Invasión felina

Is it a horror movie? A spoof? Are the movie's creators really trying to rip-off Fatal Attraction? Is this a movie about an alternative universe? I don't know.

All I know is one night I was flipping channels and saw Timothy Busfield wrestling with a soggy kitty puppet and throwing it around his kitchen and had one of the best laughs of my entire life.

I spent the next few years searching for this movie.

When I finally saw it again and watched the whole thing I was bored to tears and irritated by the stupidity of the characters and late 80's "TV movie" budget.

Then I got my money's worth.

I love cats, don't get me wrong, but I find something inherently, cruelly, disturbingly funny about cats being abused in movies (ex: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation), and this one tops them all.

See: **cats being flung at windshields**Kathleen Quinlan tossing (fake) cats around like dirty socks after she thinks they're eating her baby**K.Q. in the same scene squeezing a cat up against the wall with the door after it attacks her hateful girl-child. The cat grunts on the soundtrack, and I'm rolling on the couch in paroxysms of laughter**Timothy Busfield in a career-ending wrestling match with a gamey, fur covered puppet. He throws it out the window, chucks it into a microwave and threatens it with electroshock therapy, but it keeps coming back for more, always accompanied by those great stock "cat screech" sound f/x used in comedies.

People who have an unhealthy love of cats as "cute, darling little pets" should stay away, they won't be amused. For the rest of us, who recognize that cats are cute but have claws and fangs for a reason (to kill things with) and think they're kind of weird and creepy even at the best of times, there are some unforgetful laff-out-loud moments.

I'm laughing as I write this, thinking about the last scene. Thank you, Hollywood, for this stupid, stupid movie!!

I've heard of a "wolf pack" (think Nazi U-boats). I've heard of the "Rat Pack" (think Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. etc.). Now we have the "Cat Pack": think gang of furry ferocious crazed felines on a bloodthirsty rampage in some old house out in the middle of nowhere, terrorizing a hapless young family, and you basically have the premise for this movie.

I can't say it's entirely a bad premise, but unfortunately it doesn't come off well in this movie. 'Lame and un-scary' doesn't begin to describe this mess of a film. My overall reaction: much like you'd do with a bad kitty who claws the sofa legs, you want to take a rolled up newspaper and give this movie a good swat on the rear end.

The acting by everyone involved is embarrasing (especially the wife and kid, who, traumatized by cat-induced fear and shock, overplay their overblown reactions so bad that you'd swear you'd seen better acting in your junior high school play). As for Claudia Christian, who later went on to fame and fortune in Babylon 5 as Susan Ivanova, well, the less said the better.

A great theme song for this movie would have been "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads - only with the name and lyrics changed to "Psycho Kitty". Now that would have been a nice touch. Meow. Purrrrrr.

A divorce attorney(Timothy Busfield)and his wife(Kathleen Quinlan)buy a desolate country home and are terrorized by a pack of wild, angry and hungry cats. Film does have its moments of panic and at times is actually scary. Otherwise pretty bland horror flick. I did enjoy the rainy, thunder filled scenes. The film's highlight for me was sister-in-law Claudia Christian(a real feline threat). Written and co-produced by Shaun Cassidy.

This movie has a very interesting plot. A family moves into a new home and are terrorized by cats. It just sounds like another "nature out of control" killer animal type movies. And it is, but with cats. Come on, CATS! You could probably name any animal and it would probably have a horror movie about it, but I think that cats is probably the absolute worst choice for an animal killer. Like another user said, Cujo can tear your leg off, Jaws can chew you to bits, and insects can bite and swarm, but cats weight about 10 lbs, and the only thing they can do is scratch and bite. Any other animal would have made this movie scarier, even mice. Of course, there are horror movies about them, and they are scary because, they can bite and swarm, but when cats have always been looked at as "cute and cuddly" pets, a movie like this doesn't seem as scary as all the others. It just looks stupid. If you are a catlover, stay away from this at all costs. I, myself, am a catlover, and after watching it, you just sorta get a weird feeling. The only good thing about this movie is the acting, which I think was pretty decent. The cast did good when pretending to be afraid of these cats. This movie has wasted all nine of it's lives.

Paul (Timothy Busfield, "Revenge of the Nerds") and Lindsey (Kathleen Quinlan, "Apollo 13") are a big city couple who move to the country, with their adorable daughter Tessa (played by twins Heather and Jessica Lilly) in tow. All seems well at first, but it turns out that the immediate area has a VERY bad feral cat problem. Eventually, this gang of cats start attacking these schmuck humans en masse.

"Strays" is so very, very average. Even in its more suspense-oriented final half hour, it offers little in the way of thrills, although the fiendish felines are clearly as well trained as cats can be. The leader of these cats IS a pretty nasty looking creature. The dopey script is by Shaun Cassidy (yeah, THAT Shaun Cassidy), who also functions as co-producer, and his dialogue is pretty bad overall. His script is plenty predictable; when Paul & Lindsey acquire a dog, one automatically assumes that the poor thing is going to come to a bad end.

The main plus is a supporting performance by super-sexy Claudia Christian ('Babylon 5'). She plays Claire, Lindsey's vampish sister who Paul is representing in a divorce case. Also co-starring is the great character actor William Boyett ("The Hidden"), who's a hoot as a gruff veterinarian. Busfield and Quinlan try to be likeable, but their characters are pretty insipid; these two have been better served in other projects. The twist is that allergy-prone Paul must be the one to figure out how to deal with the problem.

This is NOT for hardcore horror fans. With an extremely minimal body count, and a lack of scares and tension (not to mention gore), this will mostly appeal to viewers who get a kick out of bad movies.

Five out of 10.