Cat's Eye (1985)

Stephen King goes to the Twilight Zone in this anthology all connected to a cat who is looking for a distressed girl.

In fact the first two stories could easily sit alongside Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Director Lewis Teague is just the right director for this type of movie. A graduate of Roger Corman's school of filmmaking and he had done an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

The first story has James Woods who tries to stop smoking. He visits a company that will make him stop or his loved one will suffer. He demonstrates it by electruciting the floor of a room which the cat is in.

Woods is tempted to smoke knowing he might put his wife in danger. It is blackly humorous and he realises once you stop smoking, do not put on weight.

The second story involves a casino boss who makes a bet with his wife's lover, Robert Hays. If Hays manages to walk around the thin ledge of a high rise building he can have his wife, if he does not Hays will be framed for dealing in drugs which has been planted in his car.

As Hays walks around the ledge the casino boss keeps things interesting by trying to put him off. However Hays gets an opportunity to the turn the tables.

The final story features Drew Barrymore as the troubled girl calling out to the cat. At night she is pestered by a malevolent troll who tries to steal her breath, the cat arrives to do battle with the troll.

Teague makes reference to other Stephen King adaptations. We see Cujo and Christine make Hitchcock type appearances and even the The Dead Zone is shown playing on television.

The first two stories are very effective in a twisted humorous way. The final story feels too long and seems more aimed at kids in a Grimm fairytale type of way.