The Cat

By and large “predictability” is American horror’s bread and butter.  There are always a few outliers that start a new trend and a few auteurs who don’t play by the rules, but mainstream titles stick to jump scares 95% of the time.  That’s what makes Hong Kong horror such a breath of fresh air.  Built off magic, folklore and batshit crazy practical effects, movies like 1992’s The Cat are nearly impossible to second guess…and almost equally impossible not to enjoy.

The plot, as best as it can be wrangled into a straight line, involves an alien princess hiding out on Earth with her bodyguards, one of whom takes the shape of a housecat.  Avoiding pursuit by an amoeba-like enemy that takes over the bodies of its victims,  the princess finds an ally in Wisely, an eccentric writer who specializes in just this sort of intergalactic weirdness. There are psychic battles, slime-drenched transformations, and a final act that’s as much martial arts fantasy as it is horror.

And this is where the fun lives; The Cat simply refuses to pick a lane. Director Lam Nai-Choi, also responsible for the equally mondo Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, cranks out a film that never lets you catch your breath, pinballing between tones and genres like it’s allergic to boredom. It’s messy, sure, but gloriously so—fueled by rubber-suit monsters, Muppet kung fu, and a kind of reckless imagination you’ll never get from a studio focus group. If you go in expecting “scary,” you might be left scratching your head. But if you go in wanting to see cinema color outside every possible line, The Cat delivers in spades.

88 Films likely knew they had something special on their hands with this one, which explains the extravagant packaging that treats the film like some sort of lost ark.  Housed in an oversized cardboard case that includes a collector’s booklet and slipcover, popping in the disc reveals a new 2K restoration, audio commentary, interview with writer Gordon Chan, image gallery, trailers and a completely new Japanese version of the film entitled Monster Wars: Nine Lives (in SD) with different actors and a rearranged plot that was actually released before the original film.