Saz
Starring: Behrouz Vossoughi, Colleen Camp, Sybil Danning
Directed by: Tony Zarin Dast
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Low budget thriller about a man named Bruce (Behrouz Vossoughi) who returns from a mental institution to his father’s estate where the man’s new young wife Susan (Sybil Danning) and chauffeur (Mel Novak) are plotting to murder the old man for his money.
Featured Feline: The only saving grace of this film is Samson, the tuxedo cat which belongs to Bruce. When Bruce returns home he talks to the housekeeper named Ezil (Ursaline Bryant) and she explains how Susan insisted the cat be sent away. Samson was sent to a nice home 50 miles away but somehow managed to return. Bruce is thrilled to find his cat waiting for him and Samson is equally happy to see Bruce, jumping into his arms.
Susan is not as happy to see Samson. The cat had scratched her face and she wants him sent away permanently. When she sees Samson, the cat is making threatening growling noises and acting vicious. This is one of the unintentional laugh-getting moments because the cat is anything but vicious. Samson waves his paw in her direction playfully and the sounds are dubbed in. There couldn’t be a less aggressive cat in the world!
Even later when Susan goes to Bruce’s room to complain about Samson the cat lovingly rubs against her leg. Some killer!
The next scene is even more ridiculous when Bruce rolls a hamster ball with some kind of rat inside (which looks to be dead) and has Samson chase it towards Susan’s room. Susan freaks out but opens her door to Bruce moments later and he asks if they can just get along. Seconds later Samson jumps up and attacks Susan and Bruce simply closes the door and laughs. It’s hard not to laugh because the poor cat actor is literally thrown at the actress playing Susan!
The “attack” is no more than actress Sybil Danning rolling around on the floor with the cat on top of her trying to look like she is being mauled.
Samson appears a few times after this but is only pivotal in a couple more scenes. First when the chauffeur goes missing and Susan calls the police. They hear the cat meowing outside (Samson’s meows can barely be heard when they are outside, it’s unlikely they would be heard inside the huge house) and go out to find Samson digging in some leaves. The policeman uncovers a body in the leaves and Samson runs away.
Finally Samson shows up and seemingly lures Susan to another room where she is attacked.
By the end of the film the cast has all run off and the cat isn’t mentioned again. The cat actor was trained by Frank Inn which probably made Samson one of the more expensive parts of the production.
Final Mewsings: Hopefully Samson walked fifty miles back to the other home to stay!
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