Arya Ponto
As another decade of technological advancement passes us by, I can’t help but think back on its beginning, when internet video was at its infancy and YouTube was still years away from debuting. Short films and web series were easier to come by than a shut-in’s political ranting or footage of frat boys lighting their armpit hair on fire. One of the early gems I discovered back then in the early aughts was a three-and-half minute award-winning short from 2001 called The Cat with Hands. The title turned out to be less figurative than I’d expected.
Since those days, this short has become sort of an online Halloween favorite, and it’s easy to see why.
As brisk as a nursery rhyme, The Cat with Hands is a twisted tale (so deliciously Grimm) about a well-dwelling cat that steals human body parts. That’s where the hands came from, see? Amazing how creepy the film manages to be just by attaching our normal limbs to the body of a household pet. Narrated by a single voice throughout, the story takes the shape of a freaky folk tale, and even has the campfire-style twist to go with it. This ghoulish concept originated from a recurring nightmare the director’s sister used to have when she was young, which stacks another evidence for children being the best source for all things messed-up.
Writer-director Robert Morgan’s experience with stop-motion animation is impressive, having also done a couple of really great grotesque shorts reminiscent of Brothers Quay (take a look at his Separation). Nowadays, it’s rare enough that stop-motion animation is used at all—unless your name rhymes with Schmenry Schmelick—let alone used as an effect. Funded by UK’s Channel 4, Morgan was able to shoot a portion of the film in stark 35mm live-action and a portion in stop-motion figures. The latter is specifically used to render the eponymous cat. It gives that side of the film an otherworldly effect: cartoony enough to be fantasy (which helps with hiding the revelation) but not so cartoony that it takes away from the spooky atmosphere.
Having been around for so long, The Cat with Hands may not be a discovery anymore, but it remains a favorite for its memorably simple creature and myth-like attribute—like a bedtime story that won’t go away.