They don’t make weird studio movies like they used to. Mostly this is because studios hate risk. Think how many focus groups, test screenings and visits with the IP stakeholders must be done before a Hollywood movie arrives in your local chain theater. These films are carefully credited in marketing like a new flavor of Dr. Pepper. I’m willing to bet that nobody outside of the filmmakers had input on Hong Kong version of The Cat. When people sat down in theaters to see the latest release from Golden Harvest in the Fall of 1992, they were in for a wild experience. It was strange, bizarre, trippy and ultimately amazing. No matter how much I try to convey the weirdness, you’ll find even more weirdness when you watch The Cat.
Li Tung (Lawrence Lau) gets woken up in the middle of the night by weird noises from the apartment above. He loses his temper, grabs a frog gigger and heads upstairs to confront his neighbors. He encounters an old man, a young woman (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky‘s Gloria Yip) and a fluffy black cat. The next morning, the trio have moved out of the apartment. He pokes around and finds body parts. The cops arrive including Tung’s pal police inspector Wang Chieh-Mei (Hard Boiled‘s Philip Kwok) and discover they aren’t human parts. Wang takes Tung out to meet author Wisely (Bullet In The Head‘s Waise Lee) and his wife Pai So (Police Story II‘s Christine Ng). The tale of the trio intrigues the author who begins writing a science fiction story based on them. The girl and the cat have come to Earth to track down an evil alien known as Star Killer. What makes Star Killer hard to find is that it can take over the bodies of everything. Star Killer takes over the body of a character who will remain nameless here. The creature can also go Lovecraftian monster with lots of tentacles to grab people. When the cat must steal a museum piece, the cops unleash a dog to atack. The cat confronts the large dog in a junkyard for an all-out furry martial arts fight that’s a wonder to behold. This alone is worth the price of the Blu-ray.
The Cat might be the ultimate movie to enjoy on Caturday. You get everything on the screen at once. There’s science fiction. We get a cop story. A touch of romance pops up on the screen. We get animal fighting, although you can tell it special effects doing the violent parts. There’s a swimming pool set on fire. There are times when you’ll be asking “what’s going on here?” But immediately you’ll go with the wild flow of the imagery on the screen. You’ll want things to get more insane. Director Lam Ngai Kai (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky) is full throttle with the action, plot and weirdness. The third act is explosive. I do enjoy the strangeness of Wisely’s narration as we’re left wondering if he’s making up this story or is he recounting a real adventure. Did he also battle Star Killer? In a sense, The Cat reminds me of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace with the author as the leading character although the movie has better special effects and acting. The movie came out a decade before the TV series. As I said before: No matter how outrageous I describe The Cat, it’s even more outrageous and fun. Thank goodness nobody in marketing could dilute the cinematic joy.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The new transfer brings out the wildness of the junkyard scene. The Audio is Cantonese LPCM 2.0 Mono. You’ll hear all the cat and dog sounds during the fight. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng has him talk about the fact that Lam Ngai Kai still hasn’t made a movie since The Cat. The film played one week in Hong Kong and rated number 88. He gets into the Japanese version of the movie. We also learn about the original novel and other movies made about the author character.
Japanese Cut (97:00) is in standard definition with English Subtitles. This comes with the promo for the VHS label. The film was called Monster War in Japan. This version of the movie for Japan has so much new footage, plot and characters that this is a whole different movie. The entire novelist angle is gone. This is like a bizarre neo noir remake of the original film. Turns out this different version was shot at the same time as the Hong Kong version to appease the Japanese investors.
Interview with writer Gordon Chan (21:47) has him talk about getting the gig to adapt the original novel. He was down for it. He didn’t even ask about the pay. He had done VFX and animation before it. He gets into making the Cat work including the junkyard fight. He gets into collaborating with others on the script.
Stills Gallery (1:58) has press photos.
Trailer (4:23) gives the audience a taste of the junkyard fight to know that they must see the wildness.
Illustrated Booklet with essays by Paul Bramhall and Matthew Edwards.
88 Films present The Cat (Limited Edition). Directed by Lam Ngai Kai. Screenplay by Chan Hing-ka and Gordon Chan. Starring Waise Lee, Christine Ng, Gloria Yip, Lau Siu-ming, Lawrence Lau, Philip Kwok and Ni Kuang. Running Time: 90 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: September 23, 2025.
