Les Griffes de la peur

This movie was partially re-shot and re-edited for television, and that's the only version that ever turns up. I sure wish the original theatrical version would become available on VHS or DVD. I remember this as being a wonderfully atmospheric, creepy movie. I was shocked the first time I viewed it on TV, because I vividly remembered a climactic scene where Gayle Hunnicutt was descending a big staircase and being chased and overtaken by a virtual sea of cats running around and past her. It was a visually stunning shot. Yet, in the televised version, she was being chased by one (count it) ONE solitary little kitty! It looked ridiculous, and you had to assume she was running based on some intense phobia, which isn't really established earlier in the story. This is a little gem, which deserves being restored to its theatrical release version.

Just saw a beautiful theatrical print of "Eye of the Cat" for the first time last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Most of the reviewers have already said what I wanted to say, but I wanted to mention my favorite part of the movie: the menacing and evil music whenever they show the main cat. The cat is just so adorable that when combined with the macabre music it just comes off as laughable. Aside from some campiness, this movie is entirely engrossing and was amazingly shot - the opening De Palma-esquire split-screens are fantastic and San Francisco has never looked so beautiful. It's a crime that this movie isn't on DVD!

This is not a great movie but it still fascinates 35 years later. It is obviously influenced by Hitchcock's "The Birds" but it also seems to be inspired by Curtis Harrington's excellent "Games" from a couple of years earlier. ("Games" is influenced by the French film "Diabolique." They both star Simone Signoret.) And, in fact, the closing shots of "Games" and "Eye of the Cat" are very similar, but that is not the only similarity. In "...Cat" Michael Sarrazin attempts a kind of decadence achieved by Signoret in "Games." And there is more: Sarrazin and Eleanor Parker and company play mind-games with one another, just like the "Games." I don't want to give away the implied perversities of either movie, but there are plenty, and they make both Universal Studios films worth watching. I also won't give away the most memorable suspense sequence, filmed in ersatz Hitchcock, subjective style. If you see the movie, you will spot it.

Sarrazin's brother is played by a handsome guy named Tim Henry who apparently never made another film. Gayle Hunnicut is gorgeous in her 1960s ensembles and big hair. Judy Garland's 4th husband, Mark Herron, appears briefly in a silent role - an upscale hairdresser - during the opening credits.

The cinematographer on the film was Russell Metty who photographed lots of Douglas Sirk movies and you can certainly see his style. The main set of the movie, the foyer of a large home with a winding staircase, is very much like the main set in Sirk's "Written on the Wind" and Metty uses the foyer's mirror and a vase of flowers in the same way as the earlier film. And even though "...Cat" is set in 1969, it has that distinctive, slick, Alexander Golitzen/Universal Studios look.

I have a tape of "Eye of the Cat" that I got on television 20 years ago. Unfortunately, it is the "revised" version, with some scenes missing and a couple of small moments seem to have been added. The original film is not available on commercial tape or DVD. Sure would be nice to be able to see it again.

A sense of unease encapsulates this movie, from the characters to the cats and the music. The opening credits even have a sinister feel about them with the silhouettes of cats on the prowl. Aunt Danny has a respiratory condition where she has a severe problem with her lungs. Cue the vultures, her nephew Wylie and his friend Kassia plan to make the Aunt change her will so that he gets it instead of her beloved cats. Trouble is Wylie is petrified of cats and when they suddenly reappear at the house he goes into a state of shock.

The 3 leads are all great in this little known horror/thriller but it's the creepy cats that stand out the most.

Ailurophobia is the fear of cats - our star, Michael Sarrazin, has got it badly. This is one of the better movies where our feline house cats are made to look fiercely deadly to humans. Give this film a try -- really good.

7/10