The Uncanny has one of the most memorable trailers of any film ever, in my opinion. Everything that many of us love about the old grindhouse trailers is present. The concept is absurd, the plot is hardly noticeable, there’s lots of repetition, and a number of genre stars are featured. I mention this because it’s a go-to trailer for my personal theater of choice, The Hollywood Theatre. Whenever they’re showing a classic horror film, this trailer seems to get things started, and every time it’s a real crowd-pleaser.

Here, watch the trailer:

Great, right? I’ve loved this trailer for years and have seen it countless times. I never seemed to get around to actually seeing the movie, however. That is, until now. Severin recently released it on Blu-ray, and it goes beyond my wildest dreams. For starters, this is an anthology! I had no idea, which is a shame because I love anthologies. Did you guys know? Why didn’t nobody tell me?

Jerks.

Anyway, the basic premise is that a writer (Peter Cushing) has a new idea for a book about cats. He visits his publisher (Ray Milland) and he pitches him on the idea using three different stories. The writer’s theory is that cats are the devil in disguise.

Story one is about a wealthy elderly woman that decides to update her will to leave her tremendous fortune to her cats. Her no-good nephew catches wind of this and concocts a plan to work with his aunt’s maid to murder her, destroy the new will and thus leaving him with all the monies. The cats are not fans of this plan and defender their owner (pet?). There is a scene in this segment where hordes of cats are meowing, hissing and jumping from all angles to attack this poor girl. It’s glorious filmmaking, to say the least.

Story number two is that of a young girl named Lucy that is recently orphaned after her parents die in a plane crash. Sent to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousin, she brings with her the only friend she has – her cat Wellington. Lucy’s mean cousin is jealous and wants Wellington for herself. She attempts to steal the cat but his allegiance to Lucy cannot be broken. Upset the mean cousin forces her parents to get rid of the cat. Naturally, Lucy is left with no choice but to use a book of witchcraft, which belonged to her mother, to avenge her cat. The weakest of the three stories, but the witchcraft scene is brilliant.

The final tale stars the legendary Donald Pleasence as a 1930’s Hollywood star. Tired of his actress wife and looking to help his young mistress break into the industry, he replaces the prop blade of a pendulum with a real one in hopes to kill her. While seemingly a success, he fails to account for his wife’s cat, a cat that happens to have a taste for bloody revenge.

The Uncanny has those Hammer/Amicus vibes (Amicus co-founder Milton Subotsky co-produced), but feels like it might be a slightly cheaper production. There’s not nearly as much detail, particularly in set design, as those classic British horror entries had.

The idea that cats are the devil is fairly common as cats are routinely viewed as evil. In film, television, books and so on, we always see cats paired with villains, witches and just dark forces in general. The Uncanny throws in a little twist in that the cats, despite the author’s beliefs, aren’t actually villains.

Cats do plenty of attacking and killing to be sure, but for the most part, they’re provoked and just standing up for their humans. In The Uncanny cats get the sort of the treatment that dogs often received. Dogs are always portrayed as loyal, whereas cats are written off as selfish. These cats are quite the opposite. In all three stories, the cats are so loyal that they’re willing to kill.

As a ride-or-die cat person, this speaks to me like you don’t even know. Is there a chance my cats could kill me? Absolutely, but they’d also be sure to kill anyone that messes with me. It’s a delicate balance.

The film’s tongue-in-cheek silly approach couldn’t be a turn off for some. But how could it be anything different? Cats can do some serious damage, but unless you suffer from ailurophobia it’s highly unlikely typical house cats will scare you. For this to work you need a fun, camp approach, and The Uncanny has exactly that.

If you like kitty-centric horror camp, this is the perfect movie for you. You could say it’s the cat’s meow. You could say that, but you don’t have to say. I’ll just say it’s fun and I like it.

Special Features:

Severin brings The Uncanny to Blu-ray for the first time using a transfer “scanned from an inter-negative recently discovered in a London vault.” It’s a fine looking transfer that maintains a very natural film look with plenty of bold colors. There are a number of imperfections throughout with scratches, speckles and some exposure issues present. Is it the crispest and clear Severin transfer? Nope, but it gets the job done and is likely the best possible scenario given the elements used were recently discovered in some random vault.

The special features are limited for a Severin release. The trailer is included, and as I’ve already mentioned that’s brilliant. The only other addition is an interview with actress Susan Penhaligon, titled The Cat’s Victim. The 12-minute interview has Penhaligon sharing her thoughts on working with the film, where she happily gushes about Peter Cushing.

The Uncanny isn’t the best horror anthology, but it’s one you’re not likely to forget. It’s a welcome addition to the world of Blu-ray and one I think die-hard horror fans will be happy to get their hands on.