A Cat in the Brain is one of Lucio Fulci’s later movies. It is not his best film, but it may be his most unique one.

This movie is about a horror film director named Lucio Fulci (played by Lucio Fulci). His long hours as a movie director and the constant barrage of gore that he sees daily are starting to desensitize him. He is starting to see things and he can’t even eat a meal without seeing some kind of freaky shit that causes him to lose his appetite. Starting to appreciate the seriousness of his situation, Fulci consults a shrink. However, things get worse for poor Lucio, as the good doctor sees this situation as an opportunity to go on a ruthless killing spree and set Fulci up as the patsy. He brainwashes Lucio into thinking that he is a serial killer. This goes great with his already clearly manifested delusions. Just what the doctor ordered! What follows is a bloodbath of epic proportions and a journey into madness as Lucio slowly starts to lose his mind from the constant mindfuckings, both externally and internally.

To say this is one of Fulci’s best movies is a modest exaggeration. The plot is fun, but slightly unbelievable. Yeah, I know, teleporting zombies isn’t exactly realistic either. Still. Some could say that the storyline is just a pretense to barrage the viewer with explicit images of violence, gore, and nudity. Call it what you want.

There is a bunch of blood and gore in this flick. You have chainsaws, severed limbs hacked off by different types of weapons, hammer smashed faces (I think that is a Cannibal Corpse tune), decapitations, melting heads in microwaves, lots of female battery, nazis, strangulation, and more. There is even one scene where a young boy gets his head buzzed off by a chainsaw. Some of it looks realistic, while some of it not so much. All of it is graphic. Lots of nudity too. About a half dozen instances. Guilty pleasures galore!

The movie itself isn’t bad. I enjoyed it. There are several times when you are not sure if you are in real time, in a dream, deluding, or on the set. A plot of this complexity lends itself to such ambiguities. You also get some weird wacked out scenes, true to Fulci form. However, I thought the ending was fairly ingenious and consistent with the movie.

I think Lucio Fulci is God, so I am slightly biased about his movies and his acting. I really felt for his main character though. He was in such despair the whole movie. I just wanted him to lie down for a moment without getting barraged by all these delusions.

Overall, this is a pretty good movie. I was desensitized myself after it was all said and done. Hell, I didn’t even mention the S&M nazi orgy! Some of this movie will make the lighthearted viewer a bit squeamish. Fulci melded clips of violence from different movies and stuck them into this movie to create a near sensory overload. You have clips from movies he did, as well as from movies that were not his, all for the sake of gratuitous violence. It all flowed pretty well though. It wasn’t like he stuck a clip from Zombie right in the middle of the movie or anything.

Anyway, if you are a demented fucker, or a Fulciphile, check this one out. If you are not, you might feel it is a bit exploitative and hollow. It’s also called Nightmare Concert. I give this movie 3 out of 5 doctors that never should have been board certified. This doctor also cheeses it for the camera quite nicely, especially when he is stalking victims. It has to be seen to be appreciated.