Spirits of the Dead (1968)

In "Metzengerstein", Roger Vadim's first segment of this horror anthology based on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Contessa Frederique de Metzengerstein (Jane Fonda) keeps a cheetah cub as part of her menagerie.

Although it is clearly played by another big cat, as an indication of the passage of time (and used once to compliment Frederique's inner rage), the cheetah becomes fully grown as the story progresses.

The French-Italian co-production "Spirits of the Dead" was originally titled "Histoires extraordinaires" and was released in the UK as "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" in 1973.

Elle (2016)

A cat plays a small but important part in Paul Verhoeven's "Elle".

When Michèle (Isabelle Huppert) opens the door to let her pet back inside, a masked intruder seizes the opportunity to force his way into her home too.

The X-Files: Founder's Mutation (2016)

In the second episode of season 10 of The X-Files, while Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) interview Jackie Goldman (Rebecca Wisocky), the crazy woman unexpectedly throws an apple at a therapy cat.

The Telltale Heart (1928)

A black cat crosses the screen against a creepy rooftop background to mark the passage of time in Charles F. Klein's short adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's famous story.

River (2015)

Detective John River (Stellan Skarsgård) briefly inherits the cat which belonged to his dead partner Jackie 'Stevie' Stevenson (Nicola Walker) in the second episode of this supernatural crime drama.

Stevie's cat does not appear in any further episodes.

The Cat and the Canary (1979)

In the prologue to this comedy-mystery, a tuxedo cat stalks a caged canary but comes to a very nasty end.

The gratuitously lingering shot of the cat's hanging body paves the way for more violence to come but will deter most sane people from watching any more of Radley Metzger's remake.

Released in the USA in 1978, a year earlier than in the UK.

The End of The Horror Cats?

After four long years, it's time for The Horror Cats to take a well deserved nap.

With nearly 400 posts (and more than three times that number of screencaps and cat appearances noted), there are simply no more cats in horror movies and television left to celebrate.

Apart from one, that is: Ser Pounce from the excellent "Game of Thrones" TV series. One last feline actor of note, even if he doesn't really do anything. He's a cat, so what do you expect?

We did intentionally omit three movies (which have strikethroughs in the A-Z) due to the subject matter, but other bloggers have mentioned them recently and spared us from the unhappiness. Nobody wants to see cruelty to animals whether it's fake or not, certainly not us.

As this is the final post for a while, The Horror Cats wish to take this opportunity to give a long overdue shoutout to the other bloggers who share our obsession.

Linda Kay's Cinema Cats – http://www.cinemacats.com – has received the baton (not to mention the catnip mouse) and will continue to collect together the notable (and not so notable) feline actors in ALL genres of movies and television. It's a very entertaining and informative site. Check it out!

Anne Billson's Cats on Film – http://www.catsonfilm.net – hasn't been updated recently, but it's also full of interesting information and high-resolution pictures.

Additionally, there have been quite a few blog posts about cats in horror movies.

Our allies at The Horror Club have some "Horror Cats" articles:
10 Horror Cats that need your attention right meow!
10 more Horror Cats that need your attention right meow!
The 10 Horror Cats have returned!

Dr Blood's Video Vault has several rather amusing Top Ten lists:
The Top Ten Creepiest Catladies
The Top Ten Most Evil Cat Deaths
The Top Ten Most Heroic Cats
The Top Ten Scariest Cats
The Top Ten Sexiest Catgirls

And various other bloggers have continued to add more of the same:
Paws for thought – 20 Horror Cats
Feline Fear! Cats in Horror Films
5 Films With Cat Based Horror Mayhem
Pleasing Siamese Cats in Film TV Books
CATS; often faked-up or badly dubbed in movies

Last, but certainly not least, is our good friend Nicholas Tana, the creator of Hell's Kitty – http://www.horrorcats.com and http://hellskitty.com – a fantastic horror-comedy webseries, comicbook, and upcoming movie featuring a possessed cat and her caregiver's struggle to find a girlfriend.

R.I.P. Angel, the star of the Hell's Kitty show, who sadly passed away last month.

Since everyone already knows that the internet is powered by cats, there have been scores of YouTube videos, forum posts, Facebook groups, and now there's even a documentary dedicated to "Cats in Horror Movies" (as a special feature included in Arrow's Vincent Price blu-ray collection). It's certainly not like there aren't enough cats to go around!!!

It's great that so much interest still remains in this extremely niche subject. What's even better is that there may be a couple of new horror movies featuring cats in significant roles again eventually.

For now, however, we're feeling very tired. We're going to eat a bag of tuna treats, drink some milk, and snuggle down in our baskets.

Meow!

Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (2001)

These briefly shown feral cats aren't actors. They actually live in the Colosseum in Rome in real life.

Having pointed them out, Gabriella Francini (Diane Venora) reminds Stone Alexander (Noah Huntley) of the seemingly obvious historical fact that lions and tigers and Christians were all in the Colosseum two-thousand years ago.

Although animal fights are known to have been staged in the Colosseum, there is no historical record of damnatio ad bestias ever occurring there.

Doppelganger (1993)

Nathan

Patrick Highsmith's cat Nathan is soon spotted by his potential housemate Holly Gooding (Drew Barrymore). At first, it looks like she doesn't like cats.

Once Patrick (George Newbern) explains that Nathan makes his own clothes and is mostly an outdoors cat, things seem to improve.

Sadly, Nathan's time enjoying the kitchen counter is not to last. The poor tabby doesn't make it to the end of the movie either.