Arguably one of the most gruesome animated feature films out there would have to be the German cat-centered mystery Felidae. Based on the crime fiction book of the same name by Akif Pirinçci, the film is often regarded as an infamously disturbing mystery thriller executed through animated filmmaking. Given that the subject matter is focused around cats as opposed to humans, there is a lot to take away from this fascinating feature. As a more serious minded cat movie outside of what audiences might expect in cinema, it's time to acknowledge what this film set out to do through murder and nightmare fuel.
The film focuses on a domestic house cat named Francis who sets out to investigate the grisly feline murders taking place in his new neighborhood. As a murder mystery meant to uncover the motives behind someone killing innocent cats one by one, Felidae knows how to keep the momentum going. As a more cautious albeit cynical cat, Francis is just as much of a victim of murder as the other cats, meaning all could end bad for him if he steps out of line. In addition, the more Francis unravels the clues behind the continuous murders, the more themes of genetic scientific studies are exposed through the origins of Claudandus, the only feline who survived an ongoing series of wound healing experiments. If there are any notable flaws to point out narrative wise, there isn't any additional time given on the updates of the cats who are still alive as the film focuses a bit too much on the plot. Not to mention, once the climax is out of the way, it feels like the film just abruptly stops rather than giving a proper conclusion around the neighborhood after all the events.
With an intriguing mystery comes an intriguing supporting cast, especially with Bluebeard making for a delightfully sardonic ally to Francis by showing how unfazed he is by any sort of horror going on in the neighborhood. In contrast, the more threatening bully of the place Kong has a conflicting presence as far as the whereabouts of certain murdered felines. Some characters like the cult worship leader Joker and the sympathetic blind cat Felicity sadly don't get enough screen time to show much significance beyond their basic roles. And then there's Pascal, a tech savvy feline who keeps track of all the neighborhood cats albeit with a suspiciously wicked facade. Also, as the film did get an English dub, the voice acting can range from well coordinated to all over the place, so perhaps the original German dub should be where it's at. It should be safe to assume that the mystery elements of the feature are more of a selling point than the individual characters themselves, as they're best used as plot fodder to keep the suspension afloat as things go from disturbing to worse.
Going into the visual content itself, the film should rightfully earn its place as the most expensive animated feature made in Germany at the time. Next to a lot of distinctive anatomical structure of the different cats, the character animation is smoothly acted while keeping the feline's proportions grounded to the real world. By establishing the layouts and shot composition from a cat's perspective, the backgrounds are carefully composited to keep the focal points and camera angles within a slightly smaller world to emphasize the scale of each environment. The color choices are another added touch of realism by displaying appropriately subdued palettes throughout most of the sequences. As far as surreal shock value goes, Francis' nightmares stick out with horrifying imagery and an experimental mix of effects and carnage for all eyes to behold (Hayo Freitag's Mendel sequence is one notable standout). By crafting a far better presentation than what one would expect from content like this, rarely has a feature provided visuals this frightening amongst the competition.
Although Felidae has infamously gone down as a frightening murder mystery with no punches pulled, it is still a remarkably crafted crime story told with an intriguing investigation angle, strong intensity, earnest characters and breathtaking animation. While the film is worth recommending for its disturbing mystery content, it must be warned that anyone interested should do so at their risk on account of any potentially traumatizing material shown on screen. It's not often when animation generated towards a mature audience actually feels mature in its sincere nature of telling a realistically scary story.
The film focuses on a domestic house cat named Francis who sets out to investigate the grisly feline murders taking place in his new neighborhood. As a murder mystery meant to uncover the motives behind someone killing innocent cats one by one, Felidae knows how to keep the momentum going. As a more cautious albeit cynical cat, Francis is just as much of a victim of murder as the other cats, meaning all could end bad for him if he steps out of line. In addition, the more Francis unravels the clues behind the continuous murders, the more themes of genetic scientific studies are exposed through the origins of Claudandus, the only feline who survived an ongoing series of wound healing experiments. If there are any notable flaws to point out narrative wise, there isn't any additional time given on the updates of the cats who are still alive as the film focuses a bit too much on the plot. Not to mention, once the climax is out of the way, it feels like the film just abruptly stops rather than giving a proper conclusion around the neighborhood after all the events.
With an intriguing mystery comes an intriguing supporting cast, especially with Bluebeard making for a delightfully sardonic ally to Francis by showing how unfazed he is by any sort of horror going on in the neighborhood. In contrast, the more threatening bully of the place Kong has a conflicting presence as far as the whereabouts of certain murdered felines. Some characters like the cult worship leader Joker and the sympathetic blind cat Felicity sadly don't get enough screen time to show much significance beyond their basic roles. And then there's Pascal, a tech savvy feline who keeps track of all the neighborhood cats albeit with a suspiciously wicked facade. Also, as the film did get an English dub, the voice acting can range from well coordinated to all over the place, so perhaps the original German dub should be where it's at. It should be safe to assume that the mystery elements of the feature are more of a selling point than the individual characters themselves, as they're best used as plot fodder to keep the suspension afloat as things go from disturbing to worse.
Going into the visual content itself, the film should rightfully earn its place as the most expensive animated feature made in Germany at the time. Next to a lot of distinctive anatomical structure of the different cats, the character animation is smoothly acted while keeping the feline's proportions grounded to the real world. By establishing the layouts and shot composition from a cat's perspective, the backgrounds are carefully composited to keep the focal points and camera angles within a slightly smaller world to emphasize the scale of each environment. The color choices are another added touch of realism by displaying appropriately subdued palettes throughout most of the sequences. As far as surreal shock value goes, Francis' nightmares stick out with horrifying imagery and an experimental mix of effects and carnage for all eyes to behold (Hayo Freitag's Mendel sequence is one notable standout). By crafting a far better presentation than what one would expect from content like this, rarely has a feature provided visuals this frightening amongst the competition.
Although Felidae has infamously gone down as a frightening murder mystery with no punches pulled, it is still a remarkably crafted crime story told with an intriguing investigation angle, strong intensity, earnest characters and breathtaking animation. While the film is worth recommending for its disturbing mystery content, it must be warned that anyone interested should do so at their risk on account of any potentially traumatizing material shown on screen. It's not often when animation generated towards a mature audience actually feels mature in its sincere nature of telling a realistically scary story.