A film notable for supposedly being the only non-comedy horror film released in America during 1948. Whilst there is little of significance in the film it is good to see a film that is influenced by the subtle style of Val Lewton rather than Universal's more traditional monster film making. Two scientists work a serum that can turn men into cats, why we never know but this provides the backdrop to jealousy and murder. Ralph Morgan and Onslow Stevens, both regulars of low budget horror play it straight and unfortunately this leaves a lot of the film rather dull. There is no glinting evil on show and neither star dominates. The serum turns someone into a cat pawed killed and the scenes showing the paw in shadow are fairly interesting. There is also an attempt to mix in CAT PEOPLE fear of cats in the female lead. However she is far too nice and sexless to radiate any menace, her cat filled dreams are well enough handled but overall there is a lack of scares. In it's own right the film is enjoyable enough if worthy, but compared to it's obvious Val Lewton homage be it CAT PEOPLE or THE LEOPARD MAN, this hardly compares. 6/10.
Special Thanks to Mark Coyle for this Movie Review.