FEATURE: A Stephen King Halloween!...Cat's Eye

15. Cat's Eye

(Lewis Teague, 1985)

"Sit down Mr. Morrison," Donatti said benignly.  "Let's talk this over like rational men."

When he could get his breath, Morrison did as he was told.  Nightmares had to end sometime, didn't they?

The Long and Short of It

See the cat?  He's a good cat.  He runs into the arms of a man (James Woods) who tries to quit smoking with the help of a questionable business called "Quitters Inc."  The cat escapes and runs to a casino, where a millionaire forces a traitorous man (Robert Hays) into a high-stakes bet in "The Ledge."  Finally, he protects a young girl (Drew Barrymore) from a soul-sucking goblin in "The General."

Adaptation Decay

Accurate and Honorable.  Two of the three stories come straight from Stephen King's short story collection Night Shift, and King wrote the screenplay himself.  With the half-hour length of the segments matching neatly to the short, twisty speed of the original stories, there's little to alter.  "Quitters Inc" plays up the dark comedy of its original story without sacrificing its almost-plausibility - there are shades of new-age movements in Quitters Inc.'s coerced self-improvement.  "The Ledge" is too simple and frightening of an idea (force a man to dangle forty stories in the air) to require changes, although the short story left the villain's fate with a question mark instead of an exclamation point.  "The General," in which Drew Barrymore falls prey to a breath-sucking goblin, is an original work, but it maintains the film's sardonic edge.

Forget All That - How's the Movie?

A good damn time.  Not great...but good.  "Quitters Inc." is a funny slice of paranoia, and I suspect its depiction of Woods' nicotine cravings will ring true to many viewers.  "The Ledge," the most straightforward of the three, benefits from Kenneth McMillan chewing up the scenery, and Hays' trip around the ledge still inspires a few gasps.  Watch out for the pigeon.  The best segment, though, is "The General," which gives the titular cat a starring role...and Drew Barrymore a measure of atonement after the depressing King flick Firestarter.  Some of the blue-screen effects are a little dodgy, but the cackling goblin at the end is a fantastic little critter.  He's all cackles and grunts and sneers until the cat bites back.  Kudos to its creator, the late, great Carlo Rambaldi (E. T., Conan the Destroyer).

Alright, But Is It a Good Halloween Flick?

Sure!  Cat's Eye is a fleet, fun horror omnibus.  There's nothing groundbreaking here.  Just a trio of vivid thrillers that come up to the stage with energy and leave before the crowd gets bored.  Queue it up with Trick 'r Treat or Trilogy of Terror and have yourself a fun night.

Kingwatch 2012

Although there's no Stephen King the Man to be found here, Cat's Eye is loaded with sight gags, like...

...the rabid St. Bernard from Cujo...

...the Plymouth Fury from Christine...

...a TV playing The Dead Zone...

...and a woman reading Pet Sematary.

But You Know What Sucks?

15. Thinner

(Tom Holland, 1996)

Marred by casual racism and cheap fat-suit effects, Thinner isn't terrible, but it's dull enough to explain why King released the original novel as a "Richard Bachman" book.  In case you don't know, the story's about a fat man who runs over a gypsy.  The dead woman's husband condemns the man to get thinner.  So he does.  And there's your movie.  The story "others" the gypsies, those bizarre keepers of mystical knowledge, in a way that recalls King's difficulty in writing beyond the status quo - consider his tendency to lean on magical negroes (The Stand, The Green Mile, The Shining) and mentally challenged savants (The Stand, Dreamcatcher).  The ending of Thinner is admittedly clever, as Holland finds a nasty way for the story to have its cake and eat it too.  Unfortunately, the rest of the film is too mediocre to excuse its distracting shortcomings.

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A Stephen King Halloween

01. ?
02. ?
03. ?
04. ?
05. Stand By Me / Dreamcatcher
06. The Dead Zone / The Mangler
07. Misery / Sometimes They Come Back
08. The Mist / Firestarter
09. "Battleground" / Creepshow 2
10. Creepshow / "The Road Virus Heads North"
11. Dolores Claiborne / The Tommyknockers (TV)
12. The Stand (TV) / Maximum Overdrive
13. 1408 / The Lawnmower Man
14. Christine / Silver Bullet
15. Cat's Eye / Thinner
HM. Hearts in Atlantis / The Shining (TV)