Eye of the Cat

I loved this film! I've seen both versions and I own both versions interesting to see the differences.

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.

***SPOILERS*** Terrifying film set in San Francisco literately about this cat-house that as hoards of feral cats lead by an orange tabby protecting their master the bed ridden and suffering from emphysema Aunt Danny, Eleanor Parker, from her greedy and murderous relatives that are out to do her in an gets their hands on her millions. Headed by Aunt Danny's cat hater, and he has good reasons to, nephew Wylie, Michael Sarrazin,who together with his girlfriend Kassia, Gayle Hunnicutt, plan to get Aunt Danny to leave her fortune to Wylie and write her beloved cats, that are in the hundreds, out of her will.

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.

As I was watching this movie there were many moments when I was a bit embarrassed with the quirkiness of this film and some of the expense fell short but something something seemed unique about this movie - some vague feeling of charm which is probably thanks to the cinematography and setting throughout the movie (which takes place in California).This movie is definitely not a classic and I will tell you why.

Eye of the Cat (1969)** (out of 4)Aunt Danny (Eleanor Parker) is close to dying and at the current time she plans on leaving her money to her cats. Hairdresser Kassia (Gayle Hunnicutt) learns of this and tracks down her nephew Wylie (Michael Sarrazin) so that they can kill her and get her money.

'Eye of the Cat' is moody and twisty little thriller. Written by Joseph Stefano who also wrote the screenplay of 'Psycho' but don't expect the suspense on that level.

Joseph Stefano (who wrote the script for PSYCHO), is responsible for this script which is fine until about mid-point when the story starts to fall apart. He drops the theme of terrifying cats for awhile and then has them emerge once more just for the rather hokey climax.

"Eye of the Cat", an excellent, very intense film, has suffered from bad reviews as a result of the two versions that have been floating around out there (see alternate versions). Would love to see "Eye of the Cat" in its original theatrical version as it was intended, which featured a black cat and dozens more feral felines (stunning and scary).