THE CAT CREATURE (1973)
TV Movie
Article 4374 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-22-2013
Directed by Curtis Harrington
Featuring Meredith Baxter, David Hedison, Gale Sondergaard
Country: USA
What it is: Ancient Egyptian evil

An amulet is stolen from around the neck of a mummy which is part of a recently deceased man’s collection. Soon, everyone who comes into contact with the amulet experiences death at the hands of a cat-like creature.

With a script by Robert Bloch and direction by cult director Curtis Harrington, it’s hard not to come to this TV-Movie with a certain amount of high hopes. Still, it does pay to be patient. The first two-thirds of the movie doesn’t feel particularly special; there’s a few strange touches, the structure is a bit odd and the threat is somewhat offbeat, but there’s nothing I would call really surprising during that part. It was only when the movie threw a plot twist at me that I totally didn’t expect (there’s a character here who is not what they seem) that I really got sucked into it; there’s nothing quite as satisfying as being hit with a plot twist which suddenly makes all the odd pieces start to fall into place. Still, even during the first two-thirds of the movie, I like the presence of so many familiar actors; as well as those listed above, you also get John Carradine, Keye Luke, Kent Smith, Stuart Whitman, and the always cadaverous Milton Parsons (who plays a coroner). Overall, I wouldn’t call it a great TV-Movie, but I ended up feeling quite satisfied with it.