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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: April 25th, 2023.
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Cast: Noah Berry Jr., Lois Collier, Paul Kelly, Frederick Brady, Rose Hobart
Year: 1946
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The Cat Creeps – Movie Review:
Directed by Erle C. Kenton and released by Universal Studios in 1946, The Cat Creeps takes place on a remote private island where a man named Eric Goran is found dead. Presumed to have taken his own life, Goran may or may not have had some pretty serious criminal connections, though what exactly happened to have resulted in his demise is, at least in the beginning of this movie, a mystery.
Enter intrepid reporter Terry Nichols (Frederick Brady), a writer with a penchant for gumshoe work who learns that there’s a cool two hundred grand rumored to be stashed somewhere on the island. He also learns that the caretaker in charge of the place, Cora Williams (Vera Lewis), believes the place to be haunted, or maybe just cursed. At any rate, Terry teams up with his pal/co-worker/photographer Pidge ‘Flash’ Laurie (Noah Beery, Jr.) to take the ride by boat to the island in hopes of figuring out just what exactly is going on here.
When they arrive, they meet a suspicious man named Walter Elliott (Jonathan Hale) and his pretty daughter Gay (Lois Collier), a private detective named Ken Grady (Paul Kelly) and a strange woman named Connie Palmer (Rose Hobart) who really doesn’t like the black cat that always seems to be poking about the place. Terry and Flash do their job and start trying to find clues, but in doing so wind up in a bit of danger – as it would seem someone or something wants to keep anyone and everyone else away from the money.
Running a brisk fifty-eight minutes, The Cat Creeps isn’t so much a horror movie (despite its beautiful and atmospheric poster art used on the cover art for this Blu-ray release) as it is a mystery tale, with Goran’s death serving as the impetus for a whole lot of melodramatic backstabbing and some interesting, if not altogether unexpected, twists and turns.
Kenton paces the movie pretty well and it’s nicely shot, but it doesn’t wind up offering much in the way of tension or suspense, let alone scares. Still, it’s an entertaining enough diversion even if it isn’t on the same level as some of the more established classics from Universal’s output from this era. The cast are all pretty amusing to watch and the banter between Brady’s character and Beery’s character can be pretty fun to listen to. This isn’t an essential film by any standards, but it features a few interesting ideas at work, even if the movie is strangely light on character development and just sort of jumps from one plot point to the next without a whole lot of rhyme or reason.
The Cat Creeps – Blu-ray Review:
The Cat Creeps arrives on a 25GB Region A locked Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome framed in its proper 1.37.1 aspect ratio in AVC encoded 1080p high definition touted as a new 2k restoration from the original 35mm negative. The image quality here is definitely solid. Texture and detail are decent and there's a fair amount of depth to the image. This feels true to source, it shows a nice, natural amount of film grain but very little in the way of actual print damage to note save for a few small scratches here and there. Contrast looks fine and there are no issues with compression artifacts, edge enhancement or obvious noise reduction.
The only audio option for the feature is an English language 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track. Optional subtitles are provided in English SDH only. The audio here is just fine. Dialogue is clean and properly balanced against the score and effects. There are no problems with any hiss or distortion and both the score has good range and presence to it.
Extras include a commentary track from film historians Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby that offers loads of details on Erle C. Kenton’s career, plenty of biographical and career information on the different cast and crew members that worked on the production, an exploration of the different themes that the film explores, connections to other movies, the film’s quick production schedule, thoughts on the production values and atmosphere in the movie and lots more.
The disc also includes a seventeen minute featurette titled Feline Frights in which author and critic Kim Newman discusses the recurring themes of cats in horror films, covering this film and connecting it to quite a few other horror pictures from different eras and different filmmakers, connecting them thematically.
Static menus and chapter selection options are also provided on the disc, which comes packaged with a limited edition embossed slipcover and some nice reversible cover sleeve art.
The Cat Creeps - The Final Word:
The Cat Creeps is a decent, if not amazing, vintage potboiler worth checking out for those with an affinity for the old Universal B-pictures that the studio was cranking out during this period in its history. The Blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome gives the movie a worthy Blu-ray debut, with the film sporting a strong presentation and some nice extra features as well. A fine release for fans of classic horror and suspense pictures.