Available on Blu-ray from 88 Films from 09/23/2025
An alien girl and a cat from outer space spread havoc while fighting alien possessed people and with her knight and a novelist.
Written by Gordon Chan and Hing-Ka Chan from a novel by Kuang Ni (aka Wisely) and directed by Ngai Choi Lam, The Cat is a batshit insane film somewhere between Evil Deal and some of the most insane science-fiction out there. There is a ton going on here and the tone of the film comes off like a precursor for films such as Meatball Machine and Tokyo Gore Police where things are insane, the story mostly makes sense, but more of the audience isn’t watching for the plot. The way the story develop from the start is fairly surprising and gives the viewer a good idea of what they are getting into from the very start. The story is entertaining and the way the direction brings it to the screen is a lot of fun.
The cast here is led by Waise Lee as Wei Si Li (aka Wisely, refer novel author above) who finds himself dealing a seemingly crazed cat and later the cat’s human or maybe not human Princess played by Gloria Yip. Lee does decent work here with the part at hand, making it a fun part to watch and making sure his character doesn’t completely disappear in scenes shared with Princess as Yip really makes the most of her part, making Princess the center of attention, stealing scenes, and shining throughout. She’s adorable, charismatic, and a bit unhinged, a perfect combo for this story and this film. The two of them make for an entertaining pair of leads and really help make the film. The cat at the center of everything has scenes where real cats were used and kudos to the trainers and wranglers for getting the cats to do anything at all, even when that thing doesn’t fully fit the scenes. The cat is the titular character and thus he shall shine.
The special effects here are fabulous, in a 1980s sort of way. The practical effects look quite low budget, but they work and they help entertain, showing that practical often wins over computer generated effects. Speaking of the latter, what this film has of them is cheesily dated and just right for the mood here. The computer-generated effects and other visual effects are particularly old looking and it’s fantastic, hitting that nostalgic mood just right.
The Cat is a nutty film that is a bunch of fun with some serious nonsense of the best kind going on pretty much throughout. It’s one of those films that gets put on as a curiosity and ends up getting 100% of the attention from everyone near the television it’s been put on. It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s insane, it’s perfectly imperfect.
This new release of The Cat from 88 Films is fantastic with a new packaging that is gorgeous and fun, new art from Sean Longmore that looks great, and a booklet that collectors will want. The new 2K restoration looks really solid and the audio works just right with it. The newly translated English sub-titles are easy to follow. In terms of extras on the disc, the new udio commentary by Frank Djeng is a good listen, and the new interview with writer Gordon Chan is a must for fans. A few more items are included here such as an image gallery. The treatment given to The Cat is likely more than the film ever deserves but it shows how much love the film gets from just about anyone who checks it out.