Cat's Eye (1985)

good back-story, and good acting

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Luckily, it started well. otherwise, I'm not sure that I would watch it if first part was like 3rd. Of course, all parts were surreal, but 3rd was too much of it, and acting did not help. Considering title, I expected more subjective camera - from cat's eye - of course ! There was very little of it, even when that would make it fun, and could see better the situation. So, directing was not that good, I could say. Acting was best in first part, not bad in second. I really don't get those calling this masterpiece. Uneven, too surreal at some parts, even for Twilight Zone. Could be more inventive with cat escapes - it was always same - and too simple. Rate: 6 - for best actor uncredited cat, then James Woods.

The movie somehow manages to convey all of Stephen King's success rate: the first segment is nonsensically disappointing and strangely more unintentionally as well as irritatingly humorous than scary, the second segment is much more interesting due to its more realistically imagined stakes but really needed some crucial ironing out in order to reach its full potential, and the last segment actually stands up and delivers on its fantastical promises whilst respecting the audience's intelligence for both thrills and intellect.All anthology films tend to follow the half-baked rule, in which the input turn out to be entirely uneven concerning its output. The first half of The Twilight Zone: The Movie is schmaltzily boring while its second half is fantastically ingenious, and like its more big-budgeted predecessor, Cat's Eye is all too accustomed with following that rule. (Yes, I do know that the filmmakers never intended to make such lumps within their batter as production problems and unwholesome studio interference hampered upon the film's qualities themselves, though Cat's Eye was luckier in the fate department as it wasn't plagued by traumatic on-set tragedy/violation of human & civil & artistic rights but by the complete deletion of a supposedly depressing segment that explained why the cat was by its lonely feral self in the first place. Also, unlike the 5th dimension, King is strangely all-knowing precise and more fun to be with as he knows his own admittedly far-out formula to drop some references to much more thought out scenarios- say hello, Cujo and Christine!)I have no idea why the cat had to be a framing device: the first two stories basically had him as an irrelevant cameo, and worse, the first two stories' tones heavily clash with the last one as those two felt more realistically plausible whilst the grand finale was definitely situated in family-friendly horror fantasy a la Grimm. Despite these weird tonal shifts and the lack of complete correlation between these episodes, the best of the three segments actually involves the cat itself! (Total shocker, really.) I could totally see it being its own feature as it was the only story that I felt deserved the honor of being called well made and also the only segment that was worth existing. (Sorry The Ledge but you really need to be seriously remade as you turned out to be so goofy that this humble critic was already thinking of a better version in his head whilst watching it.)

In this film, based on short stories by Stephen King, three stories intertwine through the same cat. The idea seems good and, in fact, its an interesting way to bring to the cinema stories that, alone, don't justify a feature length. The big problem with the film is that it doesn't immediately make clear that we're seeing a black humor movie. The public fills the theater expecting a horror film or a thriller and leaves very disappointed. It's one of those cases where they expects one thing and the movie is something different. Its the fault of the public? Partly yes. But let us go on. The film is divided into three parts but the cat has increased protagonism in the last. James Woods and Drew Barrymore (still making adorable child roles) are the most notorious actors, playing quite satisfactorily. You can never clearly tell what force pushes the cat through the film until find the girl and that is the biggest flaw in the movie for me. The film never scares us but it has a number of rather comical scenes that can impress the most sensitive people, given the kind of humor presented.

Actually I thought the overall quality for this anthology movie is pretty high. I expected to like it since I am a big fan of Stephen King. It seems that when I take comedy horror lightly, I am able to enjoy it much more. This is much more comedy than horror. In fact only the second story can be considered somewhat of a horror story but the rest are on the comedy side. I also liked the overall light hearted tone of the stories. Obviously this is made for a much younger audience.I was quite impressed with the first two stories and I would have rated it higher but the third story is just not good enough. The special effects are corny, the tone is very childlike and I guess it is intended that way. The scenes between the cat and the troll were just too ridiculous. It is a pity because the first 2 are excellent.The quitters incorporated story was pretty awesome and I was laughing at various points. The party scene being a highlight, I guess I know how smokers must feel when they try to quit. It is hilarious in usual 80s fashion. I also liked the performance of James woods. This is the advantage of having professional talented actors in horror movies instead of some unknown faces. The output is always a level higher than what we can expect in an 80s horror movie.The Ledge was also of high quality. As usual, in stories with this theme, there are many elements which are too difficult to accept. If you are looking for logic. But if you just want to go along with any ridiculous scenario, then you would really enjoy the story here! I had a lot of fun watching the bird pecking at him, the guy holding on to the wall no matter what and the effective twist. It is a nice little ride! Anyway so I loved it overall but I was not satisfied with the third story at all, so I have to rate it lower. I rate the first story 8, second story 9 and the third story 5. So overall I rate it a 7.7/10