the most ridiculous, bizzare, cheez-infested and well unique movies I've ever seen. Not sure what else to say about it, but I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!! The steak tartar scene is absolutely uproarious, and the whole nazi torture orgy fiasco is strangely hilarious...I'm not sure what Fulci was trying to do, but has anyone heard that, based on this film, Fulci accused Wes Craven of ripping him off with "Scream"? "Cat in the Brain" is a must for bad movie lovers everywhere...Yes I'll definitely say it's not a "good" film, but I guarantee certain scenes will stick in your mind forever! This is an exercise in craziness, people...I guess if I were a "serious" critic I'd give it a 3, but on sheer enjoyability (again I can't really explain my affections) I'd give it a 7....Really whacked out flick...

I don't think that this is a serious horror film.Instead it is a parody of every other film Fulci has made.The main character is no dramatic at all,he is amusing!!The gore elements are completely out of sense,making them hillarious.To fully understand that this is a comedy just watch the ending.Don't compare this to the "serious" Fulci films.On a serious note Fulci looks like a really nice guy,and it is sad that he died after a few months.We'll always remember him!!