Don’t Let the Cat Out (2025) Review

To raise some much needed funds, college student Charlie (Anthony Del Negro) is assigned to house sit for cat-obsessed couple Evelyn (Cerina Vincent) and Rodney (Jordan James Smith). The house owners appear pleasant and friendly and the job seems fairly straightforward, with Evelyn stressing just one thing: don’t let the cat out.

Charlie has been alone for only a few minutes when things start to get weird, discovering a further list of directions concerning the care of the cat and then running up against a masked intruder, who attacks Charlie’s friend Travis (Sterling Sulieman) shortly after he shows up. Looks like there’s something far more serious going on than Charlie’s allergies and he may need more than an epipen to save him…

The writing and directing team that brought you last year’s FrightFest hit Ladybug is back with a film that’s over twenty minutes shorter but packed with even more weirdness. Starting off as your standard “housesitter in peril” story, Don’t Let The Cat Out then slinks off in various strange directions as the cat and mouse (or is it cat and other cats?) framework allows in some twisted takes on home invasion tropes, occult thrillers and all manner of nefarious activities in the basement.

Key to keeping the plot purring along is the perma-put upon Del Negro, whose own work on the screenplay (along with director Tim Cruz) steers away from portraying Charlie as the everyday guy concealing the hero that’s just bursting to get out. Instead, our lead is terrorised, tied up, slashed and bashed, all in the name of serving the higher purpose of deranged, feline-focused folk. Meanwhile, the resourceful Kim (Edy Ganem) is hot on the trail of Charlie and Travis but, even if she tracks them down, will she be able to deal with what she’s getting herself into?

As you’d expect, there’s a generous helping of near escapes, suspenseful stalkings and an environment so full of cat-related memorabilia that the word obsessive doesn’t even begin to describe it. Even as a confirmed cat lover, there’s a limit but it’s clear that Evelyn and Rodney take worship to the next level. If you’re thinking that anyone in their right mind would make their excuses and leave, five hundred bucks to look after the house is a sweet gig, right? If you’re wondering why people would pay so much to mind their place for an evening, five hundred bucks is a sweet gig, right?

Speaking of Evelyn, Cerina Vincent appears to be having a ball in a role which initially has the hallmarks of an extended cameo but then allows her to cut loose as the movie progresses, resulting in a highly amusing but also unnerving performance. In a film which takes the bulk of the power away from its male characters, Ganem’s Kim is the one who’s the calm and resourceful one, consistently trying to keep Charlie on the level as the danger mounts.

Don’t Let The Cat Out balances its dark humour and horror effortlessly, playing Charlie’s plight for the kind of chuckles that spring from the relief that you’re not in his situation and that slightly sadistic streak in moviegoers of waiting – or even wanting – to see what new psychological or physical torture is about to be visited upon him next. The violence, when it comes, is bloody and jarring but Cruz and co know exactly how far to push the proceedings without losing the audience.

And then there’s that last stanza, which includes the necessary showdown between the forces of good and evil but, as with the preceding action, takes the tale somewhere peculiar even for this film. The swerve at resolution time, plus the eerie epilogue, was something that I wasn’t quite prepared for but, given the skewed nature of what came before, both sit perfectly with the prevailing air of strangeness.

I would say that Don’t Let The Cat Out purrs along for its runtime merely to crowbar in a terrible pun but Cruz and Del Negro have loaded the work with too many “WTF?” moments for the viewer to ever feel remotely comfortable and it’s all the better for it. You’ll laugh (in my case, out loud at the gag where Charlie takes a drink of water) and be creeped out. Also, for those of you who’ve seen 1989’s Pacino/Barkin thriller Sea Of Love, that song is about to give you chills over again.

Movie Rating:

Don’t Let the Cat Out trailer