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Speaker 1: Hello, feline friends, Welcome to Catitude. I'm your show host,
Michelle Burn. Now this I was told this episode two
hundred I think sixty eight. I have never had a
topic quite like this, so I'm really excited. My guest
today is a contributor to a book that talks about
cat and hord sci fi and fantasy movies. So stay tuned.
We'll be right back.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome Christopher Robinson. He
is one of the collaborators of several for the book
Meau Kats in Horror, sci Fi and Fantasy Movies. Welcome Chris.
Speaker 2: Can I call you Chris, Yeah.
Speaker 5: Of course, yes, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Michelle, Yeah, I'm very excited to have you. Can you
share a little bit about your background. I know you're
one of several collaborators on the book there is. This
is quite a book.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's pretty it's like a companion of basically, it's
pretty exhaustive just about every cat themed horror and sci
fi you know movie known is probably mentioned in my
background is Yeah. I was generally writing about Western history
and film for a period because I was the senior
editor of an online publication called Western Magazine Digest. But
over the years I've been contributing to these reference guides
that Vanessa Morgan has been publishing. She's actually in Belgium.
She's they call her the Stephen King, the female Stephen
King of Belgium, well of anywhere I guess, but yeah,
she's the one that sort of agglomerates all these international
writers and her. You know, cats are an obsession for her.
She's written novels about pat and she's written these film
reference guide about horror and sci fi. But this time
she co leesed her too favorite interests and made a
whole reference guide that just covers every cat theme, horror
and fantasy and sci fi film out there.
Speaker 1: This is and that's Vanessa Morgan.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, Vanessa Morgan. Yeah, there's there's another celebrity named
Vanessa Morgan that's probably more more known in North America,
but this Vanessa Morgan is pretty popular in Belgium and Europe.
She's in charge of a lot of film festivals and
some of her books have become films too.
Speaker 1: Okay, now what about you. I know you're a writer.
Are you into cats?
Speaker 5: I'm not into cats. I'm into films, so okay, film
buff Yeah, But I since I helped her out with
these other, uh these other reference guides, I guess she
coaxed me into, uh kind of giving her something for this.
But there were some films that I was a fan
of that have cats in them, so you know, it
was an easy thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe they're calling to you, maybe adoption, you know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe this is getting me crept for
a new uh, a new pastime.
Speaker 1: Prepped to be a cat daddy?
Speaker 5: Yeah right?
Speaker 1: So what was the reasoning behind the book? So why
did Vanessa decide I'm going to write an exhaustive reference
guide about cats and horror, sci fi and fantasy movies.
Speaker 5: Yeah? Well, I guess uh. When her first reference guy
that she put together, it was called called When Animals
Attack These seventy movies Best Movies with Killer Animals, And
I think while she was putting that together, she was
thinking that it would be great if she could do
the same thing with one that just centered on cats.
And the more she edited that book, the more I
guess she discovered that there were plenty of those kind
of sub genres out there that you could actually fill
up another reference guide with that, and that it would
also be interesting to people and marketable.
Speaker 1: You know, as I went through this reference guide, I
couldn't help noticing that there are a lot, like a
lot of movies about cats. There's hard there's sci fi
and fantasy that's mentioned. How many movies are actually I
didn't count them. How many movies are actually mentioned.
Speaker 5: Well, there's I guess there's about at least eighty that
are with main entries, and then there's an additional chapter
that covers just memorable scenes with cats in certain films,
so that you could have those important moments mentioned without
devoting an entire essay to something that you couldn't write
about as much. But yeah, there's I guess it goes
back to the beginning of cinema. I think one of
the first Thomas Edison films featured a couple of cats boxing.
They had like gloves on and had them doing like
a sparring boxing match. And I don't know, I don't
know how realistic it was. It would it looked like,
but it sounds like something I might want to see
one day.
Speaker 1: Was that the first film ever with cats?
Speaker 5: That might have been yet that might have been one
of the very first ones, if not the first one,
because that's like before the twentieth century, something like the
eighteen nineties. I think when he was doing these experiments.
Speaker 1: That's pretty incredible. I've talked about this on the show before,
but not in the genre of film we were discussing.
It was more with Halloween but this is not that,
and Halloween is many months away unless you're listening again
to this show during Halloween. Thank you. But let's talk
about this. Why are there so many cats in horror movies?
You know again with the black cats, the cats, and
the witches. I get that, But just in your opinion,
as you know, an expert, you wrote about this. You're
a writer, you're a fan of the films. You hear
about horror cats. You hear about, you know, bewitching cats,
but not so much like say dogs, I mean, except
for were wolves, and that's quite a dog.
Speaker 5: Yeah, different.
Speaker 1: So why cats?
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's something that you know that the imagery of
cats has always I think spurred people's imaginations and fantasies.
I guess it goes back to their mysterious that there's
sometimes mysterious sort of persona, you know, their eyes and
the way they can move around, the whole nocturnal thing,
and that's always fed into people's imaginations in terms of
what you can do cinematically and in literature and so on,
which is probably why they're the subject of so many
fantastical and horrific films and videos and books. Or they
could just be in the periphery. Sometimes they're just they're
a part of the storyline or just off to the side,
but their imagery is memorable, even in a story that
doesn't concentrate specifically on cats, or they don't figure into
the story at all.
Speaker 1: It made me think about cats, and all three of
mine have very distinct personalities. I think the one that
would be best in film is Molly because she does
have that look. I think you hit it on the
head when you said their eyes, because cat's eyes are
so unique, and you know it's sometimes it's the shape
of their eyes. For instance, my cat Dennis, he's part
me incun is a rounder. He always has the innocent eye,
like what me, I didn't do it, you know, like
that innocent round.
Speaker 5: But yeah, yeah, that's their personalities, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he has that personal Molly's are like more
evil looking, and she's a diva and she can be evil.
So sorry Molly, but.
Speaker 5: You know, well we should sign her up maybe. Yeah,
she's one of them to make it into a film, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she has to get in better shape though she's
a little fat.
Speaker 5: I think those cats that did the prize fighting made
like thirty five dollars a week or something like that
that wasn't too bad in those days.
Speaker 1: Prize fighting.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's there's boxing cat hopefully fake. Yeah, well they
didn't have what aspca back then, but hopefully, yes, somebody
was making sure it didn't get too crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay, so let's get back to the movies. Like
I said, there is a lot of movies. If you
like cats and you like movies, this is the book
for you. And now I mentioned black, but there's not
only black cats. I saw gingers, I saw white cats.
I saw what I think is gray because some of
these are in black and white. Most of them are
in black and white. All of them are in black
and white. Actually, so there's something mystique about cats. What
I find interesting is cats can be depicted as mysterious,
as evil, as sexy. You hear that. You know, dogs
are not considered sexy, but cats are.
Speaker 5: Cat Woman from the Batman comics. They never had dog warmen. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Cats have all these stereotypes placed on them for different reasons.
Why do you think that is.
Speaker 5: Well, it goes back to the like ancient ancient cultures,
ancient Egypt, they had a god, right, a goddess, cat goddess.
Speaker 1: They did fast.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it's in the ancient Rome, ancient Greece, Japanese
and Chinese cultures, Nordic mythology because cats have always been
around and maybe that you know, they've had this long
lasting impact too, so their image just kind of transcends
storytelling almost you know, it predates. It goes back to
the spoken folklore, you know, just spoken stories before they
could write down histories and tell their stories their different mediums.
Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense, and thanks to the
magic of Ai. I think the Egyptian Cat you were
thinking of his.
Speaker 5: Best debt, best set, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Even
in that The Old Mummy Boris Karloff, it has no
cat subplot, but it figures. The heroine's cat figures into
the story after towards the finale, and I think Boris
Karloff is taken back just by her cat because of
his you know, ancient he's actually this ancient mummy and
it goes back to, you know, his faith. No one
covered that. I don't think that movie in the book,
but that could have been one, you know, just because
of the subtext of it.
Speaker 1: You know, there were a few that I looked up
that I didn't see and listed, but there are so
many listed. What is your favorite cat horror or sci
fi or fantasy film or one of each.
Speaker 5: I really like Shadow of the Cat, the black and
white film from the early sixties, which was about this. Well,
it was a woman with a cat, with her pet cat.
She was reading I don't know if it was Poe,
but she was reading some poetry to her cat when
she was killed by her ex husband and some of
the servants that he used to help him knock her off.
And after that point there's a big gathering of all
the benefactors of her will, and the cat is still
roaming the grounds, making them all nervous because I guess
her cat or cat Tabitha is the name of cat,
and tabith have witnessed the murder, and Tabitha is the
only one who knew who did it, and they're all
very guilty and apprehensive, and they're out to try and
try and forge a new will and get the fortune
and get away with murder, but the cat isn't going
to let them do it. So it's like a unique
kind of story that actually it's kind of a theme.
I don't think too many people too many other filmmakers
have touched upon. But it's not even that well known
of a film, I guess, but I thought it was
a good one. And it's a black bat too, so
it falls into the black category pun intended.
Speaker 1: The black cat category is like a love and hate
relationship on catitude because while we love black cats, but
there's a stigma which causes people to adopt black cats
right around. A lot of shelters, won't you know, adopt
out black cats around Halloween because they get adopted out
people like you know, use them as their costumes and
then they either let them loose or return them to
the shelter.
Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, that I didn't know, but I was aware
that there was they had problem that they had more
black cat in shelters that have a less chance of
getting adopted. Very true, but there are more black cats.
Speaker 1: Not only cats, dogs too, but definitely with black cats.
Probably goes back to superstition, goes.
Speaker 5: Back to the bad luck saying yeah.
Speaker 1: Which we know is just superstition. Anyway, We're going to
take a quick break and we'll be right back. Hey guys,
Michelle Furne, here is your cat slowing down or having
health issues? Do you wonder what can I do to
make them feel better?
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Speaker 4: Let's talk past you.
Speaker 1: Let Life Radio Headline Radio.
Speaker 4: Cat Life Radio dot.
Speaker 1: Com Welcome back everyone. Talking to Christopher Robinson. He is
a collaborator of the book Meow Cats and Horror, sci
Fi and fantasy Movies. Okay, so moving along with my
questions on cats and how are sci fi and fantasy
movies which I don't watch that many of them. I
have watched some, probably more sci fi than fantasy and horror.
I don't watch a lot of horror because then I
can't sleep. But very interesting how the cats are depicted.
It's also interesting to me that there's this is not
just something in North America. You know, we're based in
the US. We have lots and lots of listeners, which
I'm always grateful for in the US, but our listeners
are all over the world because you know digital, We're
on the Internet. So with that in mind, it's interesting
that this book has films from all over the globe.
What country do you think has the most. I think Japan,
That's what I was going to say. Yeah, they have
a whole subgenre just about supernatural cats. So that's a
popular thing right there. There's a multitude of movies and
stories made just about those type of cats. But that's
probably like just like China, I think that's that's something
that's been in their culture for a long time, that
kind of those entertainment ideas. And the other thing is
I had a show a long time ago, and cats
are just they're very popular in Asia and they're also
popular I think they have. I might be getting this wrong,
so somebody will send me an email correct me. But
I believe either in China Japan, cats are actually considered
good luck not bad luck.
Speaker 5: It's interesting, yeah, because it depends like whether poosh culture
is influenced by neighboring you know, country's culture or something
like that, you know, and that would make sense that
another region would see it in a totally different way
and proliferate a different, different kind of traditional It was
even that the mule cat, which is I guess that's Nordic.
It's it's supposed to be a myth of this of
a giant, giant tiller cat. I would equate it to
sort of like children's tales. Fairy tales seek to encourage
kids to be good children by remembering certain fairy tales.
I think in the case of the mule cat, it's
a monster that comes out when the Norwegian children, if
they haven't done their chores before Christmas. The cat will
know by the you know how the way the house looks,
and then the cat will emerge from the shadows.
Speaker 1: You know, Saint Nick not to bother.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I guess that I would imagine that would
do the trick, that would that would scare me into
doing my chores.
Speaker 1: That would okay, So I got clarification. It's Japan, Scotland
and parts of England that consider black cat's good luck.
I remember doing a show way back and it was
actually Japan. That was what I had previously talked about,
that black cats are considered good luck. And there's actually
really nothing against black cats crossing your path. Don't do
anything other than any other cat crossing your path. But
there's the stigma of imagination which will cause people to
say something bad happens after I see a black cat.
Let's attribute it to the black cat.
Speaker 5: Right, you have to blame something or someone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course. So I found in going through the book,
I found some that I found interesting. There's those few
popular movies. These are the ones that I found. The
most popular horror pet cemetery. You can talk about the
nineteen eighty nine and twenty nineteen version Cats Eye, and
of course the Black Cat with Edgar Allan Poe, and
then for science fiction Alien and then the Cat from
Outer Space Fantasy. There's just a lot And when you
mentioned Japan, because a lot of it is anime.
Speaker 5: Am I anime?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so there's a few movies in that style as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's pretty predominant. I believe in that genre as well.
Speaker 1: Yes, And there's even you even discuss TV shows, So
when anybody thinks of a TV show, they think of
Sabrina the teenage witch, right with the talking cat.
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, I forget the name of the cat, right.
Speaker 1: And then this is an old old I wasn't around
when this came out, but it's I've seen it bewitched, right, yeah,
because I think in the.
Speaker 5: It was a black cat from what I recall.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like he has a cat jump into arms and
it becomes her husband in the intro.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that went along with the witch stereotype.
Speaker 1: The witch stereotype. Yep.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you mentioned the cat jumping. That's even considered like
a cliche. And uh, suspense movies are horror movies. The
cat jump where it's one of those false scares where
you want to get the audience to get a rise,
get get a big jump, you know, jump out of
their seats without showing any hard like just a faker,
you know, Oh it's just a cat. You know. They'll
throw a pat into some of those horror pictures just
so they can do that, you know. At some point.
Speaker 1: Okay, if you were to write your next movie and
it had cats, and it was either horror science fiction,
which would you choose? When what kind of a movie
would it be?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I would go into science fiction or out because
you could project all your ideas alongside some of the
tropes and mythology that's already out there, with what you
can sort of foresee in the future in a time
that hasn't happened with technology, maybe taking the story into
a different direction that nobody's really covered yet. So I'd
probably go this science fiction or out for that reason.
And I think I think cats, you know, could figure
into that kind of scenario very, very interestingly.
Speaker 1: I agree with you, okay, with everything we've talked about
cats and with just every you know, you're a writer,
You've written about all kinds of things. Is there any
other animal I know we think of that cats as
are for babies, but they are an animal that could
fit into movies or even books, not as a book
about cats, but where cats are either a side character
or the main character. Is there any other animal that
could fit into that role? Because I can't think of one.
Maybe wrote into a little bit, but that's I don't
want to talk.
Speaker 5: That's you know, yeah that when you said wrote that
reminded me of that movie Willard. That's what came to mind.
But they brought cats into that also into that storyline.
But yeah, you're right, it's hard to sort of imagine
another kind of animal. Whereas you could tell those you
could do the same things in terms of these films,
you know, at least stories and these TV shows.
Speaker 1: I couldn't see a dog, and I love dogs too.
I love cats and dogs and lots of other things.
Couldn't see a dog, couldn't see a fair, couldn't see
a fish, couldn't see a lizard or iguana, snake. I mean,
snakes can be a little creepy, but I can't see
a snake having that range just in harm maybe not
the range horse, snow turtle, pig, duck, goat.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we can see ourselves a little.
Speaker 1: Or we could sit here and just get through them.
But I think that's why people either, you know, they
have such a love hate relationship with the cats. Not
that many people hate cats, only a small percentage. Actually
not everybody has cats because of allergies. But I think
the people that don't like cats, I think just don't
get them because they are stoic creatures. They're not easily
red which could be part of the mistake and why
they're successful in you know these types.
Speaker 5: Of right, that's true. There's an inscrutability about them, and
there's a human, almost human aspect, and that's why we
can't envision that, I think like a dog doing some
of these same things.
Speaker 1: No, never, where can people purchase meaw exclamation point Cats
and Horror, Sci Fi and Fantasy Movies? And it is
by Vanessa Morgan.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I almost forgot the exclamation point myself.
Speaker 1: And well I put an exclamation point because if you're
doing a lot of folks do you know searches and
if you look just up me how you're not going
to find this? It's mew explanation point Cats and Horror,
Sci Fi and Fantasy Movies. Where can we buy it?
Speaker 5: Well? Amazon is I think the best outlet to order.
Speaker 1: Okay, thanks, and do you have anything cal related that
you're working on soon?
Speaker 5: Well, actually, Vanessa Morgan will be t trying out a
similar reference guide but with the dog scene, So maybe
we'll find out some of the answers to what you
and I were just speculating. If that comes together, I
guess it'll be just like this, but it'll be dogs.
I believe in horror and horror movies, maybe there'll be
a lot more of those than we realized existed, just
like we didn't know there were so many cat horror movies.
Speaker 1: Right who knows? Well, Chris, thank you so much for
coming on Catitude.
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me. I enjoyed it mentally.
Speaker 1: My feline friends, I hope you enjoyed this show. I've
never had a show quite like this before. Again, the
title of the book is Meow exclamation Point Cats and Horror,
Sci Fi and Fantasy Movies, and it is a great
reference book for all of you horror, sci fi and
fantasy movie lovers that also, of course love cats. Thanks
to my guest Christopher Robinson for coming on the show.
Thanks to my cat crew, Dennis, Charlotte and Mollie. I
think Mollie would be the device. She would be the
best one in films. But Dennis probably is. He listens better,
so maybe he would be Who knows. And thank you,
of course, my listeners of Catitude. I appreciate your listenership
so much, Thank you very much. And this show would
not be possible without the magic of my producer, Mark Winter.
Thank you Mark for all you do. And remember, lose
to Attitude, Have Catitude
Speaker 4: Let's Talk bests every week on demand only on petlfradio
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