by Linda Kay

Also Known As: Raatri

English Title Translation: Night

Directed by: Ram Gopal Varma

This review contains a severe Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Combine elements of Audrey Rose, Pet Semetary, Amityville Horror, Evil Dead and The Exorcist to get this classic Indian horror film which finds teenaged girl Minnie (Revathi) acting increasingly unlike herself after her family moves into a new home with an eerie back story.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): While venturing into the cellar, Minnie’s little nephew, Bunty (Master Ateet), is surprised to find a white kitten with calico markings.

The boy immediately becomes attached to the kitten and that night feeds her under the table. Minnie’s mother, Shalini (Rohini Hattangadi) has their houseboy Narayan (C.V.L. Narasimha Rao) take the kitten away.

That night the kitten is in a tree outside Minnie’s room watching her.

The next morning Bunty tries to sneak the kitty to school in his knapsack (which is moving on the kitchen table way more than a kitten could manage . . . plus it takes an incredibly long time for anyone to notice!) Shalini finally discovers the kitten and sets her on the floor.

Kitty Carnage Warning! After Bunty goes to school, the kitten is outside and finds something to eat on the ground. Sharma (Akash Khurana) backs his car out of the driveway and accidentally runs over the poor thing (the death is shown as blood on the tire of the vehicle).

The mother and father have Narayan bury the kitten without telling Bunty. This scene is disturbing because it is clear a real kitten, with a bit of fake blood on its body, is put into the hole and has dirt pushed over part of its body (they appear to avoid the kitten’s head, thankfully. The kitten’s body twitches, showing it is alive but likely drugged.) Several times it is mentioned that a cat’s death in your house brings bad luck.

Bunty is happy when his kitten returns that night but Shalini is freaked out seeing the kitten alive again. When Sharma goes to see what has happened he does not see a kitten in the room. But to put Shalini at her ease he surmises that Bunty probably found a similar looking kitten.

During a tense moment a stuffed cat which has been present throughout the film is given a close up.

In the end when all the evil spirits have been supposedly exorcised from the premises, the film ends with a still frame of Bunty picking up the kitten in a classic “The End?” moment.

Final Mewsings: Evil spirits who bring kittens back to life can’t be all bad.

Relevant Links:

To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on Facebook and Twitter.