History Film / CatsEye

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Cressner points out to Johnny that General (named "Sebastian" at the time) liking the latter is a good sign of his luck walking around the ledge. [[spoiler: Later, when Cressner runs past General, the latter hisses at him. What kind of sign do you suppose ''that'' is when it's Cressner's turn to walk the ledge?]]

* AdultFear: Amanda's parents are unaware of an evil creature trying to steal Amanda's breath. It doesn't help that the creature puts a doorstop behind the door in order to keep them out until the deed is done. When they finally discover the truth, they're mortified. Amanda is shown sleeping in their bed at the end of the film.

* NeverendingTerror: The segment featuring "Quitters, Inc.", an anti-smoking group ''run by TheMafia'' from which, once you become a member of, can ''never'' leave. They will watch you '''forever''', you will need to follow their instructions on clean living to the letter, and if you ever so much as ''think'' of disobeying an order, they will torture your family, [[ForcedToWatch force you to watch]], and they will charge you for the torture's implements (like [[ElectricTorture electricity]] on their monthly membership bill. Or start dismembering them bit-by-bit, starting with the fingers. And if you're crazy and/or stupid enough to continue smoking after a few demonstrations, well... [[DeadlyEuphemism they "give up" on you]].

* AdultFear: Amanda's parents are unaware of an evil creature trying to steal Amanda's breath. It doesn't help that the creature puts a doorstop behind the door in order to keep them out until the deed is done.

* CatsAreMean: Inverted. General is one of the most straightforwardly courageous and heroic kitty-cats in fiction. [[spoiler:Especially at the end, when he [[AmplifiedAnimalAptitude uses a record player]] to throw the troll into the fan.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After going through hell throughout the entire film, the cat finally manages to find a loving home with the family of the young girl.

* ProperlyParanoid: Though only Amanda truly believes that the troll [[spoiler:framed General for killing the parakeet]], Amanda's father finds it suspicious that General somehow got such a large slash mark, while the mother, who is conversely and plainly TheParanoiac towards cats, [[HenpeckedHusband dismisses him when he brings it up]].

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Cressner - whereas his fate at the end of the story is never stated [though it's implied Norris will push him off the ledge if he does indeed make it back], he definitely falls off in the movie.]]

* EvilAllAlong: At the very end, General creeps up on Amanda; the music suggests that he's EvilAllAlong. [[spoiler:Instead he gives her a kiss and cuddles into her arms, providing a rare heartwarming ending from a Stephen King story. Awww.]]
** [[spoiler:However, in the original ending, General ends up being EvilAllAlong and steals Amanda's breath. Given that this would have rendered the whole story [[ShockingSwerve completely nonsensical]], perhaps this change was for the best.]]

* Masquerade: In the "General" segment, the parents discover that the troll is real when they discover his remains. They choose to keep the incident to themselves and ask Amanda not to tell anyone at school, knowing full well that [[CassandraTruth no one would believe them]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Donati and Junk are willing to torture and rape the loved ones of smokers in order to motivate them to quit, and even kill the ones who can't quit the habit. They seem happy when their customers do manage to quit, but none who tries to sneak a smoke finds out that their not bluffing.

* MythologyGag: In "The Ledge," a ''Penthouse'' issue is prominently seen [[spoiler:after Johnny has gained the upperhand]]. The July 1976 issue was where the original story was published.

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:General trips up Cressner's gunman, allowing Johnny to get the gun and the upperhand]].

** One of Cressner's friends mentions having a father who so cruelly believed cats should be put down once they outgrow their kitten phase. She's also not above helping Cressner's other friend win a bet by coaxing General to cross a dangerous street.

* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: The basis premise of Quitters Inc. For each of the first three times they catch a client smoking (nine times in the book) they inflict some horrible punishment on a member of the clients family. [[spoiler: Dick's wife is subjected to electrical shocks after he ends up smoking a cigarette]]. and while he's in the waiting room, there's an anguished man waiting there whose wife is let out after having apparently been raped over his third infraction (based on how he wasn't ForcedToWatch, as was the case with the electric shocks, and how her clothes looked a little torn).

** Cressner and his men might sound welcoming to Norris, and reasonable in the deal offered, while also getting along well with each other, but it doesn't change the fact that their forcing a man to go out onto a ledge to a near-ertain death and gleefully keep trying to trip him up. And that's not even considering the car crash Cressner causes by hoaxing the General across the road, [[spoiler:Or throwing his wife's head at Norris after he survives the ledge and specifically wanting to make a show of it.]]

* GamblerGroupies: A woman who appears to be one is in he crowd that bets on the General crossing the road. She is initially unhappy with her boyfriend or husband betting on that but [[NotSoAboveItAll does eventually join him in trying to coax across the general to win the bet]].

** Cressner and his men might sound welcoming to Norris, and reasonable in the deal offered, while also getting along well with each other, but it doesn't change the fact that their forcing a man to go out onto a ledge to a snarl certain death and gleefully keep trying to trip him up. And that's not even considering the car crash Cressner causes by hoaxing the General across the road, [[spoiler:Or throwing his wife's head at Norris after he survives the ledge and specifically wanting to make a show of it.]]

* AdaptedOut: The short story ''Quitters Inc'' has Dick actually giving the companies card to another unhappy smoker some time after his own ordeal, but the film apparently thought that would be too much after all he was forced to endure. In the print version of ''The Ledge'' Cressner mentions that he'd offered various debtors of his the opportunity to risk the ledge before in exchange for their slates being wiped clean and only one had the courage to actually make the attempt but gave up after a few minutes.

* AdaptationSpeciesChange: In the short story ''Quitters Inc'' the animal they electrocute in the beginning is a rabbet. Wall here it's the cat that goes threw the painful demonstration.

* TheCameo: Film/{{Cujo}} and Film/{{Christine}} appear during the film's opening scene.

* CruelTwistEnding: [[spoiler: Subverted. At the end, General creeps up on Amanda in an ominous manner, and the sinister music implies he's going to steal her breath. Instead, he gives her a kiss and she hugs him tightly. [[EarnYourHappyEnding Roll credits.]] Originally he ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen was]]'' going to steal her breath, but it was changed because the twist would have been less cruel and more [[AssPull nonsensical]].]]

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Of the [[AffablyEvil affable]] variety. Junk bets with Donnati that Cindy will slap Dick when she learns she was just electrocuted as part of Quitters Inc.'s approach to force Dick to not smoke. He's mildly disappointed to lose the money when instead, Cindy gives Dick an understanding hug. Donnati averts this trope, given he's been with clients enough to know what kind of relationship they have with their spouses.

* KindheartedCatLover: Amanda, who falls in love with General at first sight. Averted with the mother, who's the [[EnemyToAllLivingThings exact opposite]], just plain paranoid about a cat in her home, waiting for an opportunity to get rid of the cat and practically reveling in capturing him and taking him to get euthanized.

* MeatOVision: In "Quitters, Inc.", Dick attends a party where he has a bizarre hallucination of everybody smoking in very strange ways, and sees two women as giant packs of cigarettes.

--> '''Norris''': Hey!
--> '''Ducky''': It's for horses, sometimes for cows. Pigs don't eat it because they don't know how.

* AdaptedOut: The shorty story ''Quitters Inc'' has Dick actually giving the companies card to another unhappy smoker some time after his own ordeal, but the film apparently thought that would be too much after all he was forced to endure. In the print version of ''The Ledge'' Cressner mentions that he'd offered various debtors of his the opportunity to risk the ledge before in exchange for their slates being wiped clean and only one had the courage to actually make the attempt but gave up after a few minutes.

* AffablyEvil: Donatti and Junk are genuinely invested in curing smokers, despite their monstrous nature, and Junk tells Dick that he doesn't think the amount of weight he gained was too bad when they're saying goodbye to him. Cressner and his men initially appear to be this but quickly turn out to be FauxAffablyEvil.

* ''The General'' -- The cat finds its way to North Carolina, where it becomes the adopted pet of a little girl (Barrymore). The girl, whose voice the cat had heard in its head earlier in the film, is in danger due to a troll living in her wall. Only the cat can stop the troll...but the troll isn't going down without a fight.

* ''The Ledge'' -- Soon after, the cat finds itself in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It gets a vision from the same little girl it saw earlier, still asking it to help her. The cat is rescued from a busy street by Cressner (Kenneth [=McMillan=]), a crime boss and casino owner with a habit for gambling on nearly anything. Cressner then kidnaps Johnny Norris (Robert Hays), a gambler and former tennis star who's been sleeping with Cressner's wife. Stepping into his habit, Cressner makes a bet with Johnny: if he can make his way around the very narrow ledge of Cressner's penthouse, Cressner will give him $100,000 and divorce his wife. If Johnny refuses to perform the task, he'll be framed for heroin possession. Cressner also deploys various hazards as Johnny slowly makes his way around the ledge to keep him alert. At the end of the segment, the cat escapes from Cressner's building and jumps on board a freight train.

* ''The Ledge'' -- Soon after, the cat finds itself in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It gets a vision from the same little girl it saw earlier, still asking it to help her. The cat is rescued from a busy street by Cressner (Kenneth [=McMillan=]), a crime boss and casino owner with a habit for gambling on nearly anything. Cressner then kidnaps Johnny Norris (Robert Hays), a gambler and former tennis star who's been sleeping with Cressner's wife. Stepping into his habit, Cressner makes a bet with Johnny: if he can make his way around the very narrow ledge of Cressner's penthouse, Cressner will give him $100,000 and divorce his wife. If Johnny refuses to perform the task, he'll be framed for heroin possession. Cressner also deploys various hazards as Johnny slowly makes his way around the edge to keep him alert. At the end of the segment, the cat escapes from Cressner's building and jumps on board a freight train.

* ''The Ledge'' -- Soon after, the cat finds itself in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It gets a vision from the same little girl it saw earlier, still asking it to help her. The cat is rescued from a busy street by Cressner (Kenneth [=McMillan=]), a crime boss and casino owner with a habit for gambling on nearly anything. Cressner then kidnaps Johnny Norris (Robert Hays), a gambler and former tennis star who's been sleeping with Cressner's wife. Stepping into his habit, Cressner makes a bet with Johnny: if he can make his way around the very narrow ledge of Cressner's penthouse, Cressner will give him $100,000 and divorce his wife. If Johnny refuses to do perform, he'll be framed for heroin possession. At the end of the segment, the cat escapes from Cressner's building and jumps on board a freight train.

* ''The Ledge'' -- Soon after, the cat finds itself in Atlantic City. It gets a vision from the same little girl it saw earlier, still asking it to help her. The cat is rescued from a busy street by Cressner (Kenneth [=McMillan=]), a crime boss and casino owner with a habit for gambling on nearly anything. Cressner then kidnaps Johnny Norris (Robert Hays), a gambler and former tennis star who's been sleeping with Cressner's wife. Stepping into his habit, Cressner makes a bet with Johnny: if he can make his way around the very narrow ledge of Cressner's penthouse, Cressner will give him $100,000 and divorce his wife. If Johnny refuses to do perform, he'll be framed for heroin possession. At the end of the segment, the cat escapes from Cressner's building and jumps on board a freight train.

* ''Quitters, Inc.'' -- After narrowly escaping a certain rabid dog, the cat hides in a tobacco truck and ends up in New York City. The cat sees a vision of a little girl begging it to protect her from something. Before anymore information can be learned, the cat is picked up and taken by Junk, an employee of Quitters, Inc. Meanwhile, longtime smoker Dick Morrison (Creator/JamesWoods) is persuaded to try the company by a friend to curb his addiction to cigarettes. Dick learns from the company president, Vinnie Donatti, that the company has a 100% success rate in curing addiction. Vinnie explains this is due to the company's rather "radical" methods of persuasion. Dick is to be watched by Donatti's goons 24/7. And every time Dick gives in to temptation, Donatti threatens to torture his family with a variety of horrific methods, each one worse than the last (the cat is seen demonstrating one of these tortures, an electrified floor, early in the story). During the climax of the segment, the cat escapes New York by hopping on board the Staten Island Ferry.
* ''The Ledge'' -- A casino owner named Cressner (Kenneth [=McMillan=]) kidnaps gambler Johnny Norris (Robert Hays) (who's been sleeping with Cressner's wife) and makes a bet with him: if he can make it around the narrow ledge of Cressner's penthouse, Cressner will divorce his wife, but if Norris refuses to try, he'll be framed for drug possession. (The cat is picked up by Cressner early in the story and plays a role in its climax.)

* ''Quitters, Inc.'' -- After narrowly escaping a certain rabid dog, the cat hides in a tobacco truck and ends up in New York City. The cat sees a vision of a little girl begging it to protect her from something. Before anymore information can be learned, the cat is picked up and taken by Junk, an employee of Quitters, Inc. Meanwhile, longtime smoker Dick Morrison (Creator/JamesWoods) is persuaded to try the company by a friend to curb his addiction to cigarettes. Dick learns from the company president, Vinnie Donatti, that the company has a 100% success rate in curing addiction. Vinnie explains this is due to the company's rather "radical" methods of persuasion. Dick is to be watched by Donatti's goons 24/7. And every time Dick gives in to temptation, Donatti threatens to torture his family with a variety of horrific methods, each one worse than the last (the cat is seen demonstrating one of these tortures, an electrified floor, early in the story). After the segment, the cat escapes New York by hopping on board the Staten Island Ferry.