"The Uncanny" is an anthology of tales revolving around cats and how cats are secretly controlling the lives of men. In one, cats fight a servant for a wealthy woman's money. In another, a cat named Wellington assists a young witch (Katrina Holden) in killing her cousin. And in a third, an actor (Donald Pleasance) is threatened by a cat after he kills the cat's kittens by flushing them down the toilet. All this, plus a wraparound featuring Peter Cushing.
Many people rate this film low because of its campiness and the less-than-usual acting from Cushing (who plays a crackpot writer named Wilbur Gray). And I freely admit the stories aren't all that amazing, particularly the second with Lucy the witch and Wellington the cat. But there's a feel to this film that makes it enjoyable nonetheless, a guilty pleasure that you would watch with your friends late at night while your parents are in another room.
And sure, the blood is unrealistic, the gore is cleverly shown too quickly to notice (cats have a tendency to devour human flesh in this film, just like in real life). There's no nudity or swearing, yet this is not a children's movie. It falls into a category where you don't know how to feel about it. These three shorts could each have been average episodes of "Tales From the Crypt" or a similar series of TV-friendly horror tales.
Someone needs to tell me the significance of the comic books. In the second installment, a girl is reading "The Flash" and in the third, there is another comic being read (which is odd for a tale set in 1936, I imagine). I thought with "The Flash", this might mean the picture was made by Warner Brothers and this was a subtle advertisement, but their fingers don't dig into the pie of "The Uncanny". (Why it's called "The Uncanny" I have no idea... there are dozens of great cat titles that would have been better.) Why cast Cushing or Pleasance in a subpar film? I suppose because you can. And they did what they could with what was given to them (many critics pan Pleasance in this picture but I thoroughly enjoyed his role as "Valentine De'ath" and I thought it was cute when his mistress exclaimed, "Oh VD, I love you!"). If you can rent this film, rent it. I'm not sure if it's worth owning (although if you're a horror collector, you'll want this one).
Many people rate this film low because of its campiness and the less-than-usual acting from Cushing (who plays a crackpot writer named Wilbur Gray). And I freely admit the stories aren't all that amazing, particularly the second with Lucy the witch and Wellington the cat. But there's a feel to this film that makes it enjoyable nonetheless, a guilty pleasure that you would watch with your friends late at night while your parents are in another room.
And sure, the blood is unrealistic, the gore is cleverly shown too quickly to notice (cats have a tendency to devour human flesh in this film, just like in real life). There's no nudity or swearing, yet this is not a children's movie. It falls into a category where you don't know how to feel about it. These three shorts could each have been average episodes of "Tales From the Crypt" or a similar series of TV-friendly horror tales.
Someone needs to tell me the significance of the comic books. In the second installment, a girl is reading "The Flash" and in the third, there is another comic being read (which is odd for a tale set in 1936, I imagine). I thought with "The Flash", this might mean the picture was made by Warner Brothers and this was a subtle advertisement, but their fingers don't dig into the pie of "The Uncanny". (Why it's called "The Uncanny" I have no idea... there are dozens of great cat titles that would have been better.) Why cast Cushing or Pleasance in a subpar film? I suppose because you can. And they did what they could with what was given to them (many critics pan Pleasance in this picture but I thoroughly enjoyed his role as "Valentine De'ath" and I thought it was cute when his mistress exclaimed, "Oh VD, I love you!"). If you can rent this film, rent it. I'm not sure if it's worth owning (although if you're a horror collector, you'll want this one).