Just like “The Curious Dr. Humpp” and “Seeds of Sin”, “Confessions of a Psycho Cat” is a great exploitation film marred down by sexploitation inserts (added at the insistence of the producers to pad the feature out presumably). These inserts consist of rather unattractive hippie types frolicking (no actual sexual activity is shown, its basically the conservative kind of topless sex outdated by 1968). Its rather aggravating, because the film itself is both fascinating and much more competently made than expected. Still, even in its present form, its a film that demands a bigger cult following than it has attained. God bless Something Weird Video for having the good taste to unleash this bizarre classic upon the public.

The film works well because it takes a rather stale concept and makes it remarkably fresh. This is one of the most interesting twists on “The Most Dangerous Game” I’ve seen. Its a shame that the director Herb Stanley only made this film, because he shows a lot of talent. There are moments of black humor that up the camp factor, in particular the scene where the psycho-cat of the title dresses as a matador and taunts one of her victims. Eileen Lord is great, giving one of those performances thats both kitschy and actually frightening. Plus, seeing Jake LaMotta is interesting (and rather depressing when recalling from “Raging Bull” the kind of shape his life was in at the time). Overall, this would’ve been one of the greatest exploitation films if it wasn’t for those inserts. Its still great fun and highly recommended to psychotronic fans.