TRACK #256:

Cat’s Eye by Ray Stevens

Call me an idealists. Call me old fashion. Hell, call me an 80’s fetishist, but I wish every movie ended like 1986’s portmanteau horror, Cat’s Eye.

The 3-pronged anthology from Stephen King and Lewis Teague isn’t even particularly fantastic. It’s all right, I enjoy it, but I wouldn’t put it at the top of any anthology list.

The James Woods story about an invasive smoking cessation program has some fun moments, despite being a little under cooked.

The second story has an intriguing premise, is well acted and provides a fair amount of tension, given a predisposition to acrophobia.

And the final story, the one which everyone remembers, with a cat named General protecting a young Drew Barrymore from a horrible, little, breath-stealing troll. That troll, designed by FX maestro Carlo Rambaldi, is fantastic. And all that set dec making the him look tiny is 80’s practical FX gold.

But that’s not what I mean. No, what I want is for every movie to end with this same kind of weirdly referential, ridiculously popped-out, Title Track bullshit. Say that Title over and over! Gimme that hot synth bass! Talk about the movie in indirect ways! Make it feel like an event. Make me feel like I just watched a movie. Leave a mark.

And boy howdy does Ray Steven’s Cat’s Eye do just that. He Billy Oceans the fuck outta this thing and produces a shinning example of a Title Track. It’s doing everything right.

I wish every movie had it’s own Cat’s Eye.