Wrong. Shockingly wrong!

August 18, 2008 7:18 PM

Extremely long shot horror movie question involving cats and the French subway system.

In the late 1960s or early 1970s, I was scared witless by a televised movie involving a cat (cats?) in the subway system in France that somehow lured victims onto the electrified rail. Any idea what this movie was?

posted by Morrigan to media & arts (6 comments total)

Oh, late 60s. I was going to suggest Cat's Eye, from 1985, which has a scene with cats and electric shock that totally traumatized me at age seven. Anyway, if you're into that sort of stuff, you should check this movie out.
posted by salvia at 10:30 PM on August 18, 2008

This seems like it should come up very easily in google or imdb searches, but it isn't, using keywords like metro, subway, france, french, cat, cats. Could you be misremembering something, like the country or the animal? I would really like to find out more about this movie because it sounds ridiculous ;) I have no doubt that you were scared witless by it as a child though.
posted by iconomy at 6:41 AM on August 19, 2008

Sette scialli di seta gialla (Crimes of the Black Cat)?
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 9:29 AM on August 19, 2008

salvia: I've added Cat's Eye to my Netflix queue just to prove that the adult me is made of stronger stuff. ;)

iconomy: I could definitely be wrong on any number of counts. I recall clearly only that it had a very dark, creepy aesthetic and that it needed to be turned off NOW.

urbanwhaleshark: That sounds like a very good bet, judging from the release date and that plot summaries I've read, which (spoiler alert) mention nefarious doings involving trains. If it was this, they must have cut it to ribbons for tv. I've added this movie to my queue as well and will report back provided that I'm not reduced to a gibbering wreck.
posted by Morrigan at 4:12 PM on August 19, 2008

I wasn't entirely sure. I've had SSDSG on my list of films to watch since 2005 (so little time...) and I posted the above from work because your description matched very similarly a film I remembered grabbing with a whole load of others in a mad internet search (oh, that sounds good, and that, and that and...). I'm home now and just skimmed through the film to satisfy my curiosity. There's definitely a cat (close-up of the evil cat eyes, evil cat meowing) scaring the bejeebus out of a woman who falls onto the subway tracks.

I can't verify the double-plus goodness of the film itself but, if you watch it before I do, please give us an update.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 5:02 PM on August 19, 2008

salvia: I've added Cat's Eye to my Netflix queue just to prove that the adult me is made of stronger stuff. ;)

Let us know how it goes. I'd keep the fast forward button handy - it might really just be a dumb movie. I remember us walking in and out of the room. Then again, we were seven, what did we know? It does have Drew Barrymore in it. (Who would have been, what, eight herself?)
posted by salvia at 8:42 AM on August 20, 2008