This Canadian/British production imitates the Amicus anthology formula – emerging to be lesser than most of their films that I've seen, though not too bad in itself (it has a great title and a splendid cast, but the premise is rather silly).
Peter Cushing and Ray Milland appear in the linking story as an author and his proposed publisher respectively; the former suffers from a phobia of cats and has accumulated a series of cases which demonstrates the evil nature of felines and their inherent hatred of mankind. Unluckily for Cushing, Milland is fond of cats – but he's willing to hear him out and, so, three stories are played out for our consideration.
The first has a period setting: wealthy old recluse Joan Greenwood has decided to alter her will and leave her fortune to the assortment of feline pets in her house rather than to her no-good nephew. Unbeknownst to her, the latter's girlfriend (played by Susan Penhaligon) has taken a position as Greenwood's maid – overhearing the conversation between her mistress and the family solicitor, she conspires with the young man to steal the new will. The cats, however, will have none of that and, left alone in the house with them (the maid having killed the old lady in the meantime), Penhaligon suffers one attack after another by the army of felines. Eventually worried, after having heard nothing from his girl, the nephew goes to the solicitor who – accompanied by the police – force their way into the house, only to be met with a most grisly scene!
The second episode turns out to be easily the least of the lot, and is overlong into the bargain: an orphaned girl goes to live with her aunt's family, incurring the wrath of older cousin Chloe Franks because she has brought along a black cat (the former was never allowed to have a pet, since mother Alexandra Stewart is a stickler for tidiness). So begins Franks' torment of the girl and her feline companion, little imagining that her cousin's mother's interest in the occult wasn't merely superficial and that the daughter is herself a practiced exponent. The cat reappears after an attempt to get rid of it and, together, they exact a terrible revenge – inspired by THE DEVIL-DOLL (1936) or, perhaps, DR. CYCLOPS (1940) – on Franks.
The final episode is interesting and amusing, though rather undone by its heavy-handed comedic approach and the rampant hamminess of Donald Pleasence and Samantha Eggar's performances (reunited 15 years after DR. CRIPPEN [1962]). He's a Shakespearean film actor, she's his lover – together they plot the 'accidental' death of his wife, the co-star of his current vehicle; naturally, he suggests Eggar replace her on screen as well (except she's a terrible actress – much to the consternation of producer John Vernon). The cat owned by wife no. 1 knows what's going on, and somehow follows the two on the set – one night, when Eggar and Pleasence stay behind to rehearse a torture scene involving the former held in the grip of an iron maiden, the feline makes sure that she gets a taste of it (after which it turns on Pleasence himself)!
The three stories over, Cushing leaves Milland's house with the promise that he'll sleep over the idea of publishing his work; however, his cat has other plans and duly hypnotizes its master into burning the manuscript! Out on the streets, Cushing himself falls foul of a bunch of stray cats who attack him without any provocation (a twist ending which, however, is both repetitive – having already seen the cats 'working' on Susan Penhaligon's character from the first episode – and unwarranted, since the book-into-the-fire image would have provided a more fitting closure)!
The DivX copy I watched was culled from the initial R2 DVD release of the film from Carlton (as part of a dubiously-titled "Classic Horror Collection", (which also included HANDS OF THE RIPPER [1971] and MONSTER aka I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN [1975]) rather than the more recent re-issue from Network.
Peter Cushing and Ray Milland appear in the linking story as an author and his proposed publisher respectively; the former suffers from a phobia of cats and has accumulated a series of cases which demonstrates the evil nature of felines and their inherent hatred of mankind. Unluckily for Cushing, Milland is fond of cats – but he's willing to hear him out and, so, three stories are played out for our consideration.
The first has a period setting: wealthy old recluse Joan Greenwood has decided to alter her will and leave her fortune to the assortment of feline pets in her house rather than to her no-good nephew. Unbeknownst to her, the latter's girlfriend (played by Susan Penhaligon) has taken a position as Greenwood's maid – overhearing the conversation between her mistress and the family solicitor, she conspires with the young man to steal the new will. The cats, however, will have none of that and, left alone in the house with them (the maid having killed the old lady in the meantime), Penhaligon suffers one attack after another by the army of felines. Eventually worried, after having heard nothing from his girl, the nephew goes to the solicitor who – accompanied by the police – force their way into the house, only to be met with a most grisly scene!
The second episode turns out to be easily the least of the lot, and is overlong into the bargain: an orphaned girl goes to live with her aunt's family, incurring the wrath of older cousin Chloe Franks because she has brought along a black cat (the former was never allowed to have a pet, since mother Alexandra Stewart is a stickler for tidiness). So begins Franks' torment of the girl and her feline companion, little imagining that her cousin's mother's interest in the occult wasn't merely superficial and that the daughter is herself a practiced exponent. The cat reappears after an attempt to get rid of it and, together, they exact a terrible revenge – inspired by THE DEVIL-DOLL (1936) or, perhaps, DR. CYCLOPS (1940) – on Franks.
The final episode is interesting and amusing, though rather undone by its heavy-handed comedic approach and the rampant hamminess of Donald Pleasence and Samantha Eggar's performances (reunited 15 years after DR. CRIPPEN [1962]). He's a Shakespearean film actor, she's his lover – together they plot the 'accidental' death of his wife, the co-star of his current vehicle; naturally, he suggests Eggar replace her on screen as well (except she's a terrible actress – much to the consternation of producer John Vernon). The cat owned by wife no. 1 knows what's going on, and somehow follows the two on the set – one night, when Eggar and Pleasence stay behind to rehearse a torture scene involving the former held in the grip of an iron maiden, the feline makes sure that she gets a taste of it (after which it turns on Pleasence himself)!
The three stories over, Cushing leaves Milland's house with the promise that he'll sleep over the idea of publishing his work; however, his cat has other plans and duly hypnotizes its master into burning the manuscript! Out on the streets, Cushing himself falls foul of a bunch of stray cats who attack him without any provocation (a twist ending which, however, is both repetitive – having already seen the cats 'working' on Susan Penhaligon's character from the first episode – and unwarranted, since the book-into-the-fire image would have provided a more fitting closure)!
The DivX copy I watched was culled from the initial R2 DVD release of the film from Carlton (as part of a dubiously-titled "Classic Horror Collection", (which also included HANDS OF THE RIPPER [1971] and MONSTER aka I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN [1975]) rather than the more recent re-issue from Network.