The Cat (衛斯理之老貓) is a 1992 live-action theatrical Hong Kong film directed by Lam Nai-Choi, and produced by Chua Lam and Michael Lai Siu-Tin, with distribution by Golden Harvest based on the novel series Wisely Series written by Ni Kuang. The film starred Gloria Yip Wan-Yee, Waise Lee Chi-Hung, Christine Ng Wing-Mei, Lau Siu-Ming, Lawrence Lau Sek-Yin, and Phillip Kwok, with screenplay writers Chan Hing-Kai and Gordon Chan, and music composed by Philip Chan Fei-Lit. The film was theatrically released in October 1992 for Hong Kong.
Background:
“From Lam Nai-Choi, who made unhinged masterpieces The Seventh Curse and Riki-Oh: The Story Of Ricky, comes a film that, somehow, manages to be EVEN MADDER. An evil blob-like extraterrestrial has come to earth with nefarious intentions. Luckily some good aliens are on its trail: a man, a woman, and – of course – their fluffy black cat.
With wonderful pre-CGI special effects (i.e. rubber galore) and some truly bonkers action (watch out for that cat!), The Cat is part horror, part sci-fi and all WTF? The sane and rational folks at 88 Films are proud to present your new favourite crazy movie.”
Plot Synopsis via 88 Films, September 2025.
There’s something about Lam Nai-Coi (藍乃才) that really intrigues me. His filmography is filled with bizarreness that is hard to describe. You have characters that get killed in extreme means, various erotic-vibes from the female cast members from time to time, and then you have animals and monsters that do the most batshit insane antics. A couple of his films took advantage of the Category III boom of the late 80s which led to a cult following, especially Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky which was over the top and bloody.
But it’s interesting to me that he decided to stop directing with only 11 years worth of projects in my filmography. 1992’s The Cat was his last feature-length directorial project but he went out on a high note. The premise came from one of the novels written by Ni Kuang as part of the Wisely Series, about a writer who experienced various paranormal or bizarre events throughout his career which 88 Films’ contributor Paul Bramhall described it best as a mixture between Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones. There’s been various adaptations of those novels but each of them had a different actor portray Wisely.
The Cat was an enjoyable film and what I liked about it was its story about a writer getting involved with a duo who wants to go home but have to defeat a monster that is also best described as a mix between The Blob and John Carpenter’s The Thing because when you see it, you want to bloody run. There’s also some Terminator inspiration during the third act of the film. The big standout for the film was the black cat itself, because it wasn’t just there for show but was also involved in a lot of the story plot points and action scenes, especially the latter because we have a pretty insane and special fight scene of its own that I didn’t anticipate happening at all which I won’t spoil. They utilised a lot of practical effects to ensure there wasn’t too much stress to the cat which was good.
I also really liked the practical effects for the alien monster as well but something that I did notice was a lot of editing and camera choices that to me felt like it moved too quickly which made it a bit too messy to see what was going on and you could tell they were aiming to avoid a Category III rating because it wasn’t as gory or explicit, which was a shame because I felt this sort of film and the director’s history would have made those scenes way more impactful and horrifying had they went the extra mile, especially considering Lam Nai-Choi directed The Seventh Curse which was from the same author.
That said, The Cat was a strong end to the Lam Nai-Choi’s directorial run and I liked it from start to finish. It was also a great introduction to the Wisely novel series that I hadn’t known about previously so I am curious to see if we’ll see more adaptations make their way over here because there are a few more from different directors and actors that I would like to see.
UK distributor 88 Films picked up the UK & US home video rights for The Cat, which made its UK debut on September 2025 (was originally scheduled to be released at the end of August but there was a slight delay). Now upon post-viewing I did notice that apparently a few seconds of the Region B version was pre-cut presumably to appease the BBFC over animal cruelty concerns, but the Region A version retains the footage.
Also want to mention that a second version called Nine Lives was also included in this release as a last minute surprise which was handled by the Japanese side, as the film was a co-production though I have yet to watch that one. It was directed by Mio Hani and replaces a lot of the original film’s content including having a different protagonist and new footage to go with it.
Deluxe Limited Edition Contents:
88 Films have been changing up their special editions pretty much every year and The Cat here is presented as a ‘deluxe limited edition’.
This deluxe limited edition release is presented with an o-card slipcase and rigid box showcasing newly illustrated artwork by Sean Longmore, a Scanavo case housing the disc, a premium artcard and a 40-page perfect bound book featuring two write-ups. The articles covered are ‘”That Cat is Dangerous”: A Retrospective Look at the Filmography of Lam Nai-Choi’ by Paul Bramhall, and ‘Body Horror: The warped cinema of Lam Nai-Choi’ by Matthew Edwards.
The box art is clean with no ratings/information on all sides, with the o-card slipcase to cover the synopsis, information about the release and any ratings and specs. The artwork on the Scanavo case do include information and specs on the back but there’s no BBFC logos except from the main back cover. The deluxe limited edition Blu-ray release retailed for £29.99 SRP. A standard edition Blu-ray release will follow suit once this edition has officially sold out (which it has over in North America).
I pre-ordered my copy alongside Come Drink With Me from 88 Films’ website.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with brand-new artwork by by Sean Longmore, and O-Card Slipcase
- Scanavo case packaging
- Premium Artcard
- 40-page illustrated book featuring new articles by Paul Bramhall & Matthew Edwards.
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: 88 Films
Released: 1st September 2025
The deluxe limited edition release for The Cat presents the film on a single Blu-ray disc, with the authoring and encoding done by MJMultimedia Ltd. The film’s presentation is based on a 2K restoration from the original negatives.
The Blu-ray features two versions of the film – the original Hong Kong theatrical cut (01:29:04 (Region B)/01:29:20 (Region A) runtime) presented in Cantonese audio with English subtitles, and the Japanese theatrical cut (01:37:00 runtime) presented in Japanese audio with English subtitles, which for the latter is a completely different film in its entirety due to a different cast and director though it is only available to watch in Standard Definition format, which was probably why it was included in the special features section of the disc.
The white subtitles, newly translated, are unlockable during playback and the Blu-ray disc is accessible to players set to Region A & B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Original Hong Kong Theatrical Cut: Cantonese Japanese Cut: Japanese |
| Audio | Original Hong Kong Theatrical Cut: Cantonese Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Cut: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Original Hong Kong Theatrical Cut: 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio Japanese Cut: 480p Standard Definition NTSC format 1.33:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Cinema Expert Frank Djeng
- Japanese Cut [in Standard Definition] (01:37:00 runtime)
- Interview with Writer Gordon Chan (21:47 runtime)
- Stills Gallery (01:58 runtime)
- Trailer (04:23 runtime)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The Cat is available to purchase on Blu-ray by 88 Films in the United Kingdom and United States.
The UK deluxe limited edition Blu-ray release can be purchased across different retailers including 88 Films, Amazon UK, HMV, and Terracotta Distribution.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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