THE SHADOW OF THE CAT (1961) Blu-ray Review

SCARE-A-THON Totals to Date:

Total Movies Watched: 22
Total First Time Views: 13
Amount raised for BOXVILLE: $1,657.04

The Shadow of the Cat (1961) d. John Gilling (UK) (79 min) (1st viewing)

Wealthy Ella Venable (Catherine Lacey) is brutally murdered by her manservant Andrew (Andrew Crawford) at the behest of her cold-blooded husband Walter (Andre Morell) and the two, along with long-suffering housekeeper Clara, conspire to bury the corpse in the forest; at the same time, they produce a brand-new will and testament that conveniently leaves Ella’s fortune to Walter. So far so good, as far as murders go. However, the one spanner in the works is that Ella’s beloved feline, Tabitha, has witnessed everything and is seemingly intent on driving the trio insane and/or into their own shallow graves. The battle lines are now drawn, with innocent (and disinherited) daughter Beth (Barbara Shelley) caught in the middle of a full-on war of wills where humans tumble down stairs, drown in quicksand, suffer heart attacks, or fall from parapets while cats purr with demonic delight.

DIE, MONSTER, DIE! (1965) Blu-ray Review

Die Monster Die! (1965) d. Daniel Haller (UK/USA)

Having wrapped up their extremely successful run of Roger Corman-directed Edgar Allan Poe adaptations – fondly referred to as the “AIPoes” – American International Pictures set their sights on another highly influential horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft. (In actuality, they’d already adopted his “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” in 1963 and turned it into Edgar Allan Poe’s The Haunted Palace, but I digress.) Corman’s able art director Daniel Haller took the helm for screenwriter Jerry’s Sohl’s reworking of “The Colour Out of Space,” whose drive-in ready retitling of Die, Monster, Die! was only the first of its many woes.