El gato en la jaula

A young man gets out of a mental institution and returns home to his wealthy father, his beloved cat "Sampson", and his sexy but wicked stepmother (Sybil Danning), the latter of whom may have murdered his mother and is scheming with the shady chauffeur (Mel Novak) to do the same to his father.

God knows this is not a good movie. Nor does it even fall into that almost mythical category of "so bad, it's good", but I found it entertaining because it is so randomly plotted and jaw-droppingly incompetent that it seems to violate the very laws of cinematic narrative structure (and perhaps even Cartesian logic). I think the cat "Sampson" is supposed to be a metaphor because he completely disappears about halfway through the movie. Or maybe the cat is a metaphysical incarnation of the protagonist's equally disturbed brother who shows up out of nowhere halfway through the film (just in time for an overlong 70's style car chase). Or maybe the feline actor just walked off the set prompting a quick re-write--it's kind of hard to say.

Mel Novak is pretty good actually, and Sybil Danning...well, she takes her clothes off a lot. Both of them exit prematurely, however, and the film is left in the hands of uncharismatic male lead and Colleen Camp, who is normally a talented actress but plays a completely superfluous character here (although she DOES get to belt out the risible theme song). This is definitely a one-of-a-kind movie; maybe not the good kind, but. ..