Thanks to Gregg for contributing a guest piece for this month's theme! Gregg Kapsalis is a local genre fan who loves watching, reading about and discussing all things related to genre movies, check out his horror group "Twin Cities Genre Group" on Facebook and join the conversation!
A Talking Cat!?! is a fantasy movie for “all ages”! It's a fun tale of a cat endowed with magical powers and a gift of gab who’s able to talk and influences those humans who need guidance with their lives and boy, oh boy, does this cast of crazy characters need guidance. There’s Phil, a man with all the money in the world, who sells his company in an effort to bond with his teenage son, Chris. Chris who's trying to overcome his fear of talking to girls and win the fair hand of Frannie. On the other side of the forest, there’s Susan who’s struggling with her catering company and teenage twins Tina and Trent. Tina just wants to go to school to learn computer programming, and Trent is lost in an existential crisis. (Side note: Trent and Chris also have more chemistry with each other than anyone else in the film.) Duffy (the cat) helps Phil and Susan find each other, helps the twins stop fighting, and even teaches Chris to swim! But (huge plot twist coming up) after saving our troupe of characters, Duffy is hit by a careless driver! Things aren’t looking good for Duffy, so everyone races to his bedside to share some final words before he shuffles off this mortal coil and makes his way to Kitty Heaven. But, by the good grace of god, the cat recovers and everyone is happy! Fin.
Ok.. there is a lot more to unpack here. Let me break all this down into easily digestible segments:
THE FILMMAKER: Director David DeCoteau is a wildly prolific filmmaker, with IMDB listing 159 directing credits to his name. He worked under both Roger Corman and Charles Band before striking out on his own and starting the production company Rapid Heart Pictures. David started his career in the early 80’s making X-Rated homoerotic films (like Boys Just Wanna Have Sex), but not to be pigeon-holed, he also made a name for himself as a horror director in the straight-to-video market. He’s responsible for classics like Creepozoids and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (both starring Linnea Quigley). All the while he’s never stopped making films in what seems to be his favorite genre: erotic horror.
The diversity in his portfolio only seems to be rivaled by the diversity in the aliases he uses: Julian Breen, Ellen Cabot, Richard Chasen, Mary Crawford (moniker used for his family films, such as A Talking Cat!?!), 'Disco' Dave DeCoteau, Marc Denne, David Doe, Kathy Logan, Eric Mancini, Dave McCabe, David McCabe, David Mcabe, Jack Reed, Wilma Rubble (my personal favorite), Victoria Sloan, Victoria Sloane, Martin Tate, and Joseph Tennent.
David continues to make movies at a relentless pace. In recent years he's made countless movies for the Lifetime Channel, and has already one air in 2020 (The Wrong House Sitter). But summing up and making sense of DeCoteau’s career is almost impossible, so I will leave you with a quote from the man himself that not only speaks volumes to his own career but, is just really good creative advice:
“I make movies for myself. I've got to like what I do and I've got to do it as well as I can. If other people like what I like, then, great. If you try and make a cult film, it won't be a cult film. If you try to make a critically acclaimed film, it won't be a critically acclaimed film. Just make the film that you like to make, and make it as well as you can.”
THE CAST: There are a few notable cast members in A Talking Cat!?!. Eric Roberts is the voice of Duffy (the talking cat), child star Johnny Whitaker plays Phil (the single, newly retired father who after years of “coding and sitting in a windowless office” just wants to bond with his teenage son), and Kristine Debell is Susan (the would-be caterer who’s specialty is cheese puffs (just ask her) and single mother of troubled teenage twins).
THE MUSIC: This is a movie filled to the brim with poorly used public domain music (even though Harry Manfredini has a music credit). A prime example would be a scene between Phil and Susan where we are meant to feel the sparks between the two as they get to know each other and, presumably, fall in love. What sort of music would you expect in this scene? Whatever you guessed, I am willing to bet it was not an elevator-music rendition of “La Cucaracha”. (Also worth mentioning, the song chosen to play over the credits of this movie about a talking cat: “Itsy Bitsy Spider”.)
EVERYTHING ELSE: (I am going to do A LOT of speculating here, so feel free to call me out in the comments.) This movie was obviously made in a rush and for no money. The mansion used as Phil’s house is in poor shape, the interior of the house (and the pool) are visibly dirty, and I have a feeling that once Roberts recorded the cat dialogue, the movie was put on fast-track. Legend has it that Roberts recorded his lines in 15 minutes from his living room, and I totally believe it as he mutters and slurs much of the dialogue. (To be fair, who could deliver lines like “Hi, I’m a talking cat.” or “Paws don’t fail me now!” with much enthusiasm?) I would also believe that Robert’s dialogue was recorded on a smartphone that was sitting on a table 5 feet away... However, Eric got off easy, compared to what screen veterans, Johnny Whitaker (Sigmund the Sea Monster, Family Affair, Tom Sawyer and loads more 70s Disney stuff) and Kristine DeBell (Meatballs, Samurai Cop 2, and the x-rated Alice in Wonderland) were stuck with. Whitaker comes off likable enough (despite his silly goatee) and DeBell seems to be having fun, but there just isn’t much for either of them to work with. (Though they both must have enjoyed the experience because Whitaker appeared in two more of DeCoteau’s movies and DeBell is something of a DeCoteau stable actor.) This movie is also advertised as a family movie, but I honestly can’t see any child finding this movie interesting. And, the eponymous cat isn’t even in the movie that much!
A Talking Cat!?! is unquestionably a mess, and is a movie best suited for stoners and/or fans of so-bad-it’s-good cinema. However, everyone should watch the trailer:
