Directed by Lewis Teague
Written by Stephen King
Starring:
- Drew Barrymore as Our Girl / Amanda
- James Woods as Dick Morrison
- Alan King as Dr. Vinny Donatti
- Kenneth McMillan as Cressner
- Robert Hays as Johnny Norris
- Candy Clark as Sally Ann
Rating: 
It’s flawed in the same way that all anthology films are, but if accepting its inherent flaws means witnessing Stephen King at his satirical best then I’m more than happy with its imperfection, because this indulgent, ferociously witty, feline-centric anthological triptych distills some of the finest campy bits in 1980s American filmmaking. Lewis Teague directs and Stephen King pens, their creative synergy shaping a free-flowing, irony-laced narrative that stands among the tightest genre stylings in King’s film adaptation canon. Three consistently droll, analogously macabre short stories—each equally outrageous. Starting with a cruel anti-tobacco satire starring James Woods, then moving on to a vertiginous death-wager shocker starring Kenneth McMillan, and concluding with a fantastical troll-versus-cat showdown featuring Drew Barrymore. Bound by nothing but the watchful gaze of a wandering Tabby cat—a silent moral arbiter of fate who steps in just when needed—this film thrives on its balance of lighthearted thrills and creeping dread. The prose may read as casual and self-aware, laced with in-jokes and self-referential imagery, yet its satirical bent reveals the stirrings of a more overtly political and combatively critical King—the figure we now recognize beyond the page. You may have your favorites among these three stories—I certainly have mine—but ranking one above the others would undermine the tonal distinctiveness of the film’s purpose. Instead, I choose to see this surprisingly strong anthology as a singular, unified vision through one discerning Cat’s Eye.
