Cat's Eye - King's Corner Review
Welcome to King's Corner. A recurring series of reviews based on the film and TV adaptations of Stephen King's novels and collections, reviewed and released in order of the original source material publishing date.
Director: Lewis Teague
Starring: Drew Barrymore, James Woods, Alan King, Kenneth McMillan, Robert Hays
Written by: Stephen King
Produced by: Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis
Cinematography by: Jack Cardiff
Original Score by: Alan Silvestri
Synopsis:
A stray cat is the linking element of three tales of suspense and horror.
In his short story collection 'The Bazaar of Bad Dreams' Stephen King wrote, "There's something to be said for a shorter, more intense experience. It can be invigorating, sometimes even shocking, like a waltz with a stranger you will never see again, or a kiss in the dark, or a beautiful curio for sale laid out on a cheap blanket at a street bazaar. And, yes, when my stories are collected, I always feel like a street vendor, one who sells only at midnight." These short stories have been integral to his career from his early work in 'Night Shift' to his latest, 'You Like It Darker'. There is a certain glee to be had in reading through these anthologies up as you don't exactly know what you are in store for. Some can be good and others not so good, but it never detracts from the feeling of curiosity they bring. That sense of curiosity extends to the adaptations of these stories on screens big and small. One such anthology based on some of his short stories is the 1985 film, 'Cat's Eye'.
Featuring three stories; 'Quitters Inc.', 'The Ledge' and 'General', 'Cat's Eye' centers on a tabby cat on the quest to rescue a little girl and their journey which is fraught with some dark tales. Whilst 'General' is a brand new story written for the film, both 'Quitters, Inc.' and 'The Ledge' are taken from the short story collection 'Night Shift'. 'Quitters, Inc.' follows Dick Morrison who signs up for a radical treatment for his addiction to cigarettes, only to be shocked at the brutal methods used to treat him. There has been a fair amount of psychoanalysis on the story over the years as some believe it was King commenting on his Father walking out on his family when King was two years old to get a pack of cigarettes and how that damaged his psyche. It's a fair assessment to make but I am of the opinion that it is a much simpler story about the effects of addiction on those closest to you.
The other adaptation in the anthology, 'The Ledge' was first published in Penthouse magazine in 1976 and it is about a cruel mob boss by the name of Cressner who plays a game of life and death with Stan Norris who has been having an affair with his wife. He tells him that if he can walk around the ledge outside his apartment he can have his wife and $20,000 but if he refuses he will call the police over some heroin he planted in his car. It is a very visually rich story that allows King to flex his descriptive muscles to increase tension, that makes it a gripping read. Not much is known about the origins of this story other than it was written as a tribute to Jack Finney's 1956 story 'Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket'.
Having owned the rights to a number of King stories, producer Dino De Laurentiis wanted to make an anthology out of three short stories (Quitters, Inc., The Ledge and Sometimes They Come Back). Whilst the first two stories remain in the anthology, De Laurentiis decided that 'Sometimes They Come Back' should be a stand alone film. In turn he came to King and proposed that they could make it a star vehicle for Drew Barrymore who had already worked with the producer on 'Firestarter'. As the writer of the film, King took this plan onboard and wrote a third original story, 'General' to close the film. Shortly after this Lewis Teague (who had previously directed Cujo) was brought onboard to direct the project.
The film begins with a Tabby cat wandering around a neighbourhood only to be chased down a street by a seemingly rabid Saint Bernard that looks familiar before nearly getting run over by a 1958 Plymouth Fury that seems to have a mind of its own. It is a fun opening sequence that offers nods to King's famous past works but once the cat makes its escape onto a delivery truck into New York City, the film really gets started.
Upon arriving, our furry protagonist sees a vision of a girl called Amanda (played by Drew Barrymore) in a store window calling for help. Whilst fixed on this, the cat is picked up by Quitters, Inc. employee Junk (Tony Munafo) to use as part of their treatment. Outside their headquarters we meet Dick Morrison (James Woods) who is reluctant to take part in the treatment. His meeting with Dr. Vinny Donatti (Alan King) doesn't offer much encouragement as he tells him the treatment is all about how the consequences of giving into his addiction leads to worse consequences to his family. Like the source material the subtext is the text in how it explores the knock on effects of an individual's addiction. With this type of material Teague treats it like a black comedy which would work if the entire film was adapted with this kind of tone but not even this segment is consistent in this manner.
James Woods plays it all quite straight in a solid performance but Alan King's performance as Dr. Donatti is completely hammed up. The second he pounds his fists onto Morrison's cigarettes like a maniac during their first meeting you know exactly what you are going to get from him. It happens throughout the film but is most prevalent during the torture of Morrison's wife Cindy (Mary D'arcy) as laughs maniacally in a moustache twirling fashion as he forces Morrison to watch with a sadistic glee.
One stand out scene from this segment that stands out for all the wrong reasons is the party scene when Morrision hallucinates due to the absence of cigarettes in his life. It starts in a humorous manner as it appears that almost everyone in the room is smoking but then things become more hazy and Morrision pictures children smoking, people smoking a cigarette out of every hole in their face and even paintings on the wall are smoking. It is an absolute riot in how goofy it is but again it is very heavy handed in its message of the effects of addiction and how you can never truly escape the judgemental gaze that comes with it.
Therein lies not just this segment's problems but the film at large in that the tone wavers from scene to scene. With 'Quitters, Inc.' Woods is giving a solid performance that would sit well in a paranoid thriller but other elements around him are leaning into more arch elements that feel like a hangover from the previous anthology Stephen King scripted, 'Creepshow', which by comparison is tonally spot on with its arch inclinations.
Having escaped Quitter's, Inc. during a scuffle the cat makes its way to the Staten Island Ferry to Atlantic City, New Jersey where it sees another vision of Amanda looking for help. After a sick wager outside a casino to see if the cat could make its way across traffic without being killed it is taken into the care of crime boss Cressner (Kenneth McMillan) which begins the second story, 'The Ledge' whose premise closely follows that of the original short story.
Cressner kidnaps former pro tennis player, Johnny Norris (Robert Hays) after finding out he has been having an affair with his wife. He then blackmails him into taking part in a wager which is that he gets away free with some money and his wife if he can walk around the ledge of his apartment building. With the source material geared entirely towards tension with its vivid descriptive language it offered Teague a lot of room to have fun with it but unfortunately like the previous story, it is undercut with some dark humour that doesn't land. McMillan is having a lot of fun with his role but Hays comes across as being quite flat. Even though he is struggling for his life, there is no real sense of urgency or desperation in the face of a cruel crime boss trying to rig the game of life and death against him. It may be Hitchcock on paper but on screen it makes for an unremarkable segment that hangs in the middle of the film.
During this segment the cat escapes again only this time they make their way onto a freight train to Wilmington, North Carolina. There it finds the girl Amanda that it has been having visions of. She adopts him and gives him the name of this segment, 'General'. In a nutshell this original segment is all about General trying to save Amanda from a troll trying to steal her breath at night. Whilst the first two segments feel like they are geared towards an older audience this segment feels more like a piece of gateway horror for children. This shift is in line with Alan Silvestri's score which is oddly playful in the first two segments but here it fits this kind of story. It almost feels like he only wrote the score for this segment and it ended up being used throughout the film.
As Amanda, Barrymore shows how she was one of the most charming child actors of the 80's but the real star is the blend of special effects techniques used to bring the great Carlo Rambaldi's repugnant (in the best way possible) creature to life. Whilst these effects may feel dated by today's standards, it doesn't detract from how impressive they blend practical as well as optical effects. Story wise it is a fairly predictable story and oddly feels at home in another feline horror anthology, 'The Uncanny'. Of course General saves the day in the end by launching the troll into a fan to the fanfare to a piece of music from Silvestri that almost feels like a prototype for his future theme for 'The Avengers'.
For anthology films to work, there has to be a certain amount of balance in terms of tone and the stories you select to be part of it. 'Cat's Eye' attempts to do the opposite and to no surprise it doesn't work. On the written page you can get away with it as each story is its own thing and readers can take each one on their own merit but in the context of a film it has to flow together and here that doesn't happen. There is no denying that following General on his quest to rescue Amanda is adorable (with some merits thanks to the talent involved), but the sporadic tone does the film a great disservice.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️½
-Joseph McElroy
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