Edgar Allan Poe, George Romero, Dario Argento, Tom Savini - Good Lord, is there any better recipe for gory horror ecstasy? Like every other good li'l squiddie, I read about this one in Fangoria and Cinefantastique back in the day, rubbing my sweaty mitts together in gleeful anticipation of the delights that would be laid before me on my local theater screen. Sadly, since the drive-in circuit was all but dead and the megaplex was continuing to increase its stranglehold on what movies the public would be able to see, Two Evil Eyes never got a decent theatrical release, destined instead for the video shelves and a crappy pan-and-scan transfer. Now Blue Underground has rectified that injustice with their beautiful Limited Edition DVD release of the film (although I'd still love to see it under the stars while munching sloppy concession stand treats).

The movie opens with a short tribute to Poe (part of a longer sequence shot by Argento, but deemed too long to include in its entirety), then sweeps us directly into Romero's segment, The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar. Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog, Escape From New York, and of course, Maude) stars as Jessica Valdemar, the trophy wife of a wealthy man, now on his death bed. Reasoning that, since she's allowed the old man to use her - "for pleasure and for show" - she now deserves something in return (and while Valdemar has only been given three weeks to live, waiting for the estate to be settled afterwards would just be so pesky and time-consuming), Jessica intends to embezzle millions of dollars by liquidating Valdemar's assets - the profits all going to her. This means getting the old fellow's cooperation, however, which Jessica gains with the help of her lover (Ramy Zada), a doctor who places Valdemar under hypnosis, rendering him rather agreeable to signing away much of his fortune. That ol' monkeywrench is thrown into the works when the old man goes and dies before all the deals can be finalized, and Jessica and the doctor make a fateful decision involving a freezer in the basement, and this being a Romero movie, the dead are never quite as they seem...

Argento's segment is The Black Cat, starring Harvey Keitel as "Rod Usher" (this segment is peppered with bonus Poe references), a crime photographer with an annoyingly-oddball wife (Madeleine Potter) who adopts - that's right - a black cat. This is the point where I paused the movie and put my own black cat outside, not wanting him to get any ideas (he's a big enough pain in the ass as it is - I don't need him trying to eat my face while I'm sleeping). Usher is putting together a book of his photography and needs that little something extra to push it into new territory. He and the cat don't get along (to put it mildly), so he tortures and strangles the kitty while snapping photo after photo. When her cat disappears, Usher's wife immediately suspects her abusive husband and makes plans to leave him. This works out about as well as one might expect, leading Usher to brutally murder his wife (in an incredibly difficult-to-watch sequence) and wall up her corpse in an upstairs hallway. That cat - dead though it seems to be - won't stop tormenting Usher, however.

Romero and Argento both deliver the groceries in gruesome effects and spooky thrills, but despite the monumental talent on display (behind and in front of the cameras), Two Evil Eyes never quite comes together into the horror home-run we were all hoping for. This isn't to say that the movie doesn't contain many exceptional moments, though - there are bits in both segments that had me squirming - it's simply that neither sequence is particularly gripping, and most of the characters are so unlikable that it's hard to be scared by whatever unpleasantness they might suffer. I've seen reviews that make the claim that Romero's segment drops the ball while Argento's succeeds, but in my opinion they're both equally successful (or unsuccessful, depending on one's outlook).

What really makes the DVD a must-have, however, are the extras on the Bonus Disc: Two Masters' Eyes (30 minutes), featuring interviews with Romero, Dario and (Executive Producer) Claudio Argento, and Tom Savini, along with lots of behind-the-scenes footage (the scenes with Argento tossing around a football on location, and his then-14-year-old daughter Asia telling the interviewer that she'd like to work with her father in the future are both priceless); Savini's EFX (12 minutes), a look at the film's terrific makeup effects; At Home with Tom Savini (16 minutes), a personal tour of Savini's house and collection of supercool stuff; and a five-minute interview with Adrienne Barbeau, where she discusses working with George Romero. All of these shorts are a ton of fun and deserve to be in the collection of every Romero/Argento devotee. Disc One also includes a few extras: the theatrical trailer, a poster & still gallery, and Talent Bios.

Blue Underground's 1.85:1 16x9 transfer is gorgeous; I didn't notice a single speck or scratch, and the color (especially Argento's red, red blood) is so sharp you could impale a cat on it. Audio-wise, you have your choice of 6.1 DTS-ES, 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX, and Dolby Surround 2.0 - I went with the 5.1 Dolby Surround and floated away on Pino Donaggio's beautifully eerie score.

While not the best work they've created, Two Evil Eyes still shows us that there's a reason Romero and Argento are Masters in their field. Limited to 30,000 copies; don't miss it.