Cat's Eye (1985)

While I am a fan of most his novels it was Stephen King's shorter work that caught my interest early on. I had often wondered why some of it wasn't adapted into an anthology and, over the years, I've learned to be careful what I wish for.  This especially became true once I realized how badly Mick Garris, despite King being friends with him, can ruin his work.  He and others, especially in short-run televisions series, have rendered some of my favorite King stories into corny, poorly directed and acted drivel.  This was especially true after I saw what a great job a low budget production like Tales from the Dark Side could do with his material. 

Despite his penchant for churning out low budget features, Dino De Laurentiis somehow managed to be on the same wavelength as King and his fans for a number of his '80s films.  Though his decision to let the author direct Maximum Overdrive was somewhat questionable, letting King adapt his material wasn't.  This had already proven successful with Creepshow, and after the success of Firestarter and Cujo there was also a proven partner in director Lewis Teague.  Add in an adorable mascot as well as two of King's best stories and a brand new one thrown in just for the movie, and at least some of it had to work.

After being chased by a Saint Bernard and almost hit by a Plymouth Fury, a stray cat unwittingly hops a ride to New York.  While a spirit of a young girl tries to communicate and ask the cat for help it is picked up and taken to a sketchy office called Quitters, Inc., where yuppie Dick Morrison (James Woods) has come to quit smoking.  It turns out that the methods used by Dr. Vinny Donati (Alan King) are rather unorthodox, but they seem to get the job done - or else.

After escaping, our feline hero finds itself part of a wager between mobster Kressner (Kenneth McMillan) and one of his lackeys.  The cat survives, but Johnny Norris (Robert Hays), a tennis pro that has been seeing Kressner's wife, may not.  He is given the option of going to jail on trumped up charges or being set free if he can manage to walk the full length of Kressner's building on a narrow ledge.  Lastly, the cat makes it to a home in Wilmington, North Carolina, where it is renamed General and taken in by a young girl named Amanda (Drew Barrymore) against her mother's (Candy Clark) wishes.  It is a good thing, since the cat soon finds itself defending Amanda against a troll that has taken up residence in her bedroom walls.  

I will admit a bit of a bias due to the fact that "Quitters, Inc." and "The Ledge" are two of my favorite short stories by King.  The adaptation of the former feels like an updated Twilight Zone episode, but unfortunately has a segment where Morrison is craving a cigarette at a part that just gets too silly.  The story already has dark humor going for it, particularly since it reflects King's own attempts to break himself free of several different vices that had a hold of him at this point in his life.  After all these years I can't see anyone but Woods playing lead, and the same goes for Robert Hays in "The Ledge", which is pretty much left intact.  I know how it's going to end, but it is one of King's most tension-filled tales, and it's not even a horror story.

In fact, the only story that is classic horror is "General", which makes great use of the cat that has been the narrative bridge throughout the movie.  There wasn't a lot of money, so some of the old-fashioned rear projection tricks look a bit ropey in 4K, but it is still a fun story with a nice ending.  

Cat's Eye was moderately successful and is one of the better King adaptations of the 1980s.  It also makes me miss what PG-13 was meant for, as none of these stories were among his bloodiest even in book form, and the rating gave it a bit of an edge at the time.  It was the first King story to be rated such, as most of his films before this had naturally been R-rated due to their content.  It also gives equal time to each story, letting them play out through the quick hour and a half of the movie and, in a rarity for such an anthology film, each story is relatively strong.  

Cat's Eye (1985)

Time: 94 minutes

Starring: James Woods, Alan King, Robert Hays, Keith McMillan, Drew Barrymore, Candy Clark

Director: Lewis Teague