Directed by: Hope Perello
This review contains severe Kitty Carnage Warnings!
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Mysterious carnival owner Harker (Bruce Payne) captures and displays “freaks” for his sideshow, including young werewolf Ian (Brendan Hughes).
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): One of the freaks Harker displays as Alligator Boy is Winston (Sean Sullivan). Winston visits Ian in his cage and brings a ginger tabby cat with him. He asks Ian if he thinks Harker will let him keep the cat.
Winston explains that he has named the cat Winston-Salem II after himself.
He hands the cat over to Ian before showing off his latest growling techniques.
Ian tenderly tells Winston that he should not consider himself a freak, but Winston is not convinced.
Kitty Carnage Warnings! When Harker first displays his werewolf, a stunned audience, including Winston, watches Ian change before their eyes into a raging beast. Winston is even more shocked when Harker pulls his cat out of a bag, holding the poor animal up by the scruff.
Harker throws the cat to Ian, and the poor animal is tormented as Ian growls and acts as if he’s going to kill the cat. Obviously the cat actor has no idea what is going on at this point. How the actor kept from being mauled by the terrified cat is concerning (we hope the cat had not been declawed but no claws are visible when the cat has its paws out in defense.)
When Ian sees Winston’s horrified face, he softens. He then throws the cat to Winston, which angers Harker.
Later Winston walks in on Carl / Carlotta (Christopher Morley) and Toones (Deep Roy). Carl / Carlotta is petting the cat on his lap but then picks up the limp animal and hands him to Winston, saying that this is what he does to friends of freaks. Winston is broken hearted. Supposedly a fake cat was used for this scene.
The animal trainers on the film were Rob Bloch, John Baldwin and Karen Thomas-Kolakawski working for Critters of the Cinema.
Final Mewsings: Cat actors don’t know what’s going on when people are making movies!
Many thanks to Mark Murton for letting us know about the cat in this film.
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