The Cat Creeps

An 'old dark house' mystery based on the play The Cat and the Canary.

How does one write a review of this lost 'old dark house' mystery? Either the reviewer is very old and has an excellent memory (like minstrel3), or they have in their possession the only existing copy and aren't willing to share. Or maybe they're just making stuff up.

Less than two minutes of footage from The Cat Creeps is known to exist, gleaned from a compilation short from 1932 titled 'Boo'; the footage shows a mysterious figure with a hairy, clawed hand emerging from behind a secret panel to terrify Annabelle West (Helen Twelvetrees). It's impossible to ascertain the quality of an entire movie from such brief clips (although 81 people have somehow managed to rate the film on IMDb thus far), suffice to say that it looks like standard spooky old mansion shenanigans.

It's a real shame that the film remains lost -- perhaps the reviewer who gave it such a detailed appraisal will be willing to share their copy one day...

I was 7 when I saw it. I am now three days into 86 and I can still internalize -- vividly -- all of the scary parts, scene by scene and shot by shot. And after seeing it, I wouldn't go to bed with the lights off for months. Also, for many years I was not allowed to see, among others, "The Invisible Man," "Frankentein," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and "Dracula."

I didn't mind.

But I do mind that the film is lost and has been for years. I've been trying to find it so I could see it and exorcize it.

Plus one other thing: They didn't do Parent Guides in 1930, but wouldn't you think it might not be such a great idea to send your seven-year-old to see a movie called "The Cat Creeps"?

The Cat Creeps is a very difficult movie to review. Even harder since IMDB now requires a way to long minimum of six hundred characters in the review. So it forces us to add a lot of padding. No known copies of this movie exist anymore. But in the early 70's my mom told me about old movies she had seen as a young girl in the 30's, and the Cat Creeps was one of them. She said it was pretty good. From what she told me, I gave it a 7. At least there's some basis for a rating there. Wikipedia has a section on "lost films", and one on "partial or incomplete films". This one is listed in the incomplete section.

This. Film. What the hell is this film?

It's been lost for decades and literally no one has found any fragment of this film besides in this stupid little short film called "Boo!" that contained 2 minutes of the film.

I'm starting to doubt it even exists. People haven't put much effort into finding this film, and it's still unlikely that it ever will be found.

Chances are this film wasn't even that good though. Very few films are actually lucky enough to survive more than 10 years.

I don't know why the previous reviewer was so hard on a film he's never seen! THE CAT CREEPS is a "lost" film. To the best of my knowledge, it has never been seen since it's original release in late 1930. The film is worthy of rediscovery for several reasons, including:

A) It has a great cast...one of the best of any film released in 1930;

B) The film was directed by Rupert (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) Julian;

C) It could be considered the first Universal sound horror film, predating DRACULA by 3 months;

D) Cast members Lilyan Tashman and Blanche Friderici co-starred the following year in a wonderful mystery-horror film, MURDER BY THE CLOCK;

E) Star Helen Twelvetrees was a popular early talkie actress...she, along with Constance Bennett, Nancy Carroll, Mae Clarke, Ann Harding, Billie Dove, et al, typified the early sound era;

I hope this title is rediscovered. Paging Kino Video......