Hollywood Pictures
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman
Directed by: Frank Marshall
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: A family relocates to a small California town not realizing that a rare and deadly species of South American spider has also taken up residence.
Kitty Cameos: The body of a photographer working on the expedition that discovers the rare spiders in South America is flown back to the States and ends up in the funeral home in this small town. The funeral director (Roy Brocksmith) sets down his sandwich to help open the case with the body and while he’s on the phone the spider emerges. In the meantime, a calico cat snatches the top piece of bread from the unattended sandwich.
The spider makes it way across the floor just as a dog enters through a pet door. The dog stops, startled. The cat is then seen eating the bread but looks up, startled.
Moments later the dog runs back out through the pet door and the cat is not far behind. The spider crawls out afterwards.
Later the new residents, Dr. Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels) and his wife Molly (Harley Jane Kozak), attend a party at their neighbor Margaret’s (Mary Carver) house. We see a long-haired orange cat walking on the balcony of the second story home. The cat’s name is Felix.
After the party Felix is seen sitting on a sofa inside. A spider is sitting nearby, eyeing the cat.
Margaret enters the room and pets Felix.
Just as the spider is about to jump on the cat, Margaret picks him up and puts him outside. The next morning Dr. Jennings comes to call on Margaret and finds Felix outside meowing to be let in.
Dr. Jennings picks up Felix and continues to knock, not realizing Margaret has been killed by the spider.
Cat Corpse: Near the end of the film the body of a cat is seen caught in a spider web.
Final Mewsings: Cats are usually too smart to mess with killer spiders.
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