Two Evil Eyes (Film Review)

1990 Taurus Entertainment Company
Directed by: George Romero and Dario Argento; Written by: George Romero and Dario Argento
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Adrienne Barbeau, Ramy Zada, Sally Kirkland, Martin Balsam, E. G. Marshall, John Amos, Kim Hunter, and Madeleine Potter
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 120 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 5/10

In one tale, an old man's young wife and his doctor plot to steal his fortune behind his back through hypnosis. They don't count on him dying while hypnotized and becoming a zombie. In another, a crime-scene photographer takes the morbidity he sees at work home, murdering his wife's cat...and then his wife. The first tale is written and directed by the famed George Romero; the second by the famed Dario Argento. Together, their camera lenses make...Two Evil Eyes.
1990's Two Evil Eyes is a classic case of the paltry remains of lofty ambitions, once those ambitions have been whittled down to almost nothing. George Romero originally intended the film to house many short films created by many famed horror directors adapting Edgar Allan Poe stories. It ends up only being himself and Dario Argento adapting one Poe story each, with neither creator seemingly very enthusiastic about the material. The result is a lackluster, often dull two hours that feature a handful of genuinely great moments, and some fun allusions to other Poe works. There are some scattered moments of gnarly gore that at least make the film worth watching once for fans of either director, and the aforementioned allusions for fans of Poe, but the overall film is sadly unremarkable.