Deadly Eyes (1982)

by Mark Murton

Also Known As: The Rats

Directed by: Robert Clouse

This review contains an Implied Kitty Carnage Warning!

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

Synopsis: Corn grain contaminated with steroids produces giant rats (suspiciously the size of Dachshunds) who soon begin attacking the residents of Toronto.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Health Inspector Kelly Leonard (Sara Botsford) and her colleague George (Scatman Crothers) are at the docks examining a consignment of grain. As Kelly is informing the owner, Lester Hymes (George Merner), that the entire consignment is a health hazard and will have to be destroyed immediately, George appears carrying a cat.

Deadly Eyes - Kelly Sara Botsford with George Scatman Crothers picking up longhair ginger tabby cat in background
Deadly Eyes - Kelly Sara Botsford and Lester George Merner approaching George Scatman Crothers holding longhair ginger tabby cat in background

As Hymes tries to delay the inevitable, first offering a bribe and then threatening legal action, George stands next to him cradling the cat.

Deadly Eyes - Kelly Sara Botsford and Lester George Merner walking with George Scatman Crothers holding longhair ginger tabby cat
Deadly Eyes - Kelly Sara Botsford and Lester George Merner walking with George Scatman Crothers holding longhair ginger tabby cat
Deadly Eyes - Kelly Sara Botsford and Lester George Merner with George Scatman Crothers holding longhair ginger tabby cat
Deadly Eyes - Lester George Merner with George Scatman Crothers holding longhair ginger tabby cat

With Hymes’s plea unsuccessful, George sets the cat on the ground.

Deadly Eyes - longhair ginger tabby cat being set on snowy ground

We follow the cat as it climbs some steps and enters a convenient gap between a pile of pallets.

Deadly Eyes - longhair ginger tabby cat entering gap in pallets
Deadly Eyes - longhair ginger tabby cat walking between pallets
Deadly Eyes - longhair ginger tabby cat walking between pallets animated gif

Implied Kitty Carnage Warning! Inside the dark space the silhouettes and sounds of the rats surround the cat until it is attacked (by what appears to be a rat puppet). The scene cuts to outside the pile of pallets as the sounds of the distressed cat fills the air.

Deadly Eyes - longhair ginger tabby cat being attacked by rat between pallets
Deadly Eyes - longhair ginger tabby cat being attacked by rat between pallets
Deadly Eyes - longhair ginger tabby cat being attacked by rat between pallets

Final Mewsings: The cat actor preferred being attacked by a puppet rat as opposed to having to dress up as a rat.

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