Les Griffes de la peur

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.

Eye of the Cat (1969) is a movie I recently watched on Shudder. The storyline follows a free spirited young man who is scheduled to receive everything his rich aunt has in an inheritance as she lies on her death bed. She recently changed her inheritance to him from her household of cats. As she prepares to sign the documents he arrives at his aunt's estate and warns the young lady with him the cats are more than just cats...she's about to discover what he means.

This movie is directed by David Lowell Rich (That Man Bolt) and stars Michael Sarrazin (Frankenstein: The True Story), Gayle Hunnicutt (The Legend of Hell House), Eleanor Parker (The Sound of Music), Tim Henry (Aliens vs Predator) and Linden Chiles (The Green Hornet).

This storyline is very unique with fantastic characters, settings and circumstances. I was thoroughly impressed with how unique and unpredictable this movie is. They created some cat feeding frenzies that were fun - though the car scene made me uneasy, like a clown car filled with cats. I will say the main character was annoying, and the reading of the will scene was kind of sad but the ending is perfectly executed and worthwhile. There's an awesome wheelchair scene in this too.

Overall this movie isn't perfect but it is entertaining and unique. I would score this movie a strong 7/10 and strongly recommend it.

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!

Gayle Hunnicutt descends on Michael Sarrrazin. He's to return to the home of his wealthy aunt, Eleanor Parker, and she'll change her will from leaving it all to the immense clowder of cats that infests her Nob Hill house to him. Then Miss Hunnicutt will kill Miss Parker, and Sarrazin will give her half the money. He approaches the older woman, but insists on having her remove all the cats before he'll set foot in the place; his ailurophobia is so severe it can induce catatonia -- no pun intended on my part, but I suspect it was what gave writer Joseph Stefano the idea for the story. Sarrazin's brother, Tim Henry, is ordered to drive them away in the Rolls.

There's a lot of psychological creepiness going on here; it's made clear in the dialogue that Miss Parker inherited all the money because she was carrying on an affair with the boys' father, which killed their mother through a broken heart. Whether she is their maternal or paternal aunt is never made clear. However, her attachment to Sarrazin also seems to have a sexual component.

All of which is a nasty red herring to distract from what is going on and how the cats keep sneaking back into the house. I had it figured early on, but just from the general shape of these movies. Although it has the look of a Universal TV movie, this never would have gotten past Standards & Practices. There are a few nice points, like Lalo Schifrin's score, and the editing on the opening by J. Terry Williams. In the end, though, it's nothing special, and doesn't seem to make any point beyond rich people are strange. Which is no surprise, really. They can afford to be.

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.