Film Review: 'The Uncanny' (1977): Forgotten Sabotsky Anthology

Milton Sabotsky, producer of the fabled Amicus horror anthologies of the late 60s-early 70s, gives it another go with a Canadian film studio -- with uneven results -- in The Uncanny.

The Uncanny (1977), directed by Denis Heroux; starring Ray Milland, Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, and Samantha Eggar.

This Canadian film is the weakest of all of the fabled Sabotsky-produced horror anthologies (Tales of the Crypt, Torture Garden, Vault of Horror, etc.).

It’s frequently left off the list altogether, probably because it’s not well-known. But The Uncanny still has a little of the ol’ Sabotsky zing, plus an interesting premise. And it’s also got two of the usual suspects from Sabotsky’s heyday at Amicus -- Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence. Plus Ray Milland, who did a lot of horror at the end of his career, similar to his fellow Hollywood Golden Ager, Joseph Cotten.

The anthology starts as usual with a “framing” story that sets up the individual segments. Milland plays Frank Richards, a publisher meeting convivially over sherry with one of his authors, Wilbur Gray (Cushing). Gray delivers a massive manuscript that details how common house cats have been killing off inconvenient people for centuries. Richards is skeptical, but starts reading anyway. As he reads, the first segment gets underway...

This segment is entitled London, 1912. An elderly Edwardian lady named Miss Malkin (Joan Greenwood) is bedridden and dying. She only has a young housemaid, Janet (Susan Penhaligon), to care for her. She calls for her attorney and he draws up the will, which leaves her entire fortune to her dozens of cats. However, Janet is secretly seeing the old lady’s dissolute nephew, and they plot to destroy the will so the nephew inherits everything. The cats have other ideas; they work together to engineer a gruesome conclusion to the malfeasant plotters. This segment is fairly predictable, but there are a few memorable scenes.

The second segment is called Quebec Province, 1975. A suburban Canadian couple, the Blakes, have taken in a niece after her parents were killed in a plane crash. Their daughter, Angela (Chloe Franks), however, doesn’t like her cousin Lucy (Katrina Holden Bronson), and keeps taunting her and setting her up for punishment by the unsympathetic Mrs. Blake (Alexandra Stewart.) Worst of all, Angela dishonestly engineers the death of Lucy’s beloved pet cat, Wellington, at the local cat pound. But somehow Wellington comes back from the dead, and he sets in motion a terrible revenge, which in the final denouement is darkly comical as well as gruesome. This is my favorite segment, although many reviewers hate it. (Interesting sidenote: Katrina Holden Bronson is the adopted daughter of Charles Bronson and his wife, Jill Ireland.)

The final segment is called Hollywood, 1936. It’s a campy tale starring Pleasence as a vain actor with the outlandish name of Valentine De’ath. He is making a Universal-style classic horror film with his actress wife, Madeleine. During a scene with a pendulum blade, something goes wrong, and the blade actually slices Madeleine until she’s dead. De’ath suggests that the film should go on, and that Madeleine be replaced with Edina, her younger and prettier stand-in (played by Samantha Eggar, from David Cronenberg’s The Brood, 1979). De’ath is having an affair with Edina and it’s apparent that Madeleine’s death was probably not accidental. Unfortunately for them, Madeleine’s bereaved cat can’t rest until the two plotters are punished. And boy, is the punishment memorable.

The production values are low-budget and it shows (there appears to be snow on the ground in the “Hollywood” segment.) Cinematography, provided by Harry Waxman (The Wickerman, 1973) is competent, but nothing special. The sets are cheap-looking. One thing that does shine, however, is the very felinesque opening title sequence/music.

There’s a pretty good copy of The Uncanny on YouTube at the moment, if you want to check it out; otherwise, it’s hard to find, and there doesn’t appear to be a disc release.