by Linda Kay

Directed by: Maury Dexter

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

Synopsis: When architect Scott Campbell (Ron Foster) is employed by a friend to survey a potential estate for sale he takes his wife Nancy (Merry Anders) along with him. Little do they know the troubling events about to unfold in said mansion.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Upon arriving at the house the couple hear the sound of a cat meowing. They soon discover the longhair black cat hiding behind a curtain.

Nancy gathers up the cat and cuddles him, noting that the poor thing must be half starved. “He looks pretty well fed to me!” Scott states. When Nancy shows her compassion for the cat’s situation Scott agrees she can bring him along, as they have milk among the groceries they brought in the car.

Scott goes to try to find a suitable bedroom for them and leaves Nancy alone. She settles into a chair with the cat on her lap and falls asleep.

Awakened by a loud crash, Nancy sets the oddly mellow cat on the chair and goes outside to investigate. Returning moments later the cat is still sitting on the chair, strangely motionless.

That night Nancy and Scott are sleeping in twin beds in the bedroom with the cat curled on a chair in front of a roaring fireplace in the same large room.

The cat meows as an unusual figure enters the room and crosses the floor to steal the ring of keys the couple is using to access the house’s various rooms.

The cat meows again and Nancy wakes up in time to see the door moving.

Having investigated and found nothing, Scott and Nancy come back into the room and Scott pauses to add some wood to the fire. He addresses the cat in the chair, saying, “Fine watchdog you are!”

Still later the employer’s wife Loy (Erika Peters) arrives at the home before her husband. While looking at the bedroom in which Nancy and Scott are staying, Loy notices the cat lying on a bed. “Is this your cat?” she asks as she pets the kitty. “No, she comes with the house,” Nancy explains (now they are calling the cat a she!)

They leave Loy to get settled in and she walks away from the cat to her suitcase. Throughout this scene the cat doesn’t move from the bed and looks a bit too relaxed. After this the cat does not appear again.

Final Mewsings: The cat meowed when someone came in, what more do you expect a watch cat to do?

Many thanks to Brian H for letting us know about the cat in this film.

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