In the first story, the wife and her lover expect the eternally ill husband to die. But since Mr. Valdemar does not want to die, his wife’s lover helps him enter a coma, from which the only way to go to the grave … or become a zombie.

In the second, on the contrary, the husband did not like his wife very much and walled her up in the wall of his own house. And at the same time he immured his wife’s hated cat.

4k movies reviews
Before us, one might say, is a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, two hour-long novellas shot by well-known directors. In my humble opinion, the idea was a success, the films do not compete with each other, everyone tells their own story, Poe’s ideas are implemented with a bang, it was even a little uncomfortable after watching.

First Look – The Truth About What Happened to Mr. Waldemar – by George A. Romero.

“Nobody can wake me up!”

Valdemar is a wealthy old man, bedridden, on the verge of death. His wife Jessica and her lover, the doctor, use hypnosis to force Valdemar to sign and say the things they need, in order to enrich themselves after his death. But it turns out that Valdemar dies at the wrong time, and the fact that he dies while in a state of hypnosis does not bode well for the greedy couple.

We all know about Romero’s great passion for the living ghouls, here, of course, they couldn’t do without them either. For the most part, the “story of Valdemar” passes quite calmly, without unnecessary excitement and abrupt movements, in the middle wheezing and groans of the otherworldly begin, and the ending is completely beautiful, albeit flavored with carrion. The first story cannot be called tense, but it still has its own atmosphere, most of all it takes the ending, and not even a visual embodiment, but rather an idea (for this, thanks, of course, Po), its correct presentation, because if you think about it – this the situation is really dire. I already felt unwell somehow, which means that the effect was achieved.

Second View – Black Cat – by Dario Argento.

“Didn’t anyone do evil only out of love for evil?”

Roderick Asher is a murder photographer. He lives with the airy and creative Annabelle. One day Annabelle brings a black cat into the house, which Usher, for some unknown reason, hated. The family idyll quickly deteriorates, Asher drinks and drinks and goes berserk, the climax comes when he kills Annabelle and walled her up along with a black cat in the wall.

The second short story is a wildly tense spectacle, rather unpleasant, but it was impossible to tear yourself away from the screen. Even more suspense and depressing is the fact that the story tells about an ordinary family, almost no detachment from reality. The personality of the protagonist, that is, Asher, is even more pressing, the impression that he is just slowly going crazy, he does not repent of what he has done, he is trying to dodge and get out of the water. It’s very hard to look at how cats are treated here, but in the credits they assured that not a single animal was physically or mentally injured during the filming – wow, and thanks for that. The atmosphere is very painful – dark, saturated with violence, eerily tense. The ending is good, even if it does not shine with rainbow colors, but it gives a feeling of satisfaction.

“Two Angry Glances” is a completely successful transcription of the immortal works of Edgar Allan Poe on film, not burdensome, not drawn out, interesting and captivating. Only if possible, it is better to watch with a short break between stories, so each will leave its own impression, without overlapping sensations from one film to another. Each short story has the spirit of the filmmaker, but Po was not forgotten there.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.8 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
French: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono

Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish.