After seeing Drew Barrymore star in the adaptation of his novel Firestarter, Stephen King starting writing something specifically for Drew to star in at the prompting of producer Dino De Laurentis. The result was the anthology film Cat's Eye, with Drew starring in the wrap-around story that ties it all together.
A cat, known as General, sees a vision of a young girl (played by Drew Barrymore) saying that the cat needs to find her, that she's in danger and there isn't much time. Before General has a chance to move, he's captured by a strange man as we move into the first story of the film, Quitter's Inc. General is taken to a building in downtown New York to the offices of a company called Quitter's Inc. The company promises to help people quit smoking. One such person is Dick Morrison (played by James Woods), who is coming to the company to try and quit smoking for his wife and young daughter. The owner of the company explains how his system works. Once Dick is signed up, he will be monitored and is he is caught smoking once, his wife will be brought to Quitter's Inc. and brought to a special room with a mesh metal floor. He shows Dick the room, with General in the place of a person in the room and presses a button as electric shocks coarse through the floor and General jumps around to avoid the shocks. He quickly stops the demonstration, reassuring Dick that the cat is fine. However, if he cheats, first time it's his wife. Second time it's his daughter and after that the punishments become more severe. Confident he can quit cold turkey, Dick leaves and is certain he can go through with the program. But those cravings start kicking in and Dick finds it harder and harder to resist.
After escaping the offices of Quitters Inc. at the resolution of Dick's Story, General makes his way to Atlantic City, where he is scooped by a crime boss and casino owner Cressner (played by Kenneth McMillan) and taken to his penthouse apartment. There he meets with gambler and former tennis pro Johnny Norris. Norris has been sleeping with Cressner's wife, but Cressner makes him a wager. If Norris can walk the narrow ledge around the perimeter of the top floor of his hotel, he will let Norris keep his wife. In order to ensure Norris goes through with it, he also reveals he had one of his goons plant drugs in Norris' car, so if he walks away a tip will be called into the Police and he will wind up going to jail. Seeing no choice, Norris agrees. It turns out to be far harder to do as Cressner and his goons keep popping up to make sure he's not cheating and at certain points harrassing him to try and make him fall.
Once General escapes the Atlantic City penthouse, he is finally able to make it to the home of the little girl and discovers she needs protection from an evil little troll that is trying to steal the little girl's breath. The girl is immediately taken with General and wants to keep him, but he has a problem in the girl's mother (played by Candy Clark), who is superstitious about cats. So, General has his work cut out for him with trying to keep the girl safe while also dodging the disapproving mother that doesn't even want him in the house.
The film was directed by Lewis Teague, who previously directed an adaptation of King's novel Cujo. While that movie was an intense thriller, this one is a great deal more playful and has it's tongue firmly planted in it's cheek. At one point, during the climactic battle between the little troll and General, the cat has the troll pinned on a record player and turns it on. What song plays, you ask? Why, "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, of course. The film is filled with references to other Stephen King works, such as appearances by Cujo himself as well as a certain red 1958 Plymouth Fury (with a bumper sticker that reads Rock and Roll will Never Die). During the Quitter's Inc. story, Dick is trying to distract himself from his cravings by watching a movie, which is of course David Cronenberg's adaptation of King's The Dead Zone. When the distraction doesn't work, he walks off in a huff wondering, "Who writes this crap?"
The film incorporates two stories by Stephen King from his Night Shift collection, "Quitter's Inc." and "The Ledge" and they are the strongest part of the movie. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film as a whole, but the first two stories were better that the wrap-around story, usually referred to as the third story, "General." There just was something a bit more unique with the first two stories, especially the second one, which plays like classic Hitchcock. The third story is decent, but it just isn't as memorable as the first two stories which feel a bit more unique.
Overall, Cat's Eye is an interesting installment in the realm of Stephen King films. It's anthology nature, with the story of this cat trying to get a little girl tying it all together. It's a bit more unique and I like that about the film. It never for a second really takes itself all that seriously either, content to just have a little bit of fun. It's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a pretty fun one.
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