Stephen King's Cat's Eye (1985)
Starring: Drew Barrymore, James Woods, Alan King
Directed By: Lewis Teague
****Spoilers****
Cat's Eye is a nifty little 80's anthology film written by Stephen King and directed by Lewis Teague (Alligator, Cujo). It was probably one of the first horror/fantasy ventures that I decided to take on, due to being too young and wimpy to delve into a hard R rated scare-fest at the time. Thankfully, be it for nostalgia or some other reason, it still has a warm place in my heart 26 years later. I've always had a soft spot for anthology films or shows like Twilight Zone, Tales From the Crypt, Creepshow, etc... They are always quick and to the point, and the payoffs are almost always a shocker.
This type of movie usually has either a narrator that introduces the viewer into the stories at hand (Crypt Keeper, Rod Serling), or has a key character that somehow weaves in and out of all the tales taking place. Obviously in this film, said character is a cute little gray cat littered with black stripes. During the 1st and 2nd story, he is called upon by apparition like visions for help, and once you get to the 3rd and last half of the film you realize why.
The first tale of Cat's Eye is known as Quitter's Incorporated – Dick Morrison (James Woods) goes to a clinic to kick a smoking habit. He is quickly turned off, once the Doctor (Alan King) demands his pack of cigarettes and begins screaming like a mad-man and punching and breaking the cancer sticks into his office desk. Dick is forced to stay and watch the aforementioned cat being electrocuted (not to death) in a confined room with a one-sided mirror. The Doctor tells him that for the next month he will be under constant supervision, and if he smokes, his family will meet the same fate as the cat. If he's seen smoking more than once, the penalties will become much greater.
James Woods (Vampires, Contact) and the late Alan King (Rush Hour 2, Casino) absolutely shred in their roles of the smoker and the clinic Doctor. If you have ever been a smoker trying to kick the habit, you can easily relate to the portrayal given here by Mr. Woods. It's a task that seems hopeless at times, painful at others, sometimes you just don't know what to do with yourself, and he makes it extremely believable. King, as the Doctor, plays an excellent maniac; A man who will metaphorically become the devil himself to scare the nic-fit out of his patients
Our second story is called The Ledge – Johnny Norris(Robert Hays) is well on his way to skipping town with a married woman. Problem is, she's married to an extremely rich and jealous casino owner named Cressner (Kenneth McMillan), a man who will place a bet on anything. Cressner has some of his henchman kidnap Norris and bring him to his penthouse to give him an ultimatum; Johnny must scurry around the entire building ledge of Cressner's high-rise penthouse. If he succeeds, Norris can leave town with his lover. If he declines, he'll be arrested for a hefty amount of heroin that Cressner had planted in the trunk of Johnny's car.
Kenneth McMillan (Salem's Lot '79, The Stepford Wives '75) makes his character hate-worthy as hell right from the start, by placing a bet with another man on whether our cat can cross a road full of high-speed traffic. The cat's demeanor will play a much more vital role in how the second story unravels. Robert Hays gives enough in his performance to make Johnny Norris a sympathetic character. Even if you learn little about this person, you want him to succeed just for the simple reason that Cressner is a stain on the face of humanity.
The third and last story is called General – And this is the name our mysterious cat is finally given, once he shows up to the home of Sally (Candy Clark), Hugh (James Naughton), and their little girl, Amanda (Drew Barrymore). The daughter immediately falls in love with this cat that as literally traveled states to get to his destination, and begs her Mother to keep him. Sally reluctantly agrees, but puts her foot down at her daughter's request of letting General stay in the house overnight. The Dad is a bit more of a softy on the subject, and tries reasoning with his wife on the subject, but it is to no avail once the pet bird turns up dead. Amanda insists that the perpetrator is an evil troll that comes through the bedroom wall in the middle of the night, and she firmly believes General is her protector.
James Naughton (Planet of the Apes TV series) and Candy Clark (Amityville 3D, The Blob '88) have their parts down-pat of loving parents, and Drew Barrymore was one hell of a child actress, as she had previously proved in Firestarter. I can certainly relate to this element of the story, in terms of the Father/Daughter relationship, as my little one has me wrapped around her little finger. I really wanted to use this area of the review to give the cat credit where credit is due, but he is sadly not listed on IMDB and Wikipedia. It's a shame, because he appears to have been well-trained, especially in this segment of the film. So, for what it's worth, General was fantastic!
Director, Lewis Teague, sadly didn't do a lot of genre oriented work after this picture, and the lot of his career are TV movies and film shorts. Cat's Eye is pretty straight forward and basic in terms of directing, but there is still a lot of charm here, as well as what he did in Cujo.
I always like when Stephen King writes the screenplay for his film adaptations, I feel it is when you get the closest to true representation of his stories. I'm not hating on King adaptations he didn't write, but I do admire the atmosphere he helps provide. Quitters Inc. and The Ledge appear in his short story collection, Night Shift.
There's not a lot in terms of FX in the film, until the last story when the troll comes in, but he looks eerily brilliant, and actually has a morbid cuteness about him. He's dressed like a homeless jester, with cat bells that dangle from his hat, and his face is home to beady red eyes and a pointy smile that runs a mile wide. Props to the creature FX team for bringing this creature to life. Visual FX is what you would expect from a mid-eighties film. Not great, but certainly not horrible.
So, Cat's Eye is a childhood classic for me. Not over the top violent, just a simple, fun slice of PG-13 fantasy.
Trivia- There is a cover version of the Police song 'Every Breath You Take” that plays in two parts of the film, and it works perfectly in both segments. The license for acquiring the actual Police version was too expensive, so they went with a cover version. Perhaps not as effective as it could have been, but you still get the gist of it.
