Hit and miss this one, but when it hits, it knocks it out of the park.

Cat’s Eye (also known as Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye) is a 1985 American anthology horror thriller film directed by Lewis Teague and written by Stephen King. It comprises three stories, “Quitters, Inc.”, “The Ledge”, and “General”. The first two are adaptations of short stories in King’s 1978 Night Shift collection, and the third is unique to the film.

The three stories are connected only by the presence of a traveling cat, which plays an incidental role in the first two and is a major character of the third. Its cast includes Drew Barrymore, James Woods, Alan King, Robert Hays and Candy Clark.

The three tales are:

“Quitters, Inc.”

Smoker Dick Morrison (Woods) is advised by a friend to join Quitters, Inc., to kick his habit. Clinic counselor Vinnie Donatti explains that the clinic has a 100% success rate due to a uniquely persuasive method: every time Dick smokes a cigarette, horrors of increasing magnitude will befall his wife and child.

“The Ledge”

Having escaped Quitters, Inc., the tomcat leaves Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry, traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where it sees the same disembodied girl’s image asking for his help. Gambler and former tennis pro Johnny Norris (Hayes) is involved with a woman whose jealous husband, Cressner, is a crime boss and casino owner. Cressner, who will bet on anything, wins a wager that the tomcat will successfully cross the busy road outside his casino, and takes the tomcat home. Cressner has Norris kidnapped and blackmails him into a dangerous ordeal: he must circumnavigate the exterior ledge of Cressner’s penthouse. If he makes it all the way around, Cressner will grant his wife a divorce. If Norris refuses, Cressner will call the police and have him arrested for possession of drugs that have been planted in Norris’s Mustang by a henchman named Albert.

“General”

The tomcat hops a freight train and travels to Wilmington, North Carolina, where it is adopted by the girl who was asking for help earlier, Amanda (Barrymore), who names him General. Amanda’s mother believes General will harm their parakeet, Polly. Despite Amanda’s protests, her mother puts General out at night. Consequently, he cannot protect Amanda from a small, malevolent troll that took up residence in the house.

A decent ride 7/10