The Uncanny (1977)

A joint UK and Canadian production with links to the Amicus studios via producer Milton Subotsky, 'The Uncanny' is a portmanteau horror film where author Peter Cushing tries to convince publisher Ray Milland that cats are evil supernatural masterminds out to kill us all.

Cushing tells three stories starting with the best that finds greedy nephew (Simon Williams) plotting with his aunt's maid (Susan Penhaligon) to diddle her cats out of their inheritance.  It's a quick and easy little tale of the type studios like Amicus and Hammer could knock out in an afternoon filled with Kensington Gore and profoundly grisly endings for those involved.

The two Canadian stories share a far more North American aesthetic.  The second tale has a strong central performance from Katrina Holden Bronson as an orphaned child relocated to the home of her unpleasant aunt and her bratty bullying daughter that has borrowed it's effects from Land of the Giants but certainly doesn't scrimp on the brutal ending whereas the third is played far more for laughs as murderous cat hating thesp Donald Pleasence is made to pay for his crimes by his wife's vengeful cat.

'The Uncanny' was a flop on release, is still poorly regarded and was certainly made at least 10 years too late coming some 4 years after the shift to much more sophisticated horror with films such as The Exorcist and being released the same year as the big budget extravaganzas of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind but personally I like it very much. My heart has always been in the B Movies and the schlock and this is very much both of those and let's be clear here the idea that cats are evil supernatural masterminds out to kill us all is undeniably plausible.

Buy it here - The Uncanny [1977] - or watch it below.

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