Horror

Thriller

The Shadow of the Cat

Hammer Film Productions

United Kingdom

English

André Morell

Barbara Shelley

William Lucas

Freda Jackson

Conrad Phillips

Richard Warner

Vanda Godsell

Alan Wheatley

Andrew Crawford

Catherine Lacey

Kynaston Reeves

Rodney Burke

Vera Cook

Angela Crow

John Dearth

George Doonan

Peter Evans

Henry Kendall

Howard Knight

Charles Stanley

Fred Stone

Kevin Stoney

Jon Penington

Bernard Robinson

Arthur Grant

George Baxt

John Gilling

Harry Oakes

Tom Edwards

Arthur Banks

Stuart Lyons

Míkis Theodorakis

Alan McDonald

John Holmes

Len Harris

Jack Curtis

Jack Cooper

Peter Allchorne

James Needs

Don Mingaye

Ken Cameron

Alban Streeter

Tilly Day

Ian Scoones

Dominic Fulford

Roy Ashton

Yvonne Blake

John Pomeroy

Frieda Steiger

Les Bowie

Don Weeks

John Peverall

Jock May

Molly Arbuthnot

Following their relatives’ murder, a group of relatives gathered together at her house to read her will find their servants and other guests more concerned with killing the pet cat who had witnessed the incident and must try to find a way of stopping them from doing so.

This one was quite a decent and somewhat enjoyable enough effort. One of the more enjoyable elements here is the fact that this one really goes quite nicely with the traditional style of efforts featuring that old-school film style. Playing on the archetype of the old-dark-house mysteries with the idea of relatives gathered together to read the will of a recently-deceased relative only to find themselves involved in a greater horror while staying there, that one gives this a great ploy for having suspenseful moments due to this type of storyline. From the large grand layout and Gothic design of the house, there’s plenty to like here while this one plays out the rather fun notion of what’s going on as the film’s main focus here on taking on measures to find the cat and silence it which plays out throughout the film. These are quite fun from trapping it within cages and trapping it to chasing it around the house and other means of disposing of it which makes for a rather striking and somewhat fun efforts, while there’s some rather good stuff to be had here with the later revenge tactics to showcase the cat going around the house with them being paranoid about it to the point of rather comical natures of what’s going on here. That in itself is the biggest problem with the film, in that it’s central premise is so ludicrous and laughably played-out here that it really strains itself way too often to the point of the cast themselves pointing out how insane the film’s plot actually is. That’s never a good sign, and it’s helped along by the fact that this one really strains the credibility of the action here with the relatives going for the cat in such contrived and increasingly bizarre ways that it feels somewhat silly to have them play out as they do. The last flaw here is the fact that this one really doesn’t have all that great of a pace here which really stumbles with all the time spent on doing some rather than dealing with the cat as the family squabbles over the money or the group conniving about finding ways to stop the cat which are so stuffy and bland that it doesn’t feature much of any interest during these parts. It’s enough to really make it stumble along during the mid-section when it’s not involved in anything, and these here do hold it down rather significantly.

Today’s Rating/PG: Violence and tense themes of animal abuse.

The Shadow of the Cat • 1961 • Theatrical Trailer

Best Movies

The Shadow of the Cat

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

André Morell

Barbara Shelley

William Lucas

Freda Jackson

Conrad Phillips

Richard Warner

Vanda Godsell

Alan Wheatley

Andrew Crawford

Catherine Lacey

Box office

More Like This

A Mighty Heart

We Own the Night

Unforgettable

The Legend of Boggy Creek

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Zodiac

The Omen

Se7en