I had never heard of this British/Canadian horror flick before I saw it and wonder if it was due to how poorly it did at the box office back in 1977 and never really finding an audience after that. I really did enjoy the film. I enjoyed the twists and humour contained in the film. But, I am a cat lover. Never really ever found cats scary or unnerving, but always found them interesting. So, right from the top I would say my 7/10 rating goes to those who are cat lovers or are scared of felines. If you are not in either group I would suggest staying away from this film, because you may find more faults with the film than I did.
The story is about an author named Wilbur (Peter Cushing in really a great role) who visits a publisher named Frank Richards (Ray Milland) to see if his stories about cats can be published. Richards is soon to be unbelieving towards his horror themed tales, but Wilbur keeps spinning his tales. It really was wonderful for me to see Peter Cushing so nervous all the time.
The first story is about a dotty old rich lady (Joan Greenwood) who owns a thousands cats and her will. The second story involves a young girl named Lucy whose parents have just died. She moves in with her aunt and uncle. Not to mention her horrible cousin. Lucy has brought her best friend Wellington her cat. The third and final story is about an actor with a wonderful name in Valentine De'ath (Donald Pleasance in a nice hammy performance) whose wife dies on set only to be replaced by a younger woman named Edina (Samantha Eggar) who Valentine's got the hots for. They in turn discover the power of his dead wife's cat. Also stars John Vernon. The third story seems to be more tongue in cheek than the previous two.
Now it is the second story that may make or break this film for you. It may have the weakest acting of the four (when you include Cushing and Milland's bit). Though it really does have characters you root for or cheer against, but it is the effects that may be a ringing bell for some. The effects in a word are bad. Perhaps if that is the best effects they could come up with perhaps they needed to rewrite the story to not include those effects. I felt like I was watching an early 1960s Dr. Who episode when sometimes the effects did not have much to be desired. But, I did not conclude though that the film was not worth my time after investing close to an hour at that point. But, let this sit as a warning for some that the effects in this movie are the pits.
The story is about an author named Wilbur (Peter Cushing in really a great role) who visits a publisher named Frank Richards (Ray Milland) to see if his stories about cats can be published. Richards is soon to be unbelieving towards his horror themed tales, but Wilbur keeps spinning his tales. It really was wonderful for me to see Peter Cushing so nervous all the time.
The first story is about a dotty old rich lady (Joan Greenwood) who owns a thousands cats and her will. The second story involves a young girl named Lucy whose parents have just died. She moves in with her aunt and uncle. Not to mention her horrible cousin. Lucy has brought her best friend Wellington her cat. The third and final story is about an actor with a wonderful name in Valentine De'ath (Donald Pleasance in a nice hammy performance) whose wife dies on set only to be replaced by a younger woman named Edina (Samantha Eggar) who Valentine's got the hots for. They in turn discover the power of his dead wife's cat. Also stars John Vernon. The third story seems to be more tongue in cheek than the previous two.
Now it is the second story that may make or break this film for you. It may have the weakest acting of the four (when you include Cushing and Milland's bit). Though it really does have characters you root for or cheer against, but it is the effects that may be a ringing bell for some. The effects in a word are bad. Perhaps if that is the best effects they could come up with perhaps they needed to rewrite the story to not include those effects. I felt like I was watching an early 1960s Dr. Who episode when sometimes the effects did not have much to be desired. But, I did not conclude though that the film was not worth my time after investing close to an hour at that point. But, let this sit as a warning for some that the effects in this movie are the pits.