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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful: I tawt I taw a puddy tat a-cweeping up on me..., 2 March 2005 Author: The_Secretive_Bus from Hampshire, England
No spoilers.Well. Hmm. "The Uncanny" is another one of Milton "Amicus" Subotsky's anthology horrors, with a premise that at least has some form of interest and introduction (unlike, say, "Vault of Horror", in which Terry-Thomas prompts random people stuck in a lift with him to talk about their dreams - "Why don't you tell us about it?"). Basically, a rather nervous Peter Cushing visits a publisher to talk about his latest book proposal which will apparently deliver a very important message to us all - "Cats have been exploiting human beings for centuries!" Yes, Cushing believes that cats are going to take over and kill us all. No, really."The Uncanny" isn't a bad film per-se, it's just a bit lacking somehow. Maybe it's the fact that it only has three stories (the other Amicus ones tend to have four or five) and so each little tale seems far more drawn out than it really needs to be. It's also very varied in tone, and doesn't seem to completely know what it's really doing. Once it's finished you don't really sit back and think "That was rather good," nor "That was bloody dire." You just realise that 85 minutes of your life has gone by (or 105 minutes if you had a rather nice and loving phone call part way through - hurrah! But enough about my life...).The first story concerns Joan Greenwood deciding to leave all the money in her will to her many cats rather than her nephew. Fortunately for him, Greenwood's maid also happens to be his girlfriend, and she's more than willing to get into her mistress's safe and destroy the copy of the will. However, when she's discovered, she has to do something rather unpleasant (the most disturbing part of the film for me, and the cats had nothing to do with it) and then faces the consequences via a long (a very, *very* long) spot of kitty revenge. Though it's horrendously padded (complete with a flashback to, bizarrely, an alternative take of an earlier scene), it does at least make the cats rather terrifying, which is something. There are actually quite a few repulsive moments in it, and there's far more horror in this segment alone than during the whole of, for instance, "Vampire Circus." Cushing's publisher seems unimpressed however and decides to put his cat out instead. Cushing regales him with another story, furtively scratching around in his big folder of official looking documents. "Ah yes, Lucy..." Second story has very little horror in it aside from some rather ghastly accents that appear to contain traces of RP English, Canadian and various bits of American. There's also a little snot of a girl who finds it amusing to taunt her cousin about the fact that her parents died in a plane crash (chases her with a toy plane, "Your don't have any parents! You don't have anybody! Ha ha ha!" - you know the type). Unfortunately for the spiteful little cow, her placid looking cousin has more to her than meets the eye. The only thing remarkable about this segment is the staggering ineptness of her aunt and uncle of looking after her, which includes burning almost all of her possessions (including a photograph of her with her mother)! Good grief! No wonder the poor little soul has issues. Oh, and there is a cat in it, but it doesn't do a lot, and seems pretty amiable really.Third story stars Donald Pleasence as a creepy little git, and is introduced by Cushing handing his publisher a stock photo from "You Only Live Twice" (Pleasence as Blofeld holding his fluffy white cat), which will probably amuse somebody. Cushing's now gone into nervous overdrive, wringing his hands and exclaiming "It was the cat that did it!" A story set in 1930s Hollywood in which real devices of medieval torture are used on the actors (with the hilarious, yet seriously-delivered, "explanation" from a detective that goes "Well sir, there seems to have been a little mix up in your props department..."), it's all rather dull with yet more dodgy accents and, at one point, some misplaced slapstick and comedy music. Pleasence's character (who likes to swap puns before sex) goes to great lengths to attempt to kill his recently-deceased wife's cat (having flushed its kittens down the toilet - bastard), which, in return, goes to great lengths to make things difficult for him. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Ha ha ha... oh." And after all this, what have we learnt? Well, you'll have to watch it and find out. Or better yet, don't bother and watch something actually halfway decent. Not even fun in a sort of "So bad it's good," way, "The Uncanny" is a dull, listless and at times thoroughly unpleasant little film that is best avoided - and Cushing's only in it for about 10 minutes, so it's not even worth watching for him. Best avoided, really.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: What might have been..., 1 March 2004 Author: Snake-666 from England
In this horror anthology, a writer (Peter Cushing) attempts to prove to his sceptical publisher that cats are really menacing supernatural beings by relating three stories of feline terror. This horror anthology had the potential to be great, yet through overly prolonged storytelling and less than adequate acting in most places it is unfortunately condemned to resting in the mid ranks of the genre. Cushing, as usual, was delightful in his role as the seemingly paranoid writer Wilbur Gray, but his rather short screen time meant that the gauntlet would fall to the rest of the cast who, with the exception of a select few performers which most notably included Donald Pleasance, were never able to perform to the standards required to make the lengthy segments enjoyable. While one can obviously see that the intention from director Denis Héroux (his final directorial effort) and writer Michel Parry (who went on to co-write the underrated sci-fi/horror fest ‘Xtro') was to create a suspenseful and unnerving film, the recurrent sequences which border on non-eventful lead the viewer to become bored, thus lessening the impact of the movie. That is not to be taken as a reproachful statement as the film is far from entirely lamentable; it's more of a regrettable observation when one considers what might have been. The first segment in this tale of mental moggies concentrates on the servant of a wealthy elderly woman. After her employer Miss Malkin (Joan Greenwood) changes her will in favour of her cats, servant Janet (Susan Penhaligon) is convinced by her boyfriend and employer's nephew, Michael (Simon Williams), to steal the copy of the new will and testament from the safe of Miss Malkin and destroy it in order for his Aunt's money to be bequeathed to him. As expected, the theft of the will is bungled and Janet faces a revenge attack from Miss Malkin's feline friends. In my opinion, this segment is by far the most enjoyable of the three. Although it suffers from some of the problems that I have already mentioned, the sporadic nature of such occurrences doesn't have the negative impact that they would have throughout the rest of the film. There is a wonderful blend of suspenseful horror and quite graphic scenes of violence which culminate to make this segment enduring to the viewer. Easily the most horrific and by far the most entertaining, this segment would receive 8/10 from me. The following segment, set in Canada, tells the story of young Lucy (Katrina Holden, who would never work in film again) who goes to live with relatives after the death of her parents. Her only friend, a black cat named Wellington, is the subject of unwanted attention and maltreatment from the jealous Angela (Chloe Frank, who previously appeared in the far superior horror anthology ‘The House that Dripped Blood'). As Angela's malice towards Lucy and her cat grows, Angela becomes more determined to have the cat removed from the household. The poorest of the three main segments is an unwelcome change in pace for the film. Virtually the entire segment seems incongruous to the rest of the film, and while some additions to the story seem to fit the theme when considered at face value, the ludicrous nature of the tale is little but damaging to the movie. Asinine storytelling accompanied by imprudent special effects and atrocious acting results in this segment getting a lowly 3/10 from me. The only true saving grace about this segment is that one really does come to despise Angela as was so obviously the intention. The final segment stars Donald Pleasance as a wife-murdering, adulterous Hollywood actor who becomes the target of retribution by his deceased wife's cat. Not great, but this segment helps to rebuild the film after its near demolition due to the previous segment. Once again, the movie falters in the already mentioned areas, but Donald Pleasance's wonderful, if hammy performance is almost capable of carrying the segment off alone. The length of the segment is the most damaging to this particular part of the film, but overall there is enough to keep the viewer entertained to at least some degree. There is almost a return to the more graphic horror that can be seen in the first segment, but generally the horror is induced through some well executed suspense building techniques which occasionally resulted in a gruesome climax. This segment may not be up to the standard of the first, but it certainly adds the credibility back to the film and is enjoyable enough. This segment would get 7/10 from me. The closing scenes featuring Peter Cushing end the film well with a couple of truly haunting images. While no image could match the haunting aura of the final scenes of ‘The Wicker Man' (1973) or ‘The Omen' (1976) (the two films that I believe to have the most distressing final image), the final scene that features Cushing is remarkably quite unsettling, especially when you consider the rather barmy subject matter. ‘The Uncanny' is far from a great movie, but it has enough redeeming features to make the film enjoyable for one watch. Unfortunately, it is quite hard to take the film seriously, especially when taking the absurd second segment into consideration. It is hard to forget the detrimental effect that the second segment had on the film and thus my rating has been lowered to some extent. My rating for ‘The Uncanny' - 6½/10.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Creaky but enjoyable., 28 July 1999 Author: G.Spider
An anthology containing three tales used by a writer (played by Peter Cushing) in an attempt to warn people that cats are the real rulers of the world. The first story involves a woman who, after suffocating to death her tyrannical employer, is trapped in the house by the employer's vengeful army of cats. The second story is based around the daughter of a witch who comes to live with an adopted family, complete with her late mother's black cat. The third story involves a cat exacting revenge upon its sadistic owner. Though some of the special effects leave something to be desired, the first two stories are well-written and entertaining. The third tale is only okay, but overall the anthology is well worth seeing.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Very silly, but in a good way..., 25 December 2007 Author: Spacelamb from Australia
No need to summarize the plot, given the extraordinary number of reviews on IMDb that explain every nuance with nary a 'spoiler warning' in sight. Then again, if you watch it you'll see every twist years in advance so I guess it doesn't matter. The Uncanny doesn't work on the scary level it's supposed to (unless you have some sort of rampant phobia about domestic cats) but it definitely works on a laugh-out-loud "oh, come on!" level. The interesting thing about the three stories is that cats are presented as instruments of evil when it's actually the humans that are the real antagonists. We were cheering whenever some greedy rotter met their fate at the fangs of a vengeful moggie! The inadvertent message appears to be that if cats really were secret 'World Police' then no evil deed would go unpunished. Given that their price appears to nothing more than a steady supply of cuddles and bowls of milk they could be a great replacement for the UN peacekeeping forces...
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Silly Horror But Fun To Watch, 12 November 2007 Author: FilmFanInTheHouse from Berkshire, England
The Uncanny (1977, Dir. Denis Heroux) Wilbur Gray visits Frank Richards so he can get his book published. This book Gray has written are about cats. Cats watching everyone and controlling everything. He mentions the stories in the book are all true, and gives three examples. The first involves the murder of a cat-loving old woman who gives her entire fortune in her will to her cats. Not everyone is happy about the wills, but would have to get past the cats to get the the will. The second story is a tale of black magic between two girls and the third story is a tale of murderous revenge...by a cat.How many horror movies do you get where cats are the murder suspect? Not many. That's why this movie could come off being simply a bit silly. It isn't very scary, with not many jumps (most of the jumps rely on cats paws appearing). Plus, it seems more comedic than frighting. But, it is still very fun to watch. There's not many films you see like this, and although it won't win any positive awards, i found it very entertaining to watch."Wellington? Wellington? Where are you Wellington?" - Lucy (Katrina Holden)
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Cat-Atonic omnibus., 22 October 2007 Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
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.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Less-than-average anthology about killer cats., 7 December 2006 Author: BA_Harrison from Hampshire, England
A rather silly anthology movie featuring three macabre tales about malevolent cats, The Uncanny is a lacklustre affair despite a solid cast (which includes genre greats Ray Milland, Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance).Cushing plays Wilbur Gray, an eccentric author who attempts to convince his sceptical publisher (Milland) that his latest book is not as unbelievable as it sounds. Gray is convinced that cats are not as docile as they seem and that, in fact, they are in control of us. He illustrates his point by telling three bizarre stories from his latest work.In the first tale, a young woman faces an army of murderous moggies after she bumps off their elderly owner. Story two sees a young girl use witchcraft to get revenge on a spiteful cousin (who has been making life difficult for her and her feline friend, Wellington). And the final tale sees an actor hunted by a killer cat after he murders his wife in order to be with a younger woman.The movie begins promisingly enough with the first tale managing to be both suspenseful and quite bloody. However, the film ultimately disappoints, with the other stories failing either due to their laughable premises or (in the case of the third) the semi-comedic approach taken in its telling.The usually reliable Cushing and Pleasance give rather poor performances: Cushing's character is a jittery crackpot and only serves to annoy, whilst Pleasance proves that comedy is not his forté.I hate to be a sourpuss and make catty remarks, but The Uncanny is definitely NOT the cat's whiskers.
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Lacking in imagination and originality, 18 March 1999 Author: Wizard-8 from Victoria, BC
It doesn't help "The Uncanny" that it starts with a ludicrous premise - cats are supposedly the masters of the world, with humans as their playthings. But what really hurts this movie is that the three stories are painfully predictable, with elements that you've seen in countless anthology films of this kind. Film also has a grainy and cheap look, typical of a Canadian film. Movies like this make me ashamed to be a Canadian. At least it wasn't one of Canada's countless, stupid, and cheap sexual perversion films.
4 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Cat Is the Devil in Disguise, 6 February 2007 Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In 1977, in Montreal, the scared writer Wilbur Gray (Peter Cushing) visits his publisher Frank Richards (Ray Milland) to disclose his new book about the evilness of cats. Wilbur tells that the felines are supernatural creatures, and that there is a saying in which the cat would be the devil in disguise. Wilbur tells three tales to illustrate his thoughts.In 1912, in London, Miss Malkin (Joan Greenwood) is a wealthy woman that rewrites her will leaving her fortune to her cats rather than to her nephew Michael (Simon Williams). Her maid Janet (Susan Penhaligon), also mistress of Michael, steals one copy of the will from the lawyer's briefcase and tries to destroy the original copy which is kept in the safe. When Miss Malkin sees her attempt, Janet kills her and the cats revenge Miss Malkin.In 1975, in the Province of Quebec, the orphan Lucy (Katrina Holden) comes to live with her aunt Mrs. Blake (Alexandra Stewart), her husband and her cuisine Angela (Chloe Frank) after the death of her parents in a plane crash. Lucy brings her only friend, the cat Wellington, but her mean cuisine forces her parents to get rid off Wellington. Lucy uses the witchcraft book of her mother to revenge Wellington.In 1936, in Hollywood, the actor Valentine Death (Donald Pleasence) replaces the blade of a fake pendulum to kill his wife and also actress and give a chance to his young mistress and aspirant actress. The cat of his wife revenges her.In spite of having great names, such as Ray Milland, Peter Cushing, Samantha Eggar and Donald Pleasence among others, the lead story of the afraid writer and his publisher is very weak and silly. With regard to the three tales, the first one is too long; the second one is far the best; and the last one is only reasonable. The soundtrack is very repetitive, monotonous and boring. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Maldição dos Gatos" ("The Curse of the Cats")
Suffering Succotash!, 12 November 2009 Author: Ali_Catterall from London, England
In Neil Gaiman's story 'A Dream of a Thousand Cats', a pussy prophetess summons all the cats in the neighbourhood together and tells them that if they were only to dream of a world ruled by cats - at exactly the same moment - they'd instantly assume dominance over us puny humans.In The Uncanny, it's also the firm belief of Peter Cushing's Wilbur Gray that felines have been controlling our every move since year zero. As the trembling galeophobe admonishes his bemused publisher Frank Richards (Milland), "You let them prowl about just as they please, hardly noticing them, and all the time they're watching us, spying on us, making sure we behave." It's a popular theory; from the dawn of civilisation man has worshipped and demonised the little tinkers in equal measures. If the Egyptians revered them as gods, the ancient Malaysians believed they directed souls from Hell to Paradise; woe betide Malaysian kitty-killers, obliged to lug and pile the same number of coconut tree trunks as the murdered moggy had hairs.Nevertheless, in 1233, Pope Gregory IX's papal bull 'Vox in Rama' branded black cats satanic, precipitating a hairy holocaust; while over the next 500 years, herbalists and OAPs were routinely strangled and barbecued for often no less a crime than keeping a feline familiar. As Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins once blasted, 'Pyewackett' was a name "no mortal could invent". (Wonder what Hopkins would have made of President George Washington's beloved pooches Sweetlips and Vulcan?)From Cat People to Babe, cinema's relationship with cats has always reflected this cultural ambivalence. Shadow Of The Cat (1961) sees a pet taking the law into its own paws after its wealthy elderly mistress is murdered for her loot. Eye Of The Cat (1969) finds a bunch of cats ganging up on the scheming nephew of old Aunt Danny, who's threatening to leave her fortune to a cat's home.Yet among this particular sub-genre, The Uncanny (which shamelessly plunders the plots from those two movies) stands head and twitching tail as one of the stupidest films of the lot.In present-day Montreal, nervy writer Gray, whose previous works on UFOs and the secrets of the pyramids have apparently set the literary world abuzz, reckons he's cracked a trio of unsolved murder cases. As he attempts to convince Richards, far from being harmless (if rather neurotic) domestic pets, puddy tats are in fact evil supernatural beings who secretly rule the world and are forcing humans to do their bidding. "Cats have been exploiting the human race for centuries!" he mews. To prove it, he tells Richards three stories "based on actual evidence" that, he hopes, will highlight their whiskery wickedness.In the first story, set in London in 1912, cat-lady Miss Malkin (Greenwood) is murdered by her wicked nephew's lover for her cat-biased inheritance; the vengeful cats keep her prisoner in the pantry with the cat food, and finally claw her to death, having survived throughout by chowing down on Miss Malkin's corpse.Story two is set in Quebec Province, 1975. Lucy (Holden), whose parents have died in a plane crash, is sent to live with her snooty aunt and brat cousin Angela (Franks), whose idea of fun is to buzz her with a remote-controlled plane, jeering "You haven't got a mummy, you haven't got a daddy, you haven't got anybody!" Using black magic, Lucy shrinks Angela to the size of a mouse; a tasty treat for her cat Wellington.In the final story, set in Hollywood 1936, B-Movie star Valentine De'ath (Pleasence - the best thing in this by miles) murders his wife with a medieval pendulum and casts his adulterous lover Edina in her place for his new picture. However, the pair are dogged by his late wife's cat, who causes Edina's death by iron maiden and runs off with De'ath's tongue.Having heard these dubious tales, Richards (who dotes on a white Persian of his own named Sugar) dismisses them all as coincidence. Gray, whose stories may or may not have been monitored and passed on by little Sugar to his pals throughout, is ambushed by a bunch of alley cats on his way home. Meanwhile the publisher, apparently hypnotised by Sugar, feeds the author's damning dossier to the fireplace.One of the last of the old-school horror anthologies, The Uncanny (a Canadian tax-shelter affair) was Montreal's Astral Films and Rank's belated attempt to muscle in on the Brit-horror market. Despite the heavyweight cast, the involvement of Amicus co-founder Milton Subotsky, and respected lensman Harry (The Wicker Man) Waxman, The Uncanny does look and feel like a sub-standard Hammer knock-off - even down to the mimsy, half-hearted title.Former softcore director Denis Héroux, whose last film this was before turning producer, hasn't a clue how to make a single scene suspenseful or scary. Though the first story doesn't stint on the gore, the sight of dozens of mewling stunt-gonks being tossed at Susan Penhaligon's head is laughable. Likewise, the sight of a sweetly purring Tiddles, scampering cutely after a quaking Cushing.Dull and lifeless, it also makes a mockery of its own central premise. The cats' actions do indeed look like coincidence. And in any case, far from being monstrous, the cats in these stories could be said to be acting entirely from a moral position; maid kills old lady for money - out come the claws. Adulterous actor murders wife - it's scratchy time.The middle section especially makes a Stalinist show trial of the cat's involvement. Wellington the cat is completely innocent; just a hungry bystander to murder. It's Lucy who delivers the killing blow, grinding Angela beneath her heel. Well, where's the damning evidence in that?Cat's Eye (1985), an anthology based on Stephen King stories, would employ an equally spurious and contrived linking motif, but by then, this sub-genre's nine lives were well and truly up.
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