Cat Sick Blues

I liked much of Cat Sick Blues because it's twisted and different. Its opening is very strong (killer music, man) and parts of it are enjoyably visceral, like the scene where Ted remembers his cat exploding.

Other parts of Cat Sick Blues are unpleasant, and bad unpleasant, even for horror. Case in point: the rape scenes. The argument against pornography is that it objectifies women: it turns them into sexual objects. Very obviously, that goes for rape and murder, and women seem to exist only in this movie to become brutalized. Additionally, the barbed, phallic prosthetic that Ted wears is nothing short of disgusting.

These major shortcomings aside, much of Cat Sick Blue can be enjoyed: its tone, editing, colour, and sound are all well done. There are some great images, like Ted running down the canal, scaring away the seagulls, as well as the opening credits. I especially like the music and the screwed up mood Cat Sick Blues shoots for. Additionally, our leads, played by Shian Denovan and Matthew C. Vaughan, both bring a lot to the film. Shian especially, a beautiful and talented young actress. (Go Scotland!)

...But I can't condone the rape scenes. I know horror is meant to appeal to the senses, but those scenes are gratuitous. And the less said about Ted's prosthetic the better.

If you are like me and can separate make believe carnage from real life carnage, this movie is a real treat. The protagonist is a lovely female who posts popular cat videos on the internet. She gets in a bit of pickle when she finds love from an unexpected male consort.

Absurdly demented and thoroughly gut wrenching--you have to keep telling yourself it's only ketchup it's only ketchup it's only ketchup.

Both a novel concept and horrendously dark, I give 10 out of 10 dismembered cats on this one. Only for the horror aficionado and those into dark soul-crushing irony.

Bravo, blood-splattered champion, bravo.

Thanks to social media, I've probably seen almost as many comical cat videos as I have horror films. With Cat Sick Blues, director Dave Jackson merges the funny feline phenomenon with the extreme horror genre to deliver a very gory and uniquely disturbing experience to surprise, disgust and delight fans of truly twisted cinema.

Jackson opens his film with two girls passing time getting high while watching performing pussycat Imelda, the star of their favourite online video channel. Their fun is interrupted, however, by a psycho killer in a rubber cat mask, who decapitates his victims and collects their blood in jars.

The action then moves to the apartment of Claire (Shian Denovan), owner of internet sensation Imelda, who answers her door to a fan; this proves to be a big mistake when the visitor accidentally kills Claire's kitty and then proceeds to rape the distraught woman.

Unable to get over the incident, Claire visits a group for grieving pet owners (as opposed to a rape crisis centre), where she befriends Ted (Matthew C. Vaughan), unaware that he is the cat-mask wearing killer (now with taloned gloves and a foot long prosthetic cat penis as part of his ensemble) who has been hacking off the heads of local women in the belief that their blood will somehow revive the corpse of his beloved moggie Patrick.

With a totally unique killer (in addition to his creepy cat costume, Ted also mewls like a cat to add to the unsettling effect), lots of gore (severed heads, a smashed face and slashed throats that spurt gallons of blood), some sly commentary about all that is wrong with social media, and a general sense of the macabre, Cat Sick Blues is one of those films that has to be seen to be believed and which is hard to forget.

I was one of 142 backers on Kickstarter that helped Dave Jackson and Andrew Gallagher raise $14,500 to make their debut feature film Cat Sick Blues. Every cent of that money is visible on screen.

It's a confident first film. It is well shot and sometimes very creative, experimenting with black-and-white, slow motion, reversed footage, etc. The acting is better than any other low-budget horror film that I have seen in a long time – Matthew Vaughn is very creepy as the 'Catman', and Shian Denovan is solid as the other lead. It should also be mentioned that the music is diverse and incredibly effective. Really, there's was a lot to love about this film.

Admittedly, some of the dialogue felt a little clumsy, and it jumped around a lot tonally. These were just minor quibbles though.

The special effects were really impressive. It's a pretty violent, gory film – lots of severed heads and big barbed cat dildos. This lead to a lot of memorable images – A black-and-white scene featuring a trunk and bizarre catman will stay with me for a while, as well as the excellent hostel massacre.

I also wanted to mention the ending. The plot takes an unnecessary detour in the last 15 minutes, stumbling after a strong run. The idea itself is sound and could have been effective if shortened, but is too overlong to feel worthwhile. Despite this, in its final minutes the film is able to recover and ends on a sad, satisfying note.

I really hope they are able to find a distribution deal for this little gem. If you are able to see it at some point in the future at a festival or after its eventual release, I highly recommend that you do so. You won't regret it. Hell, even if you do regret it, I'm sure you'd agree that Jackson and Gallagher are filmmakers that will be worth keeping an eye on.

First and foremost, Cat Sick Blues is not for everyone and will be far too off-kilter for most casual movie fans. On the flip side, this type of movie is exactly why I, as an avid horror fan, watch hundreds of hours of crap just to find a gem like this one. I hadn't heard of Cat Sick Blues before seeing it and was absolutely blown away by its sheer audacity.

There are literally so many WTF moments, that it's hard to keep up. Best of all, it's quite funny (hitting a similar tone as 2019's Benny Loves You), making it another little demented guilty pleasure. This one is really targeted soley at horror fans, who have already been groomed by this type of creative and bloody mayhem.

There is an underlying social commentary about the pitfalls of social media, for those who like that sort of thing. Ted is also very creepy, as a person and also in his cat suit.

Winner of numerous awards at the A Night of Horror International Film Festival, this partially crowdfunded film may be fairly low budget, but it's also one of the best horror features I have seen of late.