Review of Uncanny, The

Introduction

Peter Cushing plays Wilbur Gray, a writer who takes a manuscript to Frank Richards (Ray Milland) in the hope of turning it into a book. Gray is obsessed by the idea that cats are far more intelligent than humans generally give them credit for, and are in fact the master race. In this portmanteau film, Gray tells Richards three stories involving cats whose supernatural powers bring death and misery to those who cross them.

Video

The 1.75:1 transfer is sadly non-anamorphic and the colour definition is extremely poor which, coupled with the grain and visual detritus, shows that no effort has been put into improving the quality of the picture for the DVD release.

Audio

The original mono soundtrack is replicated here - it`s hard to argue that a more complex soundtrack would have been worth including as the film was only recorded in mono. The soundtrack is not perfect with hissing and a distinct lack of clarity.

Features

An extremely poor quality short interview with Peter Cushing on Anglia television from 1973 is more of a puff piece than a revealing one-on-one and is barely worth watching.

A 1993 news feature on Peter Cushing`s 80th birthday party is all of 1 minute 39 seconds long, so fails to shed any light on him and isn`t particularly interesting.

Conclusion

As with wild birds, it may be possible to make housecats scary, but Denis Héroux is not Alfred Hitchcock and `The Uncanny` is not `The Birds`. The fact that characters are unnaturally petrified and even incapacitated by fear of the felines rather than acting as the aggressor removes any pretense of realism. Unfortunately the cat attacks are too silly to be scary and the effect in which a giant cat is created using a huge fake paw and rear projection isn`t that much different to the one used in `King Kong` over 40 years earlier.

The first story is the most effective in the anthology, as Susan Penhaligon becomes trapped in an old mansion which is overrun by vengeful and violent cats who are protecting their inheritance from the scheming Penhaglion and her boyfriend (Simon Williams). The second part involves an orphan sent to live in the country who is teased and tormented by her older cousin to the point where, at the insistence of her cat Wellington, she produces a book of witchcraft and shrinks her cousin to the size of a mouse. The final tale of an actress (Samantha Eggar) who gains a part in a film after she and her boyfriend `VD` (Donald Pleasance) kill the incumbent in a `Pit and the Pendulum` scene is stupid rather than scary.

In 1977 Peter Cushing appeared in four films including this, one of his last horror films - a thoroughly unconvincing and creaky effort - and `Star Wars`, which would go on to become one of the most successful films ever and spawn a huge and thriving fan base, whereas `The Uncanny` largely faded into obscurity. This is perhaps for the better as it`s unlikely that Peter Cushing would want to be remembered as a mentally unhinged writer in a relatively unheard of low budget horror movie.