The New Daughter (2009)

Starring: Marmalade

Directed by: Luiso Berdejo

This review contains a Severe Kitty Carnage Warning!

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

Synopsis: John James (Kevin Costner) moves his daughter Louisa (Ivana Baquero) and son Sam (Gattlin Griffith) to a remote home in South Carolina only to realize that a mysterious entity seems to be invading his daughter’s mind.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): In the first scene of the film the small family is moving into their new house. The less than enthusiastic Louisa brings a cat carrier out of the car (and even with a real cat actor inside doesn’t seem to take much care about jostling it around!)

The New Daughter - Louisa Ivana Baquero carrying ginger tabby cat Marmalade in carrier

The ginger tabby cat is named Marmalade and that night we see him sitting on the kitchen table eating from a dish with his name on it.

The New Daughter - ginger tabby cat Marmalade eating from cat dish

John is apparently not too organized as Louisa points out that he forgot to bring Marmalade’s litter box in addition to not accounting for the lack of local shops delivering which leaves them eating beef sticks for dinner.

The New Daughter - John Kevin Costner Louisa Ivana Baquero and Sam Gattlin Griffith with ginger tabby cat Marmalade eating at table

“I’m finished,” Louisa insists when offered some of the jerky. She gathers Marmalade and adds indignantly, “We’re finished.”

The New Daughter - Louisa Ivana Baquero carrying ginger tabby cat Marmalade from room

John later visits Louisa’s room where Marmalade is lying on her bed. Their conversation mostly consists of more snarky remarks from Louisa.

The New Daughter - John Kevin Costner with ginger tabby cat Marmalade on bed

A short time later Louisa hears a noise and heads to her bedroom window. Marmalade looks at her curiously.

The New Daughter - ginger tabby cat Marmalade looking curious

The New Daughter - ginger tabby cat Marmalade looking curiously at Louisa Ivana Baquero animated gif

In a later scene, John also hears a strange sound and goes out the door to investigate. Marmalade dutifully follows him onto the porch.

The New Daughter - John Kevin Costner with ginger tabby cat Marmalade on porch

The New Daughter - John Kevin Costner with ginger tabby cat Marmalade following him onto porch animated gif

Suddenly Marmalade darts off the porch and disappears into the night. More strange sounds keep John from following.

The New Daughter - ginger tabby cat Marmalade running off porch

Severe Kitty Carnage Warning! It isn’t until the next day that John looks for the cat and finds tufts of ginger fur on the ground. A moment later he discovers the badly mutilated body of the (thankfully obviously fake) cat near a fence.

The animal trainer on the film was the now sadly late Senia Phillips who owned the Southern Animal Talent Agency. She worked on this film with cat actor Marmalade, who played himself. Marmalade’s owner, Deborah Howington of Showboat Kennels also assisted with Marmalade’s role in the film.