Don’t Let the Cat Out
Official synopsis: A feline-obsessed couple find their next human vessel to transfer the soul of their beloved cat into.
Bonkers in all the right ways, director Tim Cruz’s Don’t Let the Cat Out is a wild ride that combines mysticism, body horror, and psychotic villainy with plenty of dark humor. University student Charlie (Anthony Del Negro, who cowrote the screenplay with Cruz) takes a gig housesitting for well-to-do feline fanciers Rodney (Jordan James Smith) and Evelyn (Cerina Vincent), who also have an interest in religious practices of ancient Egypt. Without giving too much more away, Charlie is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the couple plans to fuse their two aforementioned pursuits in a chilling manner. Cruz cleverly and humorously finds ways to display creature effects within the film’s budget, and there are a good number of chills and kills on show. Fans of fun fear-fare who like perverted science, pseudoscience, and The Island of Dr. Moreau creature-feature riffs should get a huge kick out of this winning independent feature.
It Feeds
Official synopsis: It Feeds is the story of a young girl who insists that a malevolent entity is feeding on her. Ashley Greene portrays a clairvoyant therapist who must confront her own personal demons to save the girl before she is taken completely. Shawn Ashmore takes on the role of the anguished father, desperately struggling to protect his daughter.
Writer/director Chad Archibald’s latest fear-fare feature It Feeds deals heavily with family trauma and grief, and though the proceedings get a bit overwrought at times, overall the film is a solid watch. Greene gives a fine performance as Cynthia Winstone, a combination psychic and clinical therapist, while Ellie O’Brien is also good in portraying her 17-year-old daughter Jordan. The latter character falls heavily into the trope of being the stubborn teenager who follows her heart rather than her mother’s sage advice to the point that viewer sympathy may vary with Jordan. The duo’s travels through the subconscious and battles with an entity that dwells there but that can also manifest itself in the waking world are effectively creepy and suspenseful. Daniella Pluchino’s creature design is impressively eerie and gets a well-deserved amount of screen time. Boasting plenty of woo-woo factor along with heartfelt emotional drama, It Feeds is an intriguing film that aficionados of dream-based fright fare and grief-driven horror will want to give a watch.
Black Fawn Distribution will release It Feeds theatrically and on VOD in the U.S.A. on Friday, April 18, 2025.
Don’t Let the Cat Out and It Feeds screen as part of Panic Fest 2025, which took place beginning March 27 with an in-person festival in Kansas City running through April 2 and a virtual version running through April 6. For more information, visit https://panicfilmfest.com/.
