Have you fed your cat today? Caressed it or at least made some friendly gesture on its account? If not you better hurry, because if there's only one thing "The Uncanny" taught us, it is that you definitely don't want to upset a cat! This odd-ball English/Canadian horror anthology, starring several big names in insignificant roles, illustrates three short stories of variable quality, all revolving on the unpredictably sinister and morbidly loyal behavior of cats. The segments are presented by Peter Cushing, who plays a novelist (with an understandable phobia for cats himself) trying to sell a manuscript to a cat-owning publisher, played by Ray Milland. The first tale is arguably the most superior and definitely the bloodiest of all three. It's about a mansion full of colorful cats protecting the newly altered testament of their proprietress against the greedy chambermaid. There are quite a few nasty make-up effects in this story, including cats devouring human flesh and ripping out people's throats. The second story blends cat-action with elements of black magic and plain old-fashioned revenge. After abruptly becoming an orphan, young Lucy and her beloved cat Wellington are placed in a malicious foster family. The new mother hates cats and the older daughter is an insufferable and jealous bitch who wants to separate Lucy from her pet just for fun and games. But Wellington is a genial cat and plots an ultra-grim payback. It's not a very original tale, but quite entertaining to watch and the finale is suitably unsettling. Chloe Franks is impressive as the hateful daughter Angela. The final chapter stars horror veteran Donald Pleasence in a potentially fascinating role and the story itself is okay, if very derivative and clichéd. During the shooting of a film, the sneaky Valentine De'Ath (awesome name) arranges to kill his actress-wife for real, so that the road is clear for his affair with the sexy and much younger stand-in Edina. He even takes her home with him on the same night of the accident, but the deceased wife's loyal cat doesn't agree with the household switch. The more the young lovers try to chase her out of the house, the more "Scat the Cat" fights back. The atmosphere of the last story is very grotesque, almost comical even, but there's some mighty gore. The story takes place on the set of a medieval horror film, so the death sequences involve pendulums, Iron Maidens, etc. John Vernon is sadly underused in his role as movie-producer with absolutely nothing to do. "The Uncanny" is a worthwhile movie, not as terrible as some of the other comments suggest, but definitely nothing innovating or brilliant. The quality level of the Amicus productions ("Dr. Terror's House of Horror", "Torture Garden", "Tales from the Crypt"
) is never equaled, but it's nonetheless a nice way to spend 90 minutes of your time.
Review of The Uncanny
