Blu-ray Review – Cat in the Brain

While he doesn't command the respect his peers receive, director Lucio Fulci has made his mark on horror cinema. The Italian filmmaker has helmed his share of stinkers, but the ones that broke through and found an audience, including 1981's "The Beyond," were memorable excursions into screen violence and loopy artistry, while his attention to gory details turned him into a legend with the Rotten Cotton generation, creating some of the vilest imagery the genre could summon. 1990's "Cat in the Brain" (titled "Nightmare Theater" on the Blu-ray) isn't one of Fulci's finest pictures, but it's certainly his most bizarre. Instead of embarking on a fresh round of chilling events and hysterical characters, Fulci instead recycles prior accomplishments, stitching together old footage from his filmography to beef up a simplistic story of madness colored by exposure to moviemaking. "Cat in the Brain" is a weird picture, not always for the right reasons, but it certainly bears the Fulci brand, surveying all types of carnage and despair, often for no reason at all. It's a greatest hits package from the helmer, either explained away as a wild experiment or an unusually determined contractual obligation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com