The Fat Black Pussycat

Penny_S5.0

MD’s Summerween Challenge; prompt 14: Watch a horror or thriller from the Under 500 Club (movies with under 500 viewers on Letterboxd)&Caturday 2026: film 34I couldn’t decide between 4 1/2 & 5 stars, so then just went with 5. 😻Don’t judge. I like what I like.There were a lot of slow boring scenes, especially in the first half of the film. But the things that weren’t tedious were 100% spectacular! This was all definitely good-strange.The Fat Black Pussycat was the name of a beatnik cafe in the beginning of the film. It was never visited again (!). The actual black cat was super cute, & a natural in front of the camera. They roamed throughout the story, & the audience didn’t learn who their keeper was until the end. And even then - did the narrative really need a cat?! Some might disagree, but I’d say absolutely, yes! The film is obviously capitalizing on the appeal, charm, & mystery of kitties. I liked a lot of the filming style when it wasn’t just straight shots. There was one death shown at its climax from the cats’s pov… kitty then immediately walked over & curled up on the dead bodies! (I mean, they were still warm)This was surprisingly well written (albeit alongside some mediocre acting). The plot was about murders taking place within the Beatnik scene in NYC (filmed entirely on location in Greenwich Village).Sometimes random sentences would rhyme unexpectedly when spoken by characters such as the news reporter, or a cop! Also I liked how one of the main characters (Janet) was an anthropology professor. IRL, simultaneously within the beatnik scene there was a counterculture interest in traditional Afro-Cuban music & history. It was unfettered, inspiring, & Janet really represented that.CW:psychobabblePSA:Never put bells on cats. As loud & irritating as the bell was in the film - that is what it’s like for the wearer! Plus cats have supersonic hearing, so it’s actually worse for them.

Lexzilla3.0

Technically it’s an average sized black pussycat. Let’s not give it a complex. It’s beautiful just the way it is. And it helps police catch a psycho-killer, which is more than a lot of non-cats do, so the film should keep the judgemental tones to a minimum.A kind of a proto-slasher-giallo type thing where a black gloved killer is offing women, a cat with ESP can help the police, schizophrenia is not understood at all and a plot comes in and out at will. Does it all make sense? No. But is it fun? Hell yes.How can it not be when you have a four day party, a cop reading parking rules as beat poetry, the chief of detectives carrying the titular kitty around, briefcase bombs, romance, black and white slasher blood spray, a ringing bell, beatnik lingo, bad art, anthropological drum jams and people who say ‘I don’t want to be a fink’ before spilling everything they know. Plus, you know, the adorable hero cat.

Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti"3.0

Although it is fairly kitschy and bizarre, most of this movie is a slow drag that makes you can't wait till it hits the finish line. The beginning does a serviceable job luring you in with a schlocky premise, but then this turns into a "who-dun-it" mystery where actually don't really care who actually did it. It's a movie to take in stride with its smaller successes in moments but overall a wash. I will admit that there are two versions of the film and I'm pretty sure I caught the longer version. That being said, I guess people should still try to catch this film, just advantageously go after the shorter version if you can.