A Cat in the Brain (1990) User Reviews

This film's power is unmistakable

[rutt13-1 · 7/10 · 9 May 2001]

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...

Sharing the Night(mare) Together

[FilmFatale · 7/10 · 23 January 2015]

Italian film director Lucio Fulci portrays an Italian film director named Lucio Fulci in this film made up primarily of films made or produced by Lucio Fulci with a wraparound story about Lucio Fulci being affected by the disturbing films he has made and also the one he is currently making.

If that summary confuses you, congratulations, because you are sufficiently prepared to enter Nightmare Concert. I really did feel like I was participating in someone else's bad dream. I was never quite sure what was actually happening to the Fulci character, what was an hallucination of his, or what was part of the film-within-a-film that the director is working on. Throw in a crazy subplot about a real killer in Rome trying to frame Fulci and you should end up like me - confused and disoriented, yet entertained.

Sure, this isn't up there with Fulci's best, but I get the impression he was trying to have a little fun with his image and career and although it's a bit of cheap ploy to insert gore scenes from other movies, at least they're quality gore scenes and fun to watch. Nightmare Concert is quite a good time if you go into it without trying to compare it to your favorite Fulci film(s).

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Fulci films his gory memoirs and punches censorship STRAIGHT IN THE FACE!!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 13 November 2006]

Well, this is new...Famous Italian horror director Lucio Fulci shoots a film about a famous Italian horror director called...Lucio Fulci. After years and years of witnessing gruesome horror sequences, it becomes hard for Lucio to separate reality from fiction and he often hallucinates about committing violent murders. He quickly descends further into a seemly endless spiral of madness and unverifiable venom. Even the dedicated psychiatrist can't seem to keep Fulci on the right track... Now, when it comes to pure fun and entertainment value, Cat in the Brain certainly is one of Fulci's most pleasant films. The gore is overpowering and copious, to say the least. The amount of filthy massacres is impossible to describe, especially when you manage to get your hands on the fully uncut version (referred to with the aka:"Nightmare Concert"). Decapitations all around, victims ' intestines are spread on all sides of the screen and the chainsaws are working overtime! The film also becomes unintentionally funny quite soon (since it's so exaggerated) and a perfect experience to watch with a group of friends when there's beer in the fridge. Of course, from a more professional viewpoint, this production can't exactly be called a masterpiece! There's not the least bit of tension or atmosphere to detect and the characters are completely empty-headed. In order to make more room for the gore, characters are just being introduced for 5 seconds and subsequently die a horrible death. Especially compared with Fulci's highlights - like "The Beyond" or "Don't Torture a Duckling" - this film looks like a quickly warmed up snack. The best way to interpret "Cat in the Brain" is like a personal statement made by Fulci and a direct attack towards censorship. Perhaps after seeing so many of his films – especially the latter ones – being cut by censorship committees and bashed by pseudo-artistic critics, he wanted to avenge himself by delivering a gory mess that simply can't be cut! If you take out all the explicit violence and the truly sick make-up effects, you only got about 10 minutes of footage left! Especially because the insane killings re-occur later in the film as Fulci hallucinates about them again. You can almost hear our director think stuff like: "Let's see how you're going to censor this now!" Even the entire development of the murder investigation happens in the background. Are the victims missed by any of their friends or relatives? Are there any police officers looking for clues that'll lead them to the killer? You don't know and Lucio doesn't bother to inform you about that, because that would lead to sequences that don't require cutting. Oh, and it's pretty damn pretentious as well! The name "Mr. Fulci" or even "Lucio" is mentioned every 3 minutes (34 times throughout the entire movie, to be exact) and our director clearly enjoys being in the spotlights for a change. Hey, I certainly don't blame him...After over 30 years of delivering amusing movies; he deserved to have a little extra fun. You're a God, Mr. Fulci!

The 8 1/2 of Italian splatter

[matt-201 · 23 March 1999]

Forget THE BEYOND--CAT IN THE BRAIN is Lucio Fulci's masterpiece. If Dario Argento is the John Ford of Italian splatter cinema, the lyric poet and publicly acknowledged grand-master, then Fulci was surely its Howard Hawks--the caretaker and solid storyteller who knew how to sink a hole in one with the easiest flick of the wrist. Splatter-geeks somehow seem to have dismissed this picture with a contemptuous shrug--maybe it's too highbrow and "conceptual" for their red-meat tastes. In a stroke of daring even Fellini and Michael Powell never tried in their self-reflexive classics, Fulci plays himself--or rather, a particularly tormented and increasingly unhinged version of himself, driven mad by the combination of guilt and bloodlust triggered by making hyperviolent horror movies. "Fulci" wonders whether he is responsible for a string of gruesome murders breaking out around him...and the movie's combination of a fiendish, id-driven love of cinema, and a shuddering revulsion at its consequences, makes this for me the most painful and personal of all movies about moviemaking. The author's conflicting emotions are played out as nakedly as in VERTIGO or BLOW OUT--only this movie has the illicit fun of its grindhouse origins. Horror afficianados may have given this picture the high hat, but I know it has at least one fan...Jean-Luc Godard.

Sorry for the clip show! Fulci gets self-referential and tedious

[FieCrier · 4/10 · 6 May 2005]

Starts off with Fulci playing a version of himself, writing down some ideas for how people could die. Followed by a fake-looking cat eating what is presumably a brain. The copy I watched was dubbed in English, which I always hate, but I was particularly disappointed not to get to hear Fulci in his own voice.

Fulci is in a sort of feverish state working on his latest horror movie. His stomach turns when he sees things that resemble effects from his movie, and he starts to hallucinate that he is witnessing acts of horror. He visits a psychiatrist, who hypnotizes him and unfortunately he does not have his improved mental health in mind. I was reminded of the psychiatrist played by David Cronenberg in Clive Barker's Nightbreed (1990). The shrink in this one is played by David L. Thompson, who is pretty bad. Probably a real life friend of Fulci's, he has a big toothy grin when he kills people, though this may be Fulci's black humor at work which I thought was pretty poor too.

The movie is composed of a lot of clips from Fulci's movies, either as if Fulci is on the set directing them, watching recordings on TVs, or witnessing the acts. I've never been too much of a fan of clip shows in TV series, and I also think things like Charles Band's Full Moon Entertainment cutting their old films down and putting three such cuts together as new anthologies are pretty lame. I guess they need to make money?

The shrink in Cat in the Brain makes reference to the theory that violence in movies begets violence in real life. One of Fulci's co-workers talks about having a documentary crew follow Fulci to see what his life is like. Lots of self-referential stuff like this.

In the end, some of the characters sail away on a boat named "Perversion."

Fulci's swan song is a good time for all!

[The_Void · 7/10 · 22 October 2004]

Lucio Fulci's Cat in the Brain is an inventive and somewhat egotistical tale of a director's decent into madness. The director in question is Fulci himself, who stars in the film. Fulci has become known to horror fans everywhere as 'the godfather of gore', and for good reason, as he has provided us with some of the nastiest and most gruesome films ever to grace the silver screen; from the eyeball violence in films like 'Zombi 2', to a man been hacked to death with chains in 'The Beyond', all the way to the full on gore fest known as 'The New York Ripper'; if you want gore (and let's face it, who doesn't), Fulci is your man. However, all this catering for gorehounds like you and I has taken its toll on Fulci's mental state, and he's quickly delving into madness, brought about by what he films. Fulci's problems don't end at his mental state either, as his psychiatrist that he has gone to see about his problem has took it upon himself to take up murder as a hobby, using Fulci's films as blueprints for the murders!

I've got to say, the acting in this film is absolutely atrocious. There is one scene in particular that involves a hooker, and it's only fit to be laughed at, for both it's acting and it's stupidity. Fulci takes the lead role of the film (obviously). He's not an actor, and it shows, but his performance is actually the best in the film. It's even safe to say that one the whole, the acting is bad for an Italian horror film. Of course, nobody goes into an Italian horror expecting good acting, so it's somewhat forgivable, but I do think that Fulci could have hired some better ones. Bad dubbing doesn't exactly help either. However, something that does help is the fact that the terrible acting is counterbalanced by lots of gore, and it's extreme to say the least! People get their heads cut off, a woman is slain in the shower (and unlike Psycho, here we REALLY see it), people are hacked up, fed to pigs and there's lots and lots of cinema's finest melee weapon - the chainsaw on display, which delighted me no end. The amount of gore is massively over the top a lot of the time, which gives the film something of a 'spoof' feel, but Cat in the Brain is obviously a tongue in cheek film anyway.

It would be hard to make a film about yourself and not come across as being a bit of a big head, and Fulci does indeed come across as a bit of a big head in this movie. His name is mentioned often, and he's on screen nearly all the time; it's not too much unlike 'New Nightmare' in the ego stakes, but it's obvious he had a good time making this, and I for one had fun watching it, so we can forgive him a little egotism. The film's ending lets it down - I saw it coming a mile off, but then didn't seriously think that the movie would take that route, but I was wrong; it did, unfortunately. The ending left me cold, and the film is a better watch if you turn it off just before the final two minutes. However, despite it's ending and terrible acting, Cat in the Brain is a lot of fun and will please Fulci enthusiasts no end, and it is therefore recommended.

Fulci compilation

[mungflesh · 2/10 · 12 June 2018]

This is not a movie in its own right. This is some kind of a bizarre portmanteau compilation of his later and poorer works, with Fulci himself joining the dots.

It's very poor and borders on annoying. It's not often I'd say just avoid, in favour of give it a try for yourself but here I really don't think there's anything worth spending the time over.

If you do feel compelled to give it a try, check out Touch of Death first and if you think that's awesome then you might find this one reasonable.

Denigrating, atrocious, extremely violent... Exquisite. Fulci's tribute to Fulci!

[insomniac_rod · 7/10 · 5 January 2013]

It is Dr. Lucio Fulci's party and we are all invited! In approximately 90 minutes, we are bombed with extremely gory and violent situations involving mutilations, brutal beatings, beheadings, slashed throats, exposed guts, vulgar language, etc. There is even a very weird moment from a musical film where a woman is bitch slapped without mercy while she sings!

Fulci's psychiatrist's smile is one of the most frightening things I've seen in a while!

This is a bizarre movie. It is brutal, filled with blood, and misogynistic. It is a tribute from Fulci to himself. Hey, even at the ending he drives a boat while accompanied by a very sexy Italian chick in a bikini.

Sadly, it is a very flawed film. The plot is absurd but in my opinion it inspired Wes Craven's "New Nightmare" (however, Ze do Caixao A.K.A. Coffin Joe used it on "O Exorcism Negro" from 1974).

The editing is horrible. The music is lousy. The acting sucks! Fulci may be the best actor in the whole film.

But it is very entertaining for gorehounds. It's extremely violent content should please those who hail Fulci like me.

Bizarre self-referencing gore fest from cult director Lucio Fulci

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 4 September 2016]

Things open with a shot of cats hungrily devouring a gigantic human brain. We see a director devising the screenplay for his next horror yarn. "Chainsaw murders... evisceration... sadism..." he mutters to himself. The description could aptly describe the next eighty-eight minutes of this movie, which contain more severings, slashings, and body parts than most gore films put together.

Lucio Fulci's oddest movie is a real mixed bag. On one hand it has a really interesting premise in that Fulci is essentially playing himself, on set while directing his gory movies, so it's a movie-in-a-movie type plot like WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE (only this came first) that has the opportunity to explore the link between the violence in horror films and the violence in real life (and if movies have any effect), and what prolonged exposure to gory violence might do to a man! As well as this, it's a study of Fulci's supposed psychological state so gets a bit confusing as you can well imagine.

On the other hand, the movie is simply an excuse to string together a series of incredibly gory set-pieces from previous Fulci films and others, and then to "insert" Fulci's character into these scenes as if he is witnessing the murders first hand. The effect is an interesting, if muddled one, marred by some extreme technical faults (skies and backgrounds are different colours in film segments) which are par for the course for no-budget productions like this.

Fulci himself takes the leading role of the confused director, making this a must-see movie for his die-hard fans. Realising that he himself is not, and can never be, an actor, Fulci instead opts for a tongue-in-cheek performance which seems to be a case of either love it or hate it for horror fans. Personally, I think he copes admirably with the role and the comedy. Speaking of comedy, some of it is intentional but a lot of it is not, such as the cheesy dubbing and the over-the-top extravaganza of some of the set-pieces. Take for example David Thompson's turn as the crazed psychiatrist - this guy goes so over-the-top as the crazed slasher that his performance has to be seen to be disbelieved! The hilarious highlight in my mind is when Fulci repeatedly runs some poor fool who got in the path of his car - classic stuff, and for some reason extremely funny.

Gore hounds certainly get their money's worth with this movie, even if the majority (but not all...) of the effects and sequences are taken from previous films (thus Brett Halsey is billed in the cast as "the Monster" even though he never actually acted in this film - hmm, wonder how he feels about that?). Kicking off with a corpse being chainsawed, minced and fed to pigs, the film includes a Nazi sadist orgy, lots of eyeballs, beheadings, behandings, a melting head in a microwave, maggotty corpses, bloody stabbings, a PSYCHO-derived (but even more shocking) shower murder, chainsaw and trunk decapitations, a piano-wire throat garrotting, and oodles more. Of course, it's all pretty cheap and fake-looking but there's so much of it, it all becomes a bit overwhelming - especially to the BBFC who banned it outright when the film was subjected for video release in the UK.

Definitely a must-see for lovers of the bizarre or those looking for something a bit different from Fulci, although it's a lot different to the zombie films he is most widely known for. Although there is lots to hate about it, I think there is even more to like and find interesting, which is why I recommend this as a "at least see it once" kind of movie.

A disappointing 'Fulci's Greatest Splatter FX' gore-fest.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 13 January 2007]

Dr. Lucio Fulci (Lucio Fulci) is a director of gory horror movies who is starting to feel the effect of having filmed too many bloody scenes. He visits his local psychiatrist to see if he is losing his marbles; this proves to be a bad idea, since the shrink is actually a crazy murderer responsible for a spate of grisly killings. Seizing the opportunity to make Fulci his fall guy, the loopy nut doctor hypnotises the horror hack into thinking that he is responsible for the recent series of murders.

On the surface, Cat in the Brain appears to be a fantastically gory treat from spaghetti-splatter god Lucio Fulci. Chock full of chainsaw dismemberment, axe attacks and various other bloody killings, the film certainly spills enough claret for even the most hardened gore-hounds. But when one looks closer, it turns out that many of the gruesome scenes are lifted from earlier movies (mostly Fulci's own 'masterpieces'); remove these from the equation and one is left with a nifty basic plot idea that is totally wasted, some welcome nudity, and dreadful performances from Fulci himself and David L. Thompson as the psycho shrink.

As the film progresses, it develops into an incomprehensible mess, with the 'borrowed' gore footage inserted randomly, with no attempt at working it convincingly into the story. If you've seen Fulci's Touch of Death and Ghost's of Sodom, or Mario Bianchi's the Murder Secret, then you've already seen the best bits of Cat In The Brain before.

After much bloodletting, the film wraps itself up rather quickly, leaving the viewer feeling bewildered and somewhat cheated. Watch the film if you're a Fulci completist, but I would suggest seeking out the films from which the 'good bits' were taken.

Even in his declining health Lucio Fulci still proves that he can make a great splatter.

[K_Todorov · 9/10 · 13 June 2007]

"Cat In The Brain" is a series of extremely violent sequences knitted together by a plot that feels more like an overview, describing director Lucio Fulci's most notorious years of film-making. The movie could also be seen as a dark comedy of sorts, effectively spoofing the various claims that violent cinema causes violence in real life. Fulci goes further than that, he casts himself as the star, the central figure of the film thus showing the audience who is the man behind all the cinematic gore. "Cat in The Brain" is not about presenting a clear story and following it. Instead it pokes fun at some of the clichés that have been surrounding the horror genre for years.

Lucio Fulci plays himself as a horror director struggling to keep his humanity intact. Years of violent film making have finally began to reach him. It starts slowly, steaks and meat in general begin to disgust him, his colleagues assure Fulci that all he needs is some rest. But that doesn't help and soon the grotesque ideas for his movies begin to overwhelm his daily thoughts. In an attempt to find a cure for his dangerously maddening mental state Lucio starts going to the local psychiatrist. Unfortunately that does more wrong than good and Fulci is thrown into an even bigger mess, as the psychiatrist turns out to be a psychopath, who mimics the murders from Fulci's films in real life.

The film retains all the trademarks of Italian splatter cinema, good or bad they are all here. So any comments about the acting or the technical aspects and budget constrains are quite irrelevant as to the quality of the film. It is a visual experience, no doubts about it. Fulci throws in an incredible amount of violence easily surpassing pretty much everything he's made. Amputated by chainsaw limbs, cannibalism, child murder, decapitation, these are just some of the many grotesque acts witnessed in "Cat In The Brain". Some of them are obviously recycled from a few the director's less profile movies but they don't stand out of the context, and actually feel quite at home here. As I noted before the movie exists much better as a satire of the genre rather than a serious piece. The way some of the violence is presented does help establish that idea. Such sequences shortly after climax are rejected by the reality in the film, as they are revealed to be actually scenes inside a movie that Fulci's character is directing. This sort of "film in film" presentation lessens somewhat the impact of the gore. But in no way does it make it an easy to watch film. Oh no this is far beyond and above the levels of gore found in mainstream horror, and gorehounds will in no doubt be satisfied with that fact.

Lucio Fulci was a very polarized figure. People either hate his work or love it. "Cat in the Brain" won't convince any of Fulci's detractors in the opposite but it is nevertheless an interesting part of his filmography. One that fans should really check out.

Fulci's final nightmare.

[bbjzilla · 7/10 · 16 June 2019]

Meta horror from legendary Lucio Fulci explores his own horror tropes from the perspective of himself struggling to cope with the movies he makes. No stone is left unturned as he turns every ordinary occurrence into an utterly horrific splatter. This was made a good few years before Wes Craven's New Nightmare did a similar thing, mixing real life with his creativity, here it is mashed up into a proto Final Destination style demo about the dangers of microwaves, whiskey bottles and psychiatry. Unrelentingly brutal and gory Fulci even has a poke at his critics while sawing off heads. Not for the squeamish but worthy of consideration. I would, however, like to understand why he seems to detest cats so?

The Cat In The Boredom

[deanrowan585 · 3/10 · 14 April 2020]

That's right, the boredom! This movies premise had such potential and Fulci could have made it into one of his all time best movies - but he chose to be completely lazy with it; featuring scenes taken from most of his earlier films and acting as the main character himself (possibly to save money) this just shows how little effort was put into the project. Through casting himself as the lead (Dr. Fulci) he seems to forget he's also the director of the movie... you can tell this by the way he acts in a complete daze throughout. It's difficult to tell if he's aware there is a camera in front of him, because honestly, he didn't give much of a performance at all. The film was probably shot entirely inside his own house, where, for the majority of the film we are treated to seeing him walk around his own home in that same completely clueless fashion. I do enjoy Fulci's work, it's just this one seems like 0 effort was put into it - making the viewing experience extremely dull and monotonous. All (most) of the gore effects (some completely terrible and others not TOO bad) seem to be taken from his previous work, adding to the question if he even cared at all about the project... Oh and there's a horrible soundtrack throughout the film with faded moaning in the background of a terrible track which plays through the vast majority of Fulci's screen time... seems to be his characters anthem or something.

Anyway, story was pretty predictable, acting: shocking, soundtrack: awful..... but check it out if you're a fan of Fulci. I mean you've just got to see it for yourself

Lucio Fulci is not very well....

[jond-2 · 4 February 2003]

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.

Considering One of Fulci's Worst

[gavin6942 · 4/10 · 14 April 2011]

A splatter film director (Lucio Fulci) is having difficulty distinguishing between real life and the violent movies he makes. He consults a psychiatrist, but this does not help matters... it makes them worse!

Lucio Fulci directing and also starring as himself, having a fear of hamburger and gardeners. Not surprising after his visions of nasty cannibal dismemberment, with a woman who is unbelievably meaty, and some Nazi sex crimes...

The film starts with possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life -- the titular cat chewing its way through a field of bloody, smashed brains. The cat hardly looks real, but this is as repulsive as it gets...

Jim Harper hates this film, calling it "Fulci's worst film" and "one of the worst horror films ever made." This is "a total failure", being "slapdash" and "badly shot". Oddly, Harper says Fulci himself considered it "one of his better films and a personal triumph." While I agree that it is not Fulci's best work, I have a hard time being as harsh as Harper is -- the gore alone makes this film interesting for Fulci fans, in my opinion.

Indeed, Fulci has called it "extraordinary", though even an apologist like Luca Palmerini calls the movie "confusing" and "mediocre" (hardly an improvement from Harper's denouncement). Me? I did not like it, but find it hard to believe it is his worst... I recently watched "Conquest" and it was pretty bad.

If someone wanted to, they could draw parallels between this film and Fritz Lang's "M" (with the whistling) or Clive Barker's "Nightbreed" (with the murderous psychiatrist), but those connections might be too complimentary for this movie.

Interesting implications, over-hyped gore. (MINOR SPOILERS)

[gridoon · 6/10 · 30 January 2002]

Lucio Fulci plays himself, a famous director of horror flicks who is haunted by nightmarish visions, partly because the brutal violence of his films is starting to get to him, and partly because his mad psychiatrist hypnotizes him into believing that he committed a series of bloody murders (for which the doctor is actually responsible). It's an interesting, thought-provoking idea, and Fulci proves to be a rather capable actor. But I have to warn everybody that the gore, although plentiful, has no impact most of the time (and this can be perceived as either good or bad, depending on you). Much of the gore exists in the movie-within-a-movie, so it's obviously meant to be fake, and much of it is in visions and hallucinations, and we know that it's not the real thing, as well. Anyway, there are some truly impressive effects (especially a throat-slashing near the end), but in several key scenes (like in some decapitations) the editing is botched. Still, horror fans will get their money's worth. (**)

This is not a movie

[flemos-adriana · 2/10 · 23 August 2021]

I'm very sorry to say that I write this review in rage because this is not a movie. It was made of pieces of many of Fulci's other movies.(ll fantasma di Sodoma, Quando Alice ruppe lo specchio) and when I noticed it, I started feeling mad. Why do a movie director gets pieces of his other movies to create another movie... That's purely lazyness. To say that this is a movie about him being a movie director doesn't solve anything. And the movie is badly eddited, the cuts are horrible, the scenes are poorly done, I am watching all of his movies, but right now I'm very upset on how low he went at the end of his career. It would be better to simple not do anything instead of doing this.

Lovely mess

[quridley · 7/10 · 16 June 2017]

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.

Gore, Gore, Gore

[Attn · 5/10 · 12 February 1999]

The only thing that is to say about this movie : In Germany they cut 20 (!) minutes of gore-scenes. The whole flick just exists because Fulci wanted to combine the bloodiest scenes of his former movies. He plays himself, a director with bloody nightmares who gets maniac... For every gore-hound this movie is a MUST, for the others it is just bloody crap...

A movie that pokes fun at itself... nice, I must say.

[Lotica · 6/10 · 2 June 2009]

This movie was made around the time that Lucio Fulci was starting to lose his touch. Before, his movies were not only gore-filled, but they had a story, great writing, and great camera shots that were very beautiful for something any other Italian director (besides Dario Argento) could not produce. Near his death, his movies seems very poor, and somewhat distasteful. The only two movies I could watch of his were Aenigma (1987), and The House of Clocks (1989). Though, Un gatto nel cervello (The Cat in The Brain) is a very entertaining movie that Fulci produced near his death. One of the main reasons, is that Fulci actually stars in it... AS HIMSELF! The plot line is basically Fulci has been driven insane by his movies or whatever, and he starts imagining scenes from his movies being played out in real life. What this means, is that there is a lot of stock footage with in the movie, mainly from Touch of Death and Sodama's Ghost, two recent movies Fulci had produced before. I liked how the scenes were integrated into the movie, though you could tell that the footage was stock somewhat if you've actually seen the movies. Anyway's the movie is entertaining, though the gore kind of does lose the touch of any other Fulci gore epic before. Though the thing that surprises me, is that Fabio Frizzi (composer of some Fulci films such as Zombie, The Gates of Hell, and The Beyond) is actually the composer of this movie's music. You can actually tell by the bass line, sort of. I wish I could find a soundtrack for this movie, if there is one.

Insane in the ... Cat?

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 1 November 2017]

So I thought maybe this is an idiom/expression I haven't heard of before, but google suggests otherwise. So it apparently is "only" the film title of this Lucio Fulci ... therapy session. Therapy session for Fulci himself that is. Although I'm not sure one can say it makes away with all the anxieties, fears and general problems one might have.

Still this feels like Fulci did this more for himself, while still being able to titillate people and make a movie that is disturbing. Now there doesn't seem a clear message (as in, did he have those demons in real life, is just complete fiction, how does he really feel about all this?) and I don't think he made it clear in his interviews either, what his feelings are. But then again, maybe that got lost in translation ... whatever the case, there is another movie that might have been a bit ahead of its time back then, but is way dated now ... So while it does have its merits, the point is brought home quite early and the rest is just some effects and nudity thrown in for good measure ... or bad measure, depending on your take ...

Fulci's Last Great Film

[CMRKeyboadist · 9/10 · 1 February 2006]

Fulci is one of my all time favorite Italian splatter directors. He is also a very good story teller mixing horror, the supernatural, and psychedelic themes altogether very well. This film was truly his last great story before he directed such disappointments as "Voices From Beyond". The story is simple as Fulci plays himself, a horror director. After years of filming splatter and gore films it seems that Fulci starts to suffer a breakdown in which he starts hallucinating about people being slaughtered. He decides to see a psychiatrist who only makes matters worse when he convinces Fulci that he is killing people.

Fulci used gore scenes from several pictures around the same time. These films I don't believe he directed but certainly produced. Some of those films are "Massacre" directed by Andrea Bianchi (Burial Ground), "Touch of Death" directed by Fulci, "The Murders Secret" and I can't remember the rest of the films.

Nightmare Concert is a very underrated film, even by Fulci fans. But I loved this movie and have watched it many times already. It is sad that Fulci didn't get a chance to direct anything worth while after this but nonetheless this is a great film and I do recommend it to any Fulci fan, whether you like it or not. 9/10 stars

Wild Fulci Film with some Missteps

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 27 June 2019]

This was another film that I watched as part of a series of podcast shows for the best horror films of the 1990's. That is what made me watch this faster than I probably would have, but I'm also a fan of the writer, director and star of this film, Lucio Fulci. I would have seen this eventually. The only thing I knew coming in is that this is a wild one. The synopsis is a horror film director is stalked by a serial killer bent on killing people to model the killings after the director's gory death scenes in his movies.

We start this film off seeing someone from above. This is actually Dr. Lucio Fulci (Fulci) as he is writing something. He's mumbling to himself and it is about acts that are committed to someone and they're all graphic. The image then changes to a mess of blood and flesh with a cat that is attacking it. This is really an allegory to what Fulci thinks is happening to his brain.

It then shifts to a woman lying on an operating table. She is missing a chunk out of her leg. We zoom in on it before going to a man as he is frying a steak. He sits down in front of a television set where a woman says that she wants to eat him. He replies that is exactly what he's going to do it. We then shift to seeing him cutting the body up with a chainsaw. The images then appear on a TV and it is actually a film that Fulci is making.

The violent images he is filming are bothering him though. He wakes up the next morning to someone sawing wood outside with a chainsaw. He sees the man covered in red paint and it gets much worse. He starts to see violent images of dead bodies and nude women who are soon murdered every where he looks. He seeks out a psychiatrist, Professor Egon Schwarz (David L. Thompson).

We are also given a glimpse into the life of Professor Schwarz. His wife, Katya (Malisa Longo) is having an affair or at least entertaining the idea of one. This frustrates the professor as he feels she can't be disrespecting him like she is, but no matter what he says or does, she just ignores him.

As the images for Fulci get worse, a murderer starts to kill people around him. He is questioning whether or not he is the killer. There's a scene where he attacks a camera man and comes on to a woman. A producer had to stop him before it went too far. Fulci has no memory of what happened; we saw what he did which was an orgy of Nazis with woman committing acts of debauchery. Fulci has to get to the bottom of this before he loses his mind or is he actually the killer?

Now I wanted to go a little bit vague with my recap of the story, but I will admit, this film actually shows us who the killer is about 30 minutes into the film. It is kind of an odd move to be honest. The film plays more like a slasher film, but it still tries to build the mystery of a giallo as Fulci tries to solve the crimes. The problem I had here is that it takes too long to get to the first actual kill and then there are some long gaps in-between some of them. The film decided to focus more on the nightmare images Fulci is seeing, which plays more like a highlight tape of what he can do with effects. I would have liked to focus more on the mystery of the killer and Fulci trying to solve it.

Now I know I wanted less of Fulci's descent into madness, but I did like the concept. There seems to be an allegory here about if watching horror films have an effect on the viewer. It is interesting that for a good portion of the film, it is showing us that it is messing with Fulci and that he is going to lose his mind because of it. On the other side though, the killer is the depraved one that sees the opportunity. The killer doesn't seem to be necessarily a fan, just taking advantage of the situation and using them for inspiration. The way I read this film is that he is mocking this notion of the genre making people do unspeakable things.

I will admit that an issue I had with the film was with the pacing. I've already alluded to this, but I really think it focused on some of the wrong things. I think the build up of Fulci losing his sanity is good. That sets us up for what happens after the murder starts. I think this film would have been better served if they would focus more on the story from that point and less on the violent images he keeps seeing. I come in expecting the story to not be the greatest with films from Fulci though so I can't hold it against him too much. I wasn't a fan of what happens with the killer in the end, it is anticlimactic. I will say that the final sequence was solid.

The acting I have to say is pretty decent overall. Fulci is playing himself and I think that he did a good job. I don't really know how much acting he really did, but I did believe him when he sees the nightmare images and the pain it is giving him. Thompson was pretty solid in his role. The facial expressions he makes really made the role for me to be honest. The rest of the cast that appear in the visions of Fulci did well, I could feel the terror for sure. I do want to shout out seeing Paola Cozzo as Nurse Lilly. I remember her from the Lamberto Bava film Demons.

I couldn't talk about a Fulci film without talking about the effects. Something I found interesting is there is a scene he is filming where someone has trauma to their eye. He says that it didn't look real to him, which I have to give him, a majority of the effects in his films look great. This film really did have a highlight reel of what can be done with all of them being practical. It was great. The film also is from 1990, but it really had a grindhouse feel to it and felt like it was much earlier than that. I'll be honest, I dug it.

While watching the opening credit I saw that Fabio Frizzi and I knew the soundtrack was going to be really good. There was a moment where I'm pretty sure that a song at the end of The Beyond was reused here. It actually made sense for the scene and what was being filmed. I'm wondering if there were other selections reused as there appears to be archive footage used and at this time, there are quite a few Fulci films I haven't seen. Regardless, the score fits the scenes and helps to ramp up the tension.

Now with that said, this is definitely a fun film. I really liked the concept of it in that there's been a lot debate that watching violence and its effects on the viewer. This film does have an interesting concept, but for me I think that it focuses too much on showcasing Fulci as he descends into madness over the effects. Don't get me wrong, the effects were great, but there is a more interesting story here. I do think that the acting overall is fine. The pacing is hurt a bit for me as my issue with the story kind of goes hand in hand. The soundtrack to the film doesn't seem like the most original, but I still really enjoyed it. With that said though, I still really had a good time. I would only recommend this if you are into gory Italian films as this is an above average slasher/giallo type film.

Only for the fans...

[markovd111 · 5/10 · 30 October 2021]

As always with Fulci's movies, they are made only for a niche audience, but that is even more apparent with this movie. A lot of nudity and gore and just a little bit of plot to carry everything is all we get during an hour and twenty minutes this movie lasts. There are glimpses of critique of the cinema and audience forcing Fulci into making these movies to earn for a living, but it isn't enough to make this a better movie. Effects are cool for the time and there are some beautiful women in this movie, but ultimately movie fails to be anything more than what you can expect from Fulci. That may be good if you like his work, but even then you must admit it get's boring pretty quickly. 5/10! Only for the most of hardcore fans of Fulci. Everyone rest, avoid it, because you will find it even more pointless and scandalous than it already is.