Cat Sick Blues

From what I read on the synopsis and some of the reviews here on IMDb, then I decided to sit down to watch "Cat Sick Blues", because it did seem like it might actually be odd enough to actually be good.

However, I was wrong. "Cat Sick Blues" fell far outside of what I consider to be a properly entertaining movie, and it was just way too bizarre and slow paced for my liking. And I can't claim to have found any interest in the storyline or the characters portrayed in the movie.

The movie is about a deranged man's urge to kill people and transform himself into a cat in an attempt to bring back his dead cat.

Weird! And it wasn't even enjoyable weird, not in any way. There just wasn't anything worthwhile in watching a nerd in a red shirt and a cat mask wearing an oversized strap-on dildo while killing people. It was just a sad excuse of a movie.

I made it through just about halfway before I just lost the will to go on. And it was either watch something else or start using my mobile phone, so I opted for watching something else, because not even the dialogue in "Cat Sick Blues" proved to be fun or entertaining.

As for the acting in the movie, well I am sure that people were doing adequate jobs, but it just didn't take a hold with me, and I wasn't impressed with what I saw.

With no intention of returning to finish "Cat Sick Blues", then I am rating it a mere two out of ten stars, given the fact that it did have some fair enough production value to it.

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.

Now there seem to be a couple of short movies - which I have not watched, so can't say or tell you what to make of them. But they all seem to have the main role (baddie) in common. I reckon the theme is similar in them too. You have someone who lost his cat and is ... well "mourning" in a way that is not really good for others. And that is putting it mildly.

There is a lot of sick stuff here, some can be seen other things only heard. Like the sexual attack our main heroine has to endure. Right after something horrible happens to her cat. One of the major issues being that the acting talent is not enough to convince us of much here.

On the other hand, it is not like the script is super tight or the direction would remind one of any great horror movie legend either. Now not everyone can be the best in what they do - or it may also be the lack of money the movie had (or didn't have). There are some interesting concepts and ideas ... but the production values are not helping.

This feels a bit like amateur hour, but it has some bright (violent) spots. Overall disgusting and appalling - which you can see as a badge of honor or as something you are not going to watch for sure. That will be up to you. But it never goes as extreme as other movies have gone (there is one scene in particular where our main bad guy is rewatching a video tape and it seems like was going to do something horrible in the video ... but we cut away or rather he rewinds to a different place/timecode, to watch a different kind of sick moment instead)

This is quite possibly the worst film I've watched in all of 2021. Seriously, this movie is just terrible, but I watched it and I was curious as to how it would end, and when I got to the end I decided that it was even worse than I thought it would be, so let me break it down for you in the easiest way I know how.

Direction- Abysmal. Student film level camera angles, poor composition, terrible transitions and a complete lack of talent in how to frame a convincing scene. It's so bad, I just don't understand how this person is allowed to direct a wedding video, let alone a feature film.

Acting- The lowest point of the film, every single person in this movie was terrible. The lead female was a travesty of the greatest magnitude, but every single person in this movie was untalented, struggled to emote properly while others struggled to remember their lines, and the actual death scenes where rife with the most overacted and hilariously bad performances this side of Sharknado. I am embarrassed for these people. It was a disgrace.

Special effects- I just don't know how anyone could have thought that red paint and water/food coloring makes for convincing blood. It doesn't! No SFX used in this movie looked convincing, and the few that were almost passable were still poorly done. It was like a neighborhood haunted house levels of lame.

Cinematography- The absolute worst part of this steaming pile of garbage. The cinematographer has to be the worst one I have seen in a movie in quite a while. It's like this person had no idea what he/she was doing, and it yielded an ugly movie with bad angles, poor framing, and a sore eye of a film. It was literally and figuratively hideous to watch.

Ultimately, I'm just embarrassed for anyone who thought it was a good idea to attach their names to this. It was horrible, and not in a "so bad it's good" type of way. It was truly, utterly abhorrent in every possible way, and you are better off ignoring it exists. I am not exaggerating in any way. This movie is absolute trash.

People, I know you have friends and family that make these movies and you want to support them, I get that. But telling them that stuff like this is good is not doing a service to them or to the people who ultimately have to watch it. Stop lying to these people and let them know that their work just isn't good. Trust me, it's better for them, and it's really good for the audience as we are spared any more of this sophomoric bile.

Oh, I gave it 3 stars for the music. Some of it reminded me of Silent Hill's soundtrack.

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.