Monday, June 02, 2014

Movie review - "The Uncanny" (1977) **

I remember watching a trailer for this when I was a kid and it scared me - a cat screaming at the camera - but eventually catching the movie, it's not very spooky. Unless of course you're terrified of cats. They are the uniting feature of this horror anthology which was co produced by Milton Subotsky, who had a lot of success making such movies for Amicus.

This isn't an Amicus work but it shares many similarities: three stories plus a connecting one, all star cast, washed out 70s colour, a final story more comedic than others. Peter Cushing and Ray Milland are in the bridging segments, as a writer and publisher respectively.

The first story is the best, with Susan Penhalgion as a murderous maid being attacked by a bunch of cats. The second one has some bad acting Canadian kids squabble over a cat, with a seance thrown in for good measure. The third is set in old time Hollywood, with Donald Pleasance in a wig and Samantha Egger as actors. John Vernon is also in the cast.

This isn't very good - not that scary, or well made. It does have novelty factor as well as a strong cast.

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