Cult-TV Blogging: Ghost Story/Circle of Fear: "Cry of the Cat" (November 24, 1972)

This week’s Ghost Story (1972) installment “Cry of the Cat” opens with a view of host Winston Essex’s (Sebastian Cabot) cat, Samantha.  She’s a “regal creature” and member of a “predatory species," our tour guide opines.   The manager of Mansfield House then notes that while cats are domesticated creatures, he wouldn’t wish to attempt to domesticate a tiger, panther or cougar…

…Then we’re off to (stock footage…) of a rodeo, as cowboy Dan Hollis (Doug McClure) is thrown from an angry bull during a show.  In the stands, his gorgeous wife, Mariah (Lauri Peters) reacts violently to the sight. 

Later that night, the same bull is mauled to death by a big cat.

That cat, of course, is Mariah in animal form.  We learn that her mother was a “hellcat” according to old rodeo hand, Dumpy (Jackie Cooper), and are expected, I suppose, to take that description literally.  When Dumpy’s daughter, Sheila (Mariette Hartley) grows close to Dan, Mariah strikes again, wrestling the woman and competitor to the ground while in feline form.

Before the episode ends, Mariah also kills a horse that throws Danny off, and is depicted feasting on a raw steak.  “It’s me,” she finally confesses to Dan.  “I’m the one responsible.  I think I’m possessed!”

Attempting to save his wife, Danny takes Mariah up to his ranch, but in the end is not able to save Mariah from her own animalistic nature.  The episode ends with Danny and Sheila standing over Mariah’s grave.

Alas, as you may be able to tell from the above-synopsis, this is another dreadful episode of Ghost Story; simultaneously slow-moving, poorly-constructed and bereft of  interesting ideas.  The idea of a woman turning into a cat is familiar from both versions of Cat People (1942 and 1982), but here intimacy is not an obstacle for the Hollis’s.  Pretty clearly, they couple has consummated the marriage.  Instead, Mariah is merely an incredibly jealous and protective woman, one zealously guarding Dan from all dangers and competitors.

That description makes “Cry of the Cat” like it could be an interesting metaphor for marriage or possessive relationships, but the tale is so dull and obvious that it can hardly hold the attention.  At episode’s end, Essex shoos his cat Samantha off his desk, and you may want to follow his lead and shoo this episode off your TV screen.  Like many of the Ghost Story entries, it's a slow-moving time waster, neither scary nor smart.

Next week, we reach another dreadful installment....perhaps the worst of the catalog.  Hal Linden is a tortured vampire in “Elegy for A Vampire.”