 The Black Cat, directed by Stuart Gordon and written by Dennis Paoli & Stuart Gordon, set in 1840 Philadelphia, has the great writer Edgar Allan Poe (Jeffrey Combs), struggling with alcoholism, writers block, as well as being out of ideas, short on cash, and tormented by his wife Virginia s (Elyse Levesque) black cat that will either destroy his life or inspire him to write one of his most famous stories.