Directed by: Michael Schaack

This review contains Severe Kitty Carnage Warnings!

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

Synopsis: Based on the popular novels by Akif Pirinçci. A cat named Francis (voiced by Ulrich Tukur) discovers a series of gruesome feline murders taking place in his new neighborhood and he is determined to solve the mystery.

Severe Kitty Carnage Warning! Before even beginning this review, we feel it necessary to point out that it contains some very dark and gruesome imagery. If you recall seeing Watership Down or The Plague Dogs as a child and being traumatized by the sight of bunnies ripping each others’ throats out or dogs being tortured, you might well understand why this film is not for the little ones (much of the dialogue and the overall subject matter is much too graphic for kids anyway). It is a very adult mystery film which just happens to be animated and about cats.

Cartoon Cats: Francis is a black and tan shorthair who moves into a new neighborhood with his owner at the start of the movie. The story is set in a very real world but from a cat’s point of view.

Looking out into the yard for the first time, Francis meets Blaubart (aka Bluebeard, voiced by Mario Adorf), a neighborhood tough who directs his attention to a dead cat with its throat cut open lying on the ground. Blaubart believes the murder to have been committed by a “can opener” (slang for human.) But Frances is not so sure and thinks the murder was committed by another cat.

Francis loves classical music and sometimes falls asleep to it which leads to surreal and disturbing dreams which Francis uses to interpret the mystery.

The local toughs Kong, and his sidekicks, give Francis a hard time and are added to the list of suspects.

Francis suspects the house which he and his owner now occupy used to belong to a doctor. He is startled to find a cult of cats in the attic one night partaking in a freaky ritual of electrocution in the name of a deity they call Claudandus. The sect is headed by a cat named Joker (voiced by Ulrich Wildgruber). Francis also finds evidence of an experimental lab in the attic before the cat cult takes chase after him.

While running from the cult, Francis falls into the home of Felicity (voiced by Mona Seefried), a blind, beautiful gray cat who happens to have overheard some of the murders. She confirms to Francis that the cats who were killed were in the throes of sexual desire. She also informs him that the focus of the cult, Claudandus, was a local cat who was tortured by humans all his life.

Blaubart takes Francis to meet an old, wise cat named Pascal (voiced by Klaus Maria Brandauer). Francis is surprised to see Pascal using a computer to keep a record of all of the cats in the neighborhood. Utilizing this information, Francis realizes that the murdered cats were all European shorthairs. All except Felicity, whom Francis shockingly learns has been decapitated since he last saw her.

Francis has a particularly horrific nightmare with imagery of noted geneticist Gregor Mendel (whose portrait he’d seen in Pascal’s home) and a landscape of mutilated cats.

While chasing rats in his attic, Francis finds a video recording of horrific experiments performed by a former resident of the house named Dr. Preterius (voiced by Gerhard Garbers). The man had been trying to invent a tissue adhesive for the closing of wounds and used cats as his subjects, putting them through unspeakable tortures in the process. The one cat who was the first to survive the experiments was named Claudandus (Latin for “He who must be sealed”.) As the video progresses, it’s clear Dr. Preterius became more and more unhinged.

Kong and his thugs attack Francis, chasing him from the attic before coming upon the body of Kong’s favorite partner, Solitaire, who has had her baby kittens ripped from her belly. A strange old cat is on the scene and they follow him to an underground catacomb full of cat skeletons. They learn his name is Jesaja (Helge Schneider) and he proclaims himself the guardian of the dead, having come from the “suffering dream land” (Preterius’ lab). He explains he was working with Joker, another former lab resident, but that the dead had stopped coming down to him. This makes Francis realize the murders have been going on for a long time.

Another dream involves Francis meeting a prophet cat who calls himself “Felidae” as well as many of the cats he has encountered in his search for the truth.

Francis awakens to the sound of a female cat calling. Outside he finds a beautiful Oriental / Egyptian cat who lures him into having sex. When Francis comments on her unique appearance, she explains that she is not a new breed but in fact a very old one. Blaubart later warns Francis that this new breed, which has been cropping up more and more, is wilder and more dangerous with less domestication but has become popular as pets amongst the upper class of humans.

Joker becomes Francis’ main suspect because of his connection with the Claudandus cult until a young member of the cult says Joker told her Claudandus actually survived. Francis realizes he’s on the wrong track when he finds Joker murdered. He further deduces that the cats that were killed were either trying to have sex with the females of the new breed or carrying kittens of other breeds.

The light finally shines when Francis returns to Pascal’s home, also the home of Dr. Preterius’ former assistant Ziebold. There he confronts Pascal who admits to being Claudandus. Claudandus confesses that he killed Dr. Preterius and was then taken in by Ziebold where he learned about genetics. He decided to use eugenics to regress cats back to their former wild glory and strength with the desire to restore them to the top of the animal hierarchy and have their revenge on mankind. Claudandus had hoped that Francis would become his successor but Francis is disgusted and tries to erase the computer program containing all the genetics data. The two fight, knocking over the computer and setting the house on fire.

During the battle, Francis ends up disemboweling Claudandus then escapes the burning house, putting an end to the murders and the mystery.

This German animated film is not well known in the States but well worth seeking out (it is available on Region 2 DVD with an English dub version but an official German language / English subtitled version on DVD is sorely missing! Fortunately, YouTuber Kyle has put together an English sub version which you can view below.)

Final Mewsings: Cats make good sleuths!

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