Fur the Streets (Cat's Eye)

Let me tell you the story of how my fear of heights

originated. So back in the mid 90s, when I was

five years old, my dad took me and my cousin

to an amusement park, Six Flags Over Texas. And

I was excited because it's like, whoa, I get

to hang out with the boys. It's going to be awesome.

So we get to the park and there's this one ride

in particular. It was called G -Force, and I

think it's closed down since then. Thank God.

But from my recollection, this ride would recline

you, shoot you up in the air and then drop you

so that you're like free falling, essentially

upside down. And so my dad's like, hey, let's

go on this. And I'm like, I don't know about

that one, chief. Looks a little bit scary. And

he's like, nah, you'll be all right. Well, I

was most certainly not. All right. So we go on

this ride. And once we're done, my dad's hyped.

He's like, damn, that shit was tight. What y

'all think? And I'm like, what did I think? What

did I think, bro? I'm literally standing here

bawling my eyes out. Tears are streaming down

my face. That ride scared the shit out of me.

It quite literally scared the piss out of me.

Like my pants were wet because I had urinated

on myself out of fear. So what I think is that

you should take me home. immediately and he did

but since that moment I have not stepped foot

or sat ass on any kind of roller coaster or thrill

ride or whatever the 90s were a different time

boy because there is absolutely no reason I should

have been allowed on that ride to begin with

but a few years ago my wife says to me like hey

It'd be cool if we took the kids to Six Flags

one of these days. I think that'd be pretty fun.

We can make a day out of it, be like a family

bonding experience, blah, blah, blah. And I'm

like, the fuck? I told you this story. You know,

I am terrified of heights. Why would I want to

go to Six Flags? Talking about family bonding,

we got family bonding at home. And she's like,

well, you don't have to ride any of the roller

coasters or whatever. If you're scared, you can

just wait for us, like hold our bags while we

go. And I'm like, the fuck? You want me to like

drive an hour plus, pay 70 bucks for admission

in the Texas heat in the summertime just to stand

there and hold y 'all's bags? What do I look

like? You know who you married. There is no way

that is happening. I'm sorry, but y 'all got

it. I'm gonna stay my ass at home, piss free,

hopefully. But all that to say. When I was watching

one of the stories in this film that we're discussing

today, I was stressing, bro. I'm Brandon O. This

is Terrorific, and we're chopping up 1985's Cat's

Eye. Welcome back to the place where it's perpetually

spooky season. This episode is once again brought

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that's 469 -389 -0333. Let's build something

great together. This season is all about breaking

down the horror film adaptations of the works

of Stephen King. Be sure you're following at

Terrorific Podcast on IG because leading up to

each new episode, I post a response box on my

story for you to guess what movie that episode

will cover. And if you guess correctly, then

I'll give you a shout out in that episode. This

week was another visual clue. I posted half of

the face of a dark gray cat with a menacing yellow

eye and I was trying to misdirect people into

guessing Pet Cemetery which someone did fall

for that trap. And Sleepwalkers was another common

guess with its army of cats which I actually

haven't yet seen that film so I'll add it to

the list. But three people correctly guessed

Cat's Eye, starting with my guy and fellow Fierce

Circuit member Jimmy J, founder of Horror 365.

Jimmy and his team are deep in the horror game,

from interviews with a variety of individuals

in the horror community to live streams, movie

reviews, topic discussions, and more. They celebrate

360 degrees of horror 365 days a year. They do

live streams on YouTube every Wednesday night

and once a month on Fridays, so be sure to subscribe.

That handle is at Horror365alive. I've made a

few appearances on their live streams myself.

I was there talking black horror back in February,

and a couple weeks ago I joined for their panel

discussion on anthology horror. Our next correct

guesser is Melissa, aka SlasherQueen66 on IG.

She also appears on the Horror 365 livestreams

from time to time, but she's your subject matter

expert when it comes to everything related to

slasher films, especially the Scream franchise.

And beginning June 16th, she'll be chopping up

all nine films in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre

franchise over a span of nine weeks, live on

YouTube along with the Killer Point of View Network.

And finally, a name that's become familiar around

here, friend of the show and fellow spooky pod

squad member, we have Missy from the Grimley

podcast. Check out Grimley's latest joint, episode

107, Unsexy Secret, The Disappearance of Gary

McCullough and Lena Chapin. When Gary McCullough

disappeared in 1999, the truth about what happened

to him seemed to vanish with him. Years later,

Lena Chapin came forward with a shocking story

about his death, only to disappear herself before

she could testify. Listen along as they cover

this case filled with family secrets, buried

truths, and unanswered questions that still linger

today. Alright, that brings us to the end of

Roll Call, so let's get into Cat's Eye. This

anthology film was directed by Louis Teague,

who also helmed 1983's Cujo, and it was written

by Stephen King himself. It's comprised of three

segments, Quitter's Inc., The Ledge, and General.

General was written specifically for this film,

but the first two are adaptations of short stories

of the same names from Night Shift, King's very

first published collection of short stories back

in 1978. Other notable short stories from Night

Shift that have been adapted to film include

The Children of the Corn, The Boogeyman, and

Trucks, which you may recall from earlier this

season when we discussed Maximum Overdrive. The

cast of Cat's Eye includes a young Drew Barrymore

as Amanda starring in her second King adaptation

after 1984's Firestarter, James Woods as Dick

Morrison, Alan King as Dr. Vinny Donati, Robert

Hayes as Johnny Norris, and Kenneth McMillan

as Kressner. Cat's Eye had a budget of about

$7 million and grossed about $13 million worldwide

and was nominated for Best Film at the 1987 International

Fantasy Film Awards. It holds an average rating

of 3 .2 on Letterboxd and I rated it a 3 myself.

I could tell that the special effects had to

have been cutting edge at that time and watching

the ledge legitimately made me feel uncomfortable

because I do not fuck with heights goddammit.

But Cat's Eye opens with a cat being chased by

a big ass Saint Bernard and they end up running

into the street in front of a two -tone red and

white 1958 Plymouth Fury. So the St. Bernard,

of course, is a nod to Cujo. And this Plymouth

Fury is a nod to Christine. And if there's any

doubt about that, the car has a bumper sticker

saying, watch out for me. I'm pure evil. I'm

Christine. So this right out of the gate, we

have two Easter eggs from prior Stephen King

stories. And I have thoughts on this, but I'll

wait a little bit to expand upon them because

there are more Easter eggs to come. But the cat

is able to evade Cujo by hiding underneath another

car and slipping out the backside while Cujo

tries to get it from the front. And it ends up

in the back of a truck that is loading tobacco

products. It gets sealed in there and transported

to the heart of NYC. And while it's strolling

around the streets of the city, it sees a mannequin

through a department store window. And this mannequin

morphs or like materializes into a little girl

who is asking for help. And the cat's like, I

bet I got you. I'll come to you. But before he

can continue his journey, he is captured and

taken into a building across the street. And

this building is the offices of Quitters Inc.,

which is where we begin our first segment. Sitting

outside in the car in front of Quitters Inc.,

we have Dick Morrison and his friend slash co

-worker is telling him like, hey, if you're trying

to quit smoking, Quitters Inc. is the place to

go. They have a 100 % success rate or at least

nobody in their program ever smokes again. And

I've been through it myself, so check it out.

And Dick's like, all right, I guess. And he walks

into the offices. And while he's sitting in the

waiting room filling out his intake forms, he

sees another dude in there who's crying and just

in total shambles. And this dude's wife then

comes out from the back and she looks hella disheveled

and like she's seen some shit slash been through

some shit. and she's like mad at this dude she's

crying and pounding him in his chest before eventually

telling him to take her home and as dick is watching

all of this unfold he's like this seems a little

sus and this dude tells dick as he's walking

out that he's been a smoker for a very long time

and it is very hard to quit And all this causes

Dick to get cold feet. So he walks back up to

the receptionist and tells her that he's changed

his mind. Then he turns to leave. But before

he can get too far, the boss man emerges from

the back, Dr. Donati. And he's like, hello, come

with me, sir. And takes him to the back into

his office before Dick can get out of there.

And side note, how did Dick become a nickname

for the name Richard? Personally, If I'm an adult

man, I mean, which I am, but if my name was Richard,

I would not be going by the name Dick. I don't

understand or see the appeal of that name. Like,

why would you volunteer yourself to have a name

that is synonymous with genitalia? And I say

this as someone who went by the name BJ for the

first, like. 18 19 years of my life because my

middle name starts with the letter j and then

one day i woke up i was like you know what why

am i doing this uh let's go with brandon that

is my given name why am i letting people being

like hey bj likes bjs i mean yeah who doesn't

but also i don't want that to be the first thing

you think about uh if i'm introducing myself

it's crazy But anyway, as Dick is in Donati's

office, Donati is reviewing his paperwork, and

he comments that Dick has listed the fact that

he has a 10 -year -old daughter on his forms,

but he left the space blank for the school that

she attends. And Dick is like, um, like, what

the fuck does that have to do with you helping

me quit smoking? This is like the first red flag

that things are pretty weird around here. But

Donati just kind of like gives this look to Dick

that's kind of like menacing, kind of foreboding.

And then he presses a button that ends up locking

the doors. And Dick is like, um, okay, this is

some pretty extreme. non -smoking treatment and

Donati's like hey I know you have a pack of cigs

on you give them to me so he confiscates them

and then he lays them all out on his desk and

like yells and smashes them all dramatically

and weirdly and Dick's like okay I am not liking

this so he tries to leave but again the door

is locked so he can't really go anywhere And

then at that point, Donati pulls back some curtains

that are in his office to reveal like this observation

room. And in there, he has the cat that was captured

earlier. And the floor of this observation room

is comprised of like metal grating. Donati presses

another button and electricity flows through

this metal grating. So the cat starts leaping

all over the place as it gets shocked. And they're

playing music at the same time. And Donati explains

that this is how they are conditioning the cat

to like not eat or whatever. So aversion training

is the Quitters Inc. method. At this point, Dick

is like, OK, if you don't let me out of here,

I'm going to call the cops and I'm going to sue

you. And Donati is like, I don't give a fuck

about that and just ignores him. He goes on to

explain that Quitters Inc. was endowed by a very

important person. who ended up dying of lung

cancer. But before he died, he realized that

he could apply techniques from the quote unquote

family business to help people quit smoking.

So this person who endowed Quitters Inc. was

a mob boss. Talk about like a crazy dichotomy.

Like you have literal mobsters who are doing

like this philanthropic service trying to help

people. Stop smoking so they don't contract lung

cancer and die. But at the same time, the methods

they employ are a little bit questionable. Donati

explains to Dick that for the first month he'll

be under constant surveillance. And he tells

him that Dick may see some of the people following

him all of the time. He may see all of the people

following him some of the time. but he'll never

see all of them all of the time. And if he does

smoke, rest assured, they will see him. Now,

personally, I think that sounds like some really

scary shit, but Dick is not taking it too seriously,

or at least he's trying to give the appearance

that he's not taking it too seriously. And he

remarks that if he gets caught, what's going

to happen? Are they going to bring him down and

stick him in the cat room? And Denati's like,

no. We'll bring your wife down here and stick

her in the cat room while you watch. Big yikes.

But now this makes sense why the dude in the

waiting room was crying and why his wife was

all fucked up looking because she was in the

cat room getting her shit shot. And frankly,

I don't think her crash out was extreme enough.

Yeah, she was yelling at him and beating on his

chest and shit, but she should have like went.

off on this dude bro like how you gonna have

me out here getting tortured because you want

to poison yourself that is absolutely insane

and grounds for immediate divorce in my opinion

but hey you know maybe she's a stronger soldier

than i am but denati tells dick that the first

offense his wife will get shot just enough to

hurt on the second offense dick's daughter We'll

get around in the cat room. And on the third

offense, which is absolutely insane, Donati will

send someone to rape Dick's wife. What the actual

fuck? And on the fourth offense, Dick will catch

a bullet to the brain, a point that Donati drives

home by flashing his pistol. And he says that

only 2 % of clients have ever reached this point.

So that guarantee about every client never smoking

again. I mean, he wasn't lying. But man, I really

hope that 2 % were like unmarried or not in a

relationship. Because if you are forewarned what's

going to happen to your spouse if you hit that

third offense and you still smoke. That is absolutely

insanely fucked up. But this is also a notable

departure from the source material. I guess they

needed to like punch things up for the screenplay

or whatever, which I think there are other ways

to punch things up besides committing violence

or threatening violence against women. But in

the short story. The first infraction results

in non -fatal electric shocks of increasing intensity

to Cindy, who is Dick's wife. So that's unchanged

in the movie. Here's where we start to get our

departure because the second infraction results

in shocks to Dick. And then the third results

in shocks to both Cindy and Dick. A fourth infraction

would involve beatings to their kid. And subsequent

infractions from there would result in more trips

to the shock room with a higher voltage and more

painful beatings of the kid and the wife. And

after the ninth infraction, the kid's arms would

be broken. And finally, if Dick commits a tenth

infraction, he would be shot dead. But later

that evening, Dick returns home and he's sitting

in his recliner watching a movie on TV. and he

gets up and is like wow i don't even know who

writes this crap as he turns it off well the

movie that was playing was the dead zone so we

have yet another stephen king easter egg as well

as a little self -deprecating humor which okay

cool i can appreciate some self -deprecating

humor And this is now our third Easter egg, or

at least the third that I counted. Maybe I missed

something. But at this point, I'm like, all right,

I think that's enough with the Easter eggs. Unfortunately,

that's not the last one. But anyway, Dick ends

up sneaking downstairs later that night. The

time on the clock says 317 a .m. And he's really

jonesing for a cigarette. So he's trying to find

one while it's storming outside. So he thinks

there's no way that anyone could be watching.

So he pops the cig into his mouth. And as he

does so, he hears the nearby closet door creak

open. And he looks over there and he's like,

hmm, that's suspicious. And he grabs an umbrella

as his weapon to go investigate. And as he's

approaching this closet door, he opens it up

really quickly and golf clubs come tumbling out

and he just scoffs and tosses his umbrella into

the closet. But he hears a grunt as it hits someone

in there. And bro sure is really casual about

some random person being in his closet at 317

in the morning. He's just like, hello, is anyone

there? And at the bottom of these clothes, we

see a pair of rain boots that are still dripping

wet. But I guess Dick convinces himself that

it's all his imagination because he simply just

goes back upstairs and returns to bed. But during

this whole ordeal, Dick never actually lit the

cigarette that he placed in his mouth. So no

harm, no foul. He goes back to the closet the

next morning and no one's in there, but there

are like dried, muddy footprints on the ground

that are leading away from the closet. Bro, first

of all, that's terrifying. A home intruder that

is just like watching you and not doing anything.

I can't stand the thought of that. But secondly,

I would be pissed, bro. Like you're tracking

mud into my house, taking your dirty ass shoes

all over my probably my carpet, my rugs. Like,

hell no. That is so disrespectful. If you're

going to be in the house observing me, at least

have the decency to take off your wet, muddy

shoes and leave them by the front door or hide

them somewhere or whatever. Like you don't have

to be an asshole on top of being a criminal.

Like, I would never turn to a life of crime,

but if I did, I would make sure that I would

be polite where possible. Like, standards should

still matter, even if you think laws don't. But

anyway, the next day, Dick goes to visit his

daughter at school and she attends St. Stephen's

School for the Exceptional. okay bro like at

this point it's getting a little bit out of hand

like we get it you're stephen king you wrote

this movie or screenplay you've written many

other books and stories novellas whatever awesome

how many times do you have to inject yourself

into the fucking script though like if you want

to be in it that badly why don't you write yourself

a role respectfully But hey, I guess he had that

same thought considering the following year he

wrote and directed Maximum Overdrive and gave

himself a role as the dude at the ATM who got

called an asshole. But as Dick is at school talking

to his daughter, I think he brought her like

some kind of gift or something. Donati shows

up. All threatening and lurking in the background

and Dick tries to buck up and act all mad that

one of Donati's lackeys or hoods as he calls

them was in his closet last night but bro sure

was pusio at the moment asking all softly is

anyone there while he was poking around in the

closet like keep that same energy bro. After

this, Dick and his wife, Cindy, attend a party

and everyone is smoking around him. And this

dude starts having crazy hallucinations. He sees

like a giant cigarette pack walking around. People

are smoking like 50 cigarettes at once and have

smoke blowing from their ears and shit. And his

friend and or co -worker tries to pressure him

into smoking. And Dick tells him to shove it

up his ass. And bro asks. If it should be lit,

which is a respectable comeback if I'm being

real. And that also raises the question, would

you rather shove a lit cigarette in your ass

for one second or have someone else shove the

unlit part of a cigarette in their ass, but you

have to smoke it afterwards? Quite the pickle.

I mean, if Twitter is any indication of society,

everyone seems to eat ass these days anyway.

But me personally, I'm not gonna be smoking an

ass cigarette. So if I gotta burn my shit for

one second, so be it. But after attending this

party and just being surrounded by all these

triggers, Dick is really struggling to not light

up. And one day, he's stuck in traffic on a drawbridge.

And I'm pretty sure this is the same drawbridge

from Maximum Overdrive. Or I guess Maximum Overdrive

reused this drawbridge the next year. I don't

know, but it looked very familiar to me. And

he starts rifling through his glove box when

a pack of smokes falls out. This motherfucker

puts on some sunglasses as a disguise. And he

like folds, bro. He lights one up. But he's leaning

to the side in his car trying to hide while he

smokes. And when he looks up, the guy in the

car next to him is smiling at him. He is one

of Donati's lackeys. So this dude got busted.

So he starts freaking out and hurries home. And

when he gets there, there's an unattended skillet

that's burning on the stove. And then the phone

rings and it's Donati telling him to head on

down to his office at 5 p .m. Dick pulls up to

the Quitters Inc. offices and Cindy is in the

cat room. Dick does try to fight back and break

her out, but he gets washed. And in the scuffle,

the cat that's been in the carrier sitting on

Donati's desk, the carrier gets knocked over

to the ground, opens, and the cat is able to

escape. Dick is then held at gunpoint by one

of the naughty dudes and forced to watch Cindy

dance around as she is shot. Now Dick finds himself

in the same position as the dude in the waiting

room when he first arrived to Quitterzing. So

he's sitting there and Cindy comes out and Dick

explains everything to her and she hugs this

dude. And honestly. I don't know if I would be

so quick to forgive or understand. Like you knew

this shit was real because you had seen someone

in the house, seen footprints in the house. You

knew that you were being surveilled and yet you

still couldn't keep it together for my sake and

put me in danger, put me through this kind of

torture. Now we would have to have a serious

conversation that would probably lead to divorce.

But I guess Cindy made the right call in being

understanding or whatever because Dick doesn't

slip up again. He returns to the offices six

months later because Quitter's Inc. apparently

offers multiple services and so he is there for

a weigh -in. In the six months since he's given

up smoking, Dick has gained eight pounds. So

Donati tells him that he's setting a max weight

limit of 165. Dick laughs and asks, like, what

happens if he goes over? Will Donati send someone

to his house with a flamethrower? And Donati

laughs and he's like, no, I'll send someone over

to cut off your wife's pinky. And they're just

like, haha, lol, cool. Dick doesn't take it seriously,

but bro, like, did you not remember, like, what's

happened over the past six months? Do you not

remember people coming into your house? Do you

not remember your wife being in a cage? being

electrocuted like why would you not take this

seriously later on dick and cindy go to dinner

with another couple i think it was the same guy

from the beginning of the segment that dropped

dick off at quitter's inc and like put him on

to the whole program or whatever and they end

up having a toast and the other wife raises her

glass and that's when dick notices that she is

missing her pinky bruh we really need to talk

about how forgiving and understanding the women

in this story are like okay i understand it's

the 80s so maybe being forgiving and understanding

was out of necessity because the husband is the

breadwinner perhaps and so they can't afford

to divorce them but if that were me fuck all

that like i would rather be homeless than live

in a constant state of fear and paranoia that

at any moment, if my spouse can't keep themselves

disciplined or whatever the case may be, that

I can end up being maimed. Like, there's only

so many pinkies a person has. After those are

gone, then what? You cutting off the rest of

the other eight fingers? You gonna move to the

toes? You gonna do something even worse? I mean,

they already threatened some other heinous shit.

Where does it end? That shit's crazy. And as

the husband, like, what are you doing, bro? Like,

you already know that shit is serious. And not

only that, you're Dick's friend. Dick's friend

who has seen his wife's pinky be removed to then

recommend this same program to Dick afterwards.

That's an asshole move, too. Like, what kind

of friend are you? Like, hey, buddy. I'm going

to put your family at risk despite knowing that

there's a lot of fucked up shit that could happen

if you can't keep your shit together and you're

an addict. So the odds are you're going to have

trouble keeping your shit together. With friends

like that, who needs enemies? But my takeaway

from this story is that addiction hurts those

around us sometimes more than it even hurts ourselves.

Which is pretty interesting considering that

Stephen King was in the middle of an alcohol

and cocaine addiction when he wrote this, not

only the screenplay, but the original story itself.

So that seems to demonstrate a certain sense

of self -awareness that he knew that he might

have been causing harm to those closest to him,

but I guess was just unable to break out of the

cycle, which is tough. But after escaping from

the Quitters Inc. offices, the cat is back wandering

the streets and has made its way to Atlantic

City. And once there, it sees a row of TVs playing

a cat food commercial starring a little girl.

And that same little girl whose face materialized

over the mannequin earlier now materializes again,

telling the cat that, quote, it's still looking

for me. You've got to get back and find it. You're

my only chance. Real Princess Leia, Obi -Wan

Kenobi, you're my only hope vibes here. We then

cut to a man named Mr. Kressner who's at a casino

and he seems like a big wig. He exits the casino

to head to his car and as his driver opens the

door for him, he asks if some dude named Ducky

has eyes on his wife and her friend, quote unquote.

And the driver tells Kressner that Ducky does

indeed have eyes on them. He is trailing Kressner's

wife and this dude that he describes as like

a tennis guy as they travel in a white Mustang

convertible. It's definitely insinuated that

Kressner's wife has been getting her back blown

out by this tennis dude. But before he leaves,

Kressner and a couple of his friends, one of

whom is a business associate named Richard and

the other is Richard's wife. They see our well

-traveled cat struggling to cross the busy intersection.

And Kressner bets Richard that the cat can make

it safely across. And they put 2K on the wager.

Kressner is like a gambling addict he loves high

stakes bets and Richard takes that bet and so

Richard starts like trying to beckon to the cat

to come on over and hoping that it gets hit and

his wife joins in too and he's like oh so if

there's 2k on the line suddenly you're on my

team huh she's like hell yeah let's get this

fucking paper my boy What a couple of assholes.

Well, the cat ends up making it across, but in

the process causes like a 10 car pileup. But

as a reward for getting 2K in his pocket, Kressner

takes this kitty home. And I have a feeling this

is the first time in a while that Kressner has

taken some kitty home that he didn't have to

pay for. But Mrs. Kressner or Marsha and her

tennis man, Johnny. are at the bus station preparing

to run away together because they are in love

but johnny decides not to board the bus yet because

he says he needs to go to the bank in the morning

to withdraw some cash so that he and marcia can

start their new life together which i do not

understand in the slightest like who are you

banking with bro there's only one single branch

in existence that you can withdraw from you can't

just go to an atm somewhere You know, you're

in Atlantic City. I think they were heading to

New York City. You're telling me there's no other

way for you to get cash besides going in person

to this one specific branch, even though you're

on the lam because you are having an affair with

the wife of a crime boss. Marsha tells Johnny

that Kressner is dangerous, but Johnny thinks

he has everything under control. I guess playing

tennis. Makes him able to combat mob bosses.

You know, I've never played tennis, so maybe

it has some skills that prepare you for life

that I am not privy to, but whatever. But Marsha

boards the bus and takes off and Johnny heads

back to his car with a little hop in his step.

He's feeling good and excited because in the

morning he gets to run away with the love of

his life. But when he gets to his car, there

is another car parked behind him that appears

to be changing a flat tire. And they have a little

bit of an altercation. And it turns out that

these guys are plainclothes cops that are on

Kressner's payroll. And after roughing up Johnny

a little bit, they cuff him, throw him in the

back of the car, and drive over to Kressner's

penthouse apartment. And look, I get that. You

can't control who you love and who you fall in

love with. But at the same time, you can make

smarter decisions. If you fall in love with the

wife of a crime boss, it's probably not advisable

to continue that relationship. I finished The

Sopranos recently, and I remember that storyline

where that one random dude. Fell in love with

Carmella for a few episodes. But when he realized

who she was and who her husband was, he was like,

fuck that. And we never saw his ass again. Hell,

there was even another guy that fell in love

with Carmella. What was his name? Um, Furio.

This dude moved back to Italy in order to avoid

any entanglements, bro. Smart moves here. Johnny,

however, is dumb as fucking rocks. But once Johnny

reaches the penthouse, it's now blackmail time.

Kressner explains to him that they have planted

heroin in Johnny's car and they'll call the cops

in 10 minutes to snitch. He already has a prior

drug record, so he's going to do some time here.

Or Johnny can accept Kressner's wager. And this

wager is that if Johnny can manage to walk the

ledge the entire way around this high -rise,

tall -ass building, then Kressner will get rid

of the drugs, he'll give Johnny some cash, plus

he'll let him keep Marsha. But if he falls, obviously

he will go splatter all over the pavement below.

The ledge is only about five inches wide. Oh,

and by the way, it's windy as fuck up there,

so I gotta be honest, bro. Give me prison. I'm

sorry. Like, I love you, girl, but we can still

write letters to each other. We can still have

conjugal visits and shit. But if I'm splattered

on the ground below, what future do we have anyway?

Yeah, I'm not doing that shit. And I'm especially

not doing that shit for someone who started a

relationship with me while they were married

to someone else. Are you kidding me? Once a cheater,

always a cheater. It's just your turn right now,

Johnny. But Marsha has this dude's nose wide

open. I don't know what kind of voodoo she did.

She put that thing on him something fierce. I

guess she was like. eating his ass while crating

the balls and shit hit him with that rusty trombone

you know hey real talk though i do have a friend

he was dating the girl he was dating a girl who

like rented out a hotel room for him one night

and said hey you know go wash up real well And

she ate his ass, bro. Hit him with that rusty

trombone. And he proposed three months later.

So I do have verifiable evidence that rusty trombones

lead to fruitful marriages. So I guess that's

what Johnny was envisioning at this moment. And

so he asked Kressner, like, hey. Have you ever

welshed on your bets before? And Kressner, being

a crime boss, is apparently also super trustworthy

because he's like, nah, I never welshed on anything

a day in my life, bro. So Johnny's like, all

right, well, let's do it. And he makes his way

out onto the ledge. And as he traverses this

terrain, dude is faced with some obstacles. He

has like pigeons flying in his face. kressner

is popping out of windows trying to like scare

him and fuck with him he's like honking horns

in his face and all this shit and he ends up

falling off actually but luckily he lands on

like another ledge right below so he's able to

climb back up to the starting level and continue

on his way but one persistent pigeon keeps like

pecking johnny in his ankle And this whole time,

I'm like, bro, like, if you don't stomp this

motherfucker out right now, like, what are you

doing? He just, like, kept on, like, shooing

it away and, like, gently moving his ankle out

of the way. I'm like, fuck that, dog. Stomp the

fuck out of that bird. Animal rights have their

limits. And if you're, like, 500 feet up in the

air or whatever it is, fighting for your life,

and this motherfucker is just trolling you, I'm

sorry. PETA, your territory does not extend to

this point. And Johnny finally has a similar

thought because he reaches like a little alcove

kind of section that he can rest for a second.

And the bird is still pecking him, so he just

punts it and like feathers go flying all over

the place. However, he rests a little bit too

long because Kressner pops up with a fucking

fire hose and sprays the shit out of him. Like...

What kind of sadistic shit is this? And where

is he getting all of these props from? Like,

does he just have a collection of absurd psychological

torture devices to fuck with people on this ledge?

Like, Kressner has some issues, bro. But Johnny

ends up climbing onto the letters that are adorning

the side of the building. And as he's trying

to make his way across, One of them comes loose

and falls over and so he's like holding on dangling

over the ground or whatever high up and shit.

And this dude ends up grabbing onto like a loose

electrical cable to keep from falling. Somehow

doesn't get electrocuted despite you know holding

this live wire and being drenched from being

sprayed with a water hose but okay. not only

that this dude is doing all this shit while wearing

a pair of loafers bro like he didn't even kick

his shoes off first and go barefoot he is climbing

on this ledge trying to scale his way back up

with these slipping and sliding ass shoes on

and bro i was stressing the fuck out during this

scene like he legitimately seemed like he was

high up in the air And I was like, nope, I could

not handle that. But Johnny does successfully

manage to climb his way back up to the ledge

and continue his walk. And he ends up reaching

the end, getting back inside the penthouse. And

that's when Kressner presents him with a bag.

He says he never welches on his bets, but that

also he is an extremely poor loser. So he kicks

the bag over and a bunch of money spills out

along with something extra. Marsha's head. And

upon realizing that he'll never receive another

rusty trombone from Marsha ever again, Johnny

snaps and attacks Kressner, who apparently is

built like a pusio because he cries for his lackey

Albert to come help him. And bro approaches with

the pistol, but the cat runs off in fear. Tripping

Albert in the process and the gun goes skittering

across the ground. Johnny picks it up. Albert's

like oh shit. Tries to run away and Johnny shoots

him in the back. And then he pistol whips Kressner

in the face. Johnny is going ham. Johnny wake

out here my boy. Now with his gun in his face

Kressner tries to bribe Johnny. he's like i'll

give you a million dollars i'll give you two

million dollars but johnny's like nah i got something

else in mind let's make a little wager and now

it's your turn to walk the ledge and so kressner

climbs out there and he's like wait i'll give

you five million please don't do this to me he's

like begging at this point and johnny's like

hey you better hurry the fuck up and like shoots

the ledge next to him like the ground or whatever

and so kressner starts his walk that persistent

pigeon returns again and starts pestering and

pecking at kressner's ankle this time and when

kressner goes to kick it he loses his balance

and falls adios fuckface and i think this segment

also deals with like addiction so the message

i took away from it is that gambling is bad being

addicted to gambling is bad First, don't gamble

by being a mob boss's wife's side piece. Secondly,

don't gamble by playing sadistic mind games instead

of just like fucking taking people out. Had Kressner

just killed Johnny straight up the same way he

just killed Marsha straight up, his ass would

have been fine and he could have kept on tormenting

other people. And to Johnny, good luck with your

new addiction. I hope he was able to find somebody

else. who had a taste for man butt. After escaping

from the penthouse, the cat hops on a freight

train and ends up in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Once off the train, it hitchhikes its way in

the back of a pickup truck to a neighborhood

and there it sees a little girl in the driveway

of a home washing a car with her dad and... This

is the same girl that the cat has been seeing

throughout the movie. Her name is Amanda and

she wants to adopt him and names him General.

But her mom is like, nah, I'm good on that. We're

not taking in any fucking street cat. But Amanda

keeps letting General into the house at night

because she's having bad dreams about some kind

of monster that lives in her bedroom wall. Her

dad tells Amanda that he'll try to convince mom

to let her keep the cat. And it seems like his

plan is to use his penis in order to accomplish

this. So they are laying in bed one night and

mom is reading Pet Sematary in bed. And at this

point, after yet another Easter egg, after yet

another reference to his prior works, this really

just felt masturbatory. Like, I'm a huge Stephen

King fan. Obviously, I'm doing an entire season

over six months for this shit. I have a copy

of Pet Sematary downstairs in my office. But

bro, we don't need to see every single opportunity

taken for a chance to reference another book,

another story. Damn. But Amanda's dad gets mom

to close the book and he's trying to lay that

pipe. He subtly slips in there. Hey, maybe we

can revisit this whole cat thing. And she's like,

nah. i'm good on that shit sorry bro looks like

you should have asked marcia for some tips but

as the parents are doing their thing we go to

amanda's room and she's asleep and the creature

that she's been so afraid of emerges from her

wall and it's this tiny little troll Amanda has

a standing bird cage in her room where she keeps

her pet parakeet and the troll climbs it and

enters the cage and absolutely fucks that bird

up. After it's done there the troll then climbs

onto Amanda's chest while she's sleeping and

pinches her nostrils shut which is ironic because

earlier Amanda's dad had jokingly said that cats

like to steal little kid's breath by sitting

on their chest. While this troll is sitting there

little bro pulls out a cute little dagger but

General climbs up the tree by Amanda's window

and comes in hissing to scare the troll off.

Mans then throws the dagger at General and catches

him like in his shoulder area. and the kitty

runs off and knocks over the bird cage in the

process which wakes everyone up the parents come

running in and they see the dead bird and think

general did it so that definitely is not getting

adopted now in fact the next morning when amanda

goes to school and dad goes to work mom sets

a trap to catch general she puts a bowl of food

inside of a cardboard box And once General enters,

she catches him and drives to the animal shelter

where he will be euthanized the next morning.

And Amanda is absolutely distraught at this missing

cat. She's outside at night. There's like a storm

brewing and she's just calling General's name

over and over again while her mom watches her

from the window and looks like she feels badly

and remorseful. And she should feel badly because

that was a sneaky ass thing to do. But back at

the shelter, General appears to be relaxing in

his cage. But as soon as the shelter worker opens

it to feed him his last meal, man darts out and

runs back to the house. He's playing chess, not

motherfucking checkers, bro. The troll comes

back out of its hiding place while Amanda is

asleep. and sticks a wedge in the bottom of the

bedroom door to prevent the parents from being

able to open it and climbs back onto Amanda's

chest and starts magically stealing her breath.

General running back from the shelter through

this torrential downpour and lightning climbs

back up the tree again only to discover that

now the window was locked so he can't get in

and he tries to find an alternate route. Somehow

this smart ass cat comes crashing down through

the chimney bro chess not checkers side note

who the fuck has a chimney in their bedroom especially

a little kid that seems hazardous i have questions

about that i have questions about that you know

i'm not i'm not one to judge anyone's parenting

style but i feel like A young kid like a six,

seven, eight year old kid might try to climb

in that chimney at night or whatever when they

think their parents aren't around to catch them.

But hey, you know, to each their own. General

and the troll start squabbling and they square

off over Amanda while she struggles to scream.

Eventually, she gets some breath back and yells

for mommy. Parents come running, but they can't

open the door because of that wedge. The troll

does some parkour ass backflip off the bed and

lands perfectly inside of a glass jar on the

floor. General then rolls that jar into the dresser

and it shatters. In the process, it makes a book

fall onto the ground that blocks the hole in

the wall so the troll can't go back into hiding.

The troll then ends up on top of a record player

trying to escape General and General starts it

up. And the song that plays is Every Breath You

Take by The Police. Really on the nose there.

And Amanda is egging General on. She's like,

yeah, get him, get him, let's go. And is like

telling him to play the music faster. And this

motherfucker actually presses the switch to speed

up the record. So now the troll is spinning round

and around faster and faster until eventually

it flies off into the box fan on the ground.

and gets disintegrated amanda's parents were

finally able to break into the room and they're

like yo what the fuck is happening in here and

amanda's like generals saved me found the monster

blah blah blah and they're like uh they're still

kind of not buying her story until she points

to the box fan And you see a little troll arm

on the ground and all this blood and viscera

around and this little tiny cute dagger. And

Amanda also points out the hole in the wall saying,

hey, here's where it came from. And they're like,

oh, shit. OK, I guess you had a point here, girly.

Sorry about that. But by the way, please don't

tell any of your friends at school about what

happened. And Amanda agrees under the condition

that she can keep General and have him sleep

in bed with her. Blackmail at age seven. This

kid is going places, dog. And now they're treating

General like a king. They serve this man a gourmet

meal. It looked like Branzino. Bro is living

life, dog. General ends up climbing on Amanda

while she's asleep in bed with her parents and

crawls right up to her face. And there's like

a momentary second where you think that, oh,

is he going to steal her breath? But he just

gives her a couple of licks and she opens her

eyes, smiles, gives him a hug, and the movie

ends. How adorable. And the message I took away

from this is believe kids and also cats are the

real MVPs. I'm a cat owner myself. I have two

and yeah, cats are dope. So shout out General,

the true hero of this story. And I wonder if

his name really was inspired by Star Wars and

that whole Obi -Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope

line because Obi -Wan was a general. In the Jedi

Army or the Clone Wars, whatever the fuck. I'm

not that deep in Star Wars lore. But that's all

for me. Don't forget to subscribe to Terrorific

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That handle is at Terrorific Podcast. And please

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enjoyed your time here. All these things help

the show continue to grow. I'll see you in two

weeks for the next Stephen King adaptation breakdown.

But in the meantime, remember, always keep it

spooky.

Fur the Streets (Cat's Eye)

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