In German with English subs
It's murder. Brutal and out in the open. It's noir. A lone detective looking
for answers among the beasts. Going into the darkness. Francis moves into
a new house that is a step above demolition. He discovers a dead body in
the back yard with its throat cut. He asks around the neighborhood, but no
one wants to talk about it - but this isn't the first death - all short haired
males. A serial killer. Or maybe more than that. Like all noir detectives
he falls for women faster than gravity and people are trying to kill him,
giving him a harrowing chase around the neighborhood that is death defying.
He comes across a fanatic religious cult praying to Claudandus, a seeming
martyr long dead but not forgotten. And the more he investigates the uglier
it gets. Mass murder. The bodies of hundreds thrown into a pit. A Guardian
of the Dead watching over them. More murders. His nightmares are full of
harsh images and demons. Who is behind this? Beast or a can opener. A can
opener is a human. Francis is a cat. An animated one. Luckily with nine lives.
This is good fun but not to be taken lightly. It is a solid mystery. Francis
does his best Sam Spade but without the trench coat and hat. Don't be expecting
Cat in the Hat. The killings are gory and graphic. There is sex. Cat sex.
It gets as tense as most crime films with danger in every shadow as Francis
has to run for his life a few times. But he reads books and his favorite
music is from Mahler. In this world cats and dogs speak the same language
and have a truce. A few killer cats work for the big dog in the neighborhood.
He has a mutt (Mario Adorf) as an assistant who spends much of his time muttering
"cod. cod" retaining the old detective tradition of a not very smart helper.
An older wise cat who uses a computer is voiced by Klaus Maria Brandauer.
Directed by Michael Schaack who has a few other animation films to his credit.
