hgmickey Review of The Cat Creature

The Cat Creature (1973 TV Movie)

A story Carl Kolchak could appreciate!

[10/10 · 10 September 2020]

This weird, terrifying turn of events begins with Frank Lucas taking the inventory of a somewhat eccentric collector, recently deceased. Upon the collector's items, is an Egyptian mummy with a large amulet around its neck. When Lucas leaves the room for a few minutes, a thief breaks into the house and steals the amulet. A short time later, Lucas sees that the mummy's coffin is now empty and is then attacked and killed by a growling, snarling...yet ordinary sized...cat. Lieutenant Marco arrives on the scene to investigate the crime. Marco is accompanied by Roger Edmonds, a professor and archaeologist at the local university. Roger notices that there are some sort of claw marks on the mummy's coffin, but neither has an explanation for why the coffin is empty. At an occult curio shop run by Hester Black, the thief, Joe Sung, attempts to sell Hester the amulet, but she throws him out. After closing, Hester's employee, Sherrie Hastings is on her way home when she comes across a stray black cat. She takes the cat home to feed it, but the cat's eyes suddenly glow, putting Sherrie into a trance. Seconds later, Sherrie jumps off her terrace to her death. A short time later, Hester offers a young girl, Rena Carter, new in town, Sherrie's old job. Seemingly unaware of Sherrie's apparent suicide, Rena accepts Hester's offer. Roger and Lt. Marco stop at Hester's shop. Hester and Marco know each other as Hester used to fence stolen goods years ago. Marco asks if anyone tried to sell her an amulet, and Hester replies that an older Oriental gentlemen tried to sell her one only a few days ago, but she refused to buy. When Marco asks if anyone else was in the store, Hester tells him that Sherrie Hastings was the only other person in the store. Marco remembers the name Sherrie Hastings from a recent suicide, and Rena is so rattled that her predecessor is the same girl, she drops a statue on the floor. After closing time, Roger returns to Hester's store and asks Rena to go to dinner with him, and Rena accepts. On the date, Rena only tells Roger that she's from back east and new in town, but the two develop a mutual attraction. After the date, the couple passes a pet shop and when a group of cats rush the store window, Rena is simply panic stricken. Roger calms her down and they continue walking. A few days later, when Roger is visiting Rena at her home, a cat rushes to Rina's patio door, causing Rena to panic yet again. Obviously, Rena is deathly afraid of cats, and Roger can't figure out why. Lt. Marco learns Joe Sung lives at a local flop house in town. While Marco is interviewing some people at the flop house, they all hear blood curdling screams coming from an upstairs room. Marco rushes in and finds Sung dead in his bed, with claw marks on his throat. Roger and Lt. Marco next visit the coroner, who tells them that the cause of death of Lucas and Sung were claw marks on each victim's throat, and the bodies were drained of blood. Later, Marco discovers that Sung sold the amulet dirt cheap to a local pawn shop. He and Roger visit the shop, only to find the pawnbroker with a knife sticking out of his back. Neither man notices that a black cat is lurking in the store. As Lt. Marco called Roger from Hester's store telling him about a $50,000 reward for the safe return of the amulet, Marco assumes that Hester, who has disappeared, may be responsible for the pawnbroker's murder. He convinces Rena to keep the store open late, under police guard, thinking that Hester will return to her store to pick up some getaway money. Later that night, the cat appears and hypnotizes the police guard to sleep. He's awakened by a scream from the back room. Rena and the officer rush in to find Hester on the floor mortally wounded, with claw marks on her throat. Hester is able to say only one word...cat...and then she dies. Lt. Marco tells Roger that the amulet was hidden in the lining of Hester's coat, and lets Roger take the amulet to the university to try to translate the inscription. Back in his office, Roger has a discussion of the amulet with the University Librarian about the Egyptian cat-god Bast, and how the Bast cult members could transform into cats, similar to how vampires transform into bats in search of blood. The librarian theorizes that the heavy chain might be used to keep a spirit imprisoned after death. A short time later, the University Librarian returns to Roger with the complete translation on the amulet, which confirms that the amulet was originally put around the mummy's neck to keep it from returning to life...and subsequently killing for blood. A few minutes later, Lt. Marco calls Roger and tells him that a background check on Rena shows no prior history, her showing up out of nowhere...and suggests that Rena knows more than she's let on about the chain of murders, making Rena his top suspect. Lt. Marco also tells Roger that the only two people who knew of their recent activities in their investigation were the now-dead Hester...and Rena. Roger replays everything in his mind and decides to pay Rena a visit. At Rena's darkened house, there are cats roaming all over the patio outside, and Rena has a packed suitcase and is about to make a run for it when Roger intercepts her at the front door. Roger tells Rena that Lt. Marco is about to arrest her. Roger also explains how the amulet around the mummy's neck serves the same purpose as driving a stake through a vampire's heart, to stop the mummy from continuing a murderous search for blood. He goes on to tell Rena that the translation refers to the high priestess of the Egyptian cat-god Bast, and his belief that Rena eliminated anyone between her and the amulet in the hope that she would destroy it and guarantee her immortality. Rena finally confesses the truth about the situation but tries to justify her actions as self-preservation after coming back to life after centuries of post-death nothingness. Roger reminds Rena that her victims are still dead and that he knows that she's deathly afraid of cats because they recognize Rena for what she is, the evil high priestess of Bast. Rena passionately kisses Roger with a promise of eternal life if he joins up with her, but Roger refuses and pushes her off. A few seconds later, the black cat appears with glowing eyes and hypnotizes Roger. The cat then pounces on Roger, intent on killing him, as it killed the other victims, but Roger is able to wrap the amulet around the murderous cat and throws it off. Instantaneously, Rena materializes in full Egyptian priestess attire, growling and snarling at Roger but she can't do anything further with the amulet around her neck. Priestess Rena then goes out to the patio, turns back into the mummy...and the neighborhood cats swarm the mummy and rip it to shreds. When Lt. Marco arrives, all that's left of Rena is a pile of dust, a skull, and the amulet wrapped around the skull. I enjoyed the acting performances all around. A very young Meredith Baxter really shines as the deceptively introverted Rena, David Hedison is excellent as (the Carl Kolchak-esque) Roger, and the always dependable Stuart Whitman as the dogged Lt. Marco. Finally, Gale Sondergaard really stole every scene she was in as Hester. This is an underrated 1973 gem.