HERE, KITTY, KITTY | Offscreen
In this double feature, the fluffy stars of many a YouTube video get up to more than just ordinary mischief. The lesser-known British Hammer film The Shadow of the Cat is set in a Victorian mansion where an adorable kitten witnesses the murder of her mistress. The assured direction by John Gilling and the inventive use of an anamorphic lens to depict the cat's point of view throughout the film add color to this absurdly funny murder mystery, filmed in moody black and white.
Sleepwalkers introduces us to a mother and son who find themselves in trouble with the local cat population in a small Indiana town. The incestuous pair are revealed to be shape-shifting creatures vulnerable only to the claws of ordinary house cats. While the off-the-wall plot isn’t Stephen King’s finest hour as a writer, the improbable twists are precisely what lend charm to this film, which alternates between well-executed latex effects and rudimentary CGI. Additionally, it’s packed with cameos by genre icons such as Stephen King himself, John Landis, Joe Dante, Clive Barker, Mark Hamill, and Tobe Hooper. These elements make this occasionally gory horror flick a guilty pleasure of epic proportions.