by Mark Murton

Director: Richard Franklin

This review contains a Kitty Carnage Warning!

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

Synopsis: When female zoology student Jane Chase (Elisabeth Shue) is invited to a remote seaside mansion to assist British primatology professor Dr. Steven Phillip (Terence Stamp) with his experiments involving chimpanzees, strange events start to occur and she soon finds her life in danger.

Kitty Cameo: In the opening scene an unseen assailant sees a tabby and white cat emerge from a bush and stalks the kitty across a courtyard . . .

. . . up a trellis on the side of an apartment building . . .

. . . and onto the roof.

On the roof the cat pauses to look at some pigeons in a coop (clearly thinking of an easy meal).

Kitty Carnage Warning! After a cutaway to events inside the house the camera returns to the rooftop and pans across a pile of scattered feathers and dead pigeons before alighting on the unmoving body of the cat (which is obviously fake and doesn’t even have white markings).

The culprit is revealed later when Jane goes to see Professor Phillip in his lab about a job and finds him putting the chimp “Imp” back in his cage. “The little monster’s been getting out at night; he likes cats,” he informs Jane. “Why don’t you get him one?” she asks innocently. “He likes to eat them!” Phillip clarifies.

The head animal trainer on the film was Ray Berwick.

Final Mewsings: Cats are for friendship not food!

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