Tales from the Crypt (TV Series) Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone (1989) User Reviews

Nine Lives and Greedy

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 3 July 2012]

The vagrant Ulric (Joe Pantoliano) is invited by Dr. Emil Manfred (Gustav Vintas) to participate in a medical experiment; in return, he would receive his savings. Dr. Manfred implants a group of cells from a cat and Ulric is capable to die nine times.

Ultic associates to the owner of a side show, Barker (Robert Wuhl), and together with his mistress Coralee (Kathleen York), they make a successful show where Ulric dies in front of the audiences. When Ulric uses the eight life, he schedules a great last show…for real.

"Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone" is one of the funniest shows of Tales from the Crypt. The black humor is top-notch and the witty tale of nine lives and greedy has a macabre conclusion. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"

Note: On 01 January 2014, I saw this episode again.

Funny and neat concept with good acting.

[blanbrn · 8/10 · 10 June 2007]

This crypt episode is pretty strong though the thing of a man with nine cat lives is a little crazy and over the top, yet the episode is well done. It stars Joe Pantoliano and Robert Wuhl(which was well before their HBO fame on "The Sopranos" and "Arliss"). Pantoliano stars as a homeless bum found on the streets by a scientist who tries an experiment for fame and profit he agrees to give this bum a cat's brain, and after surgery he sees it works now nine lives are present for Ulric! So Ulric becomes a sideshow attraction who's nicknamed Ulric the undying, as he dies for profit during shows and stunts. Plus Robert Wuhl is fine and witty as carnival promoter Barker, and the performance from Joe is top notch he really put a lot into it you can tell. The episode ends as a shock for Ulric as remember next time know your count on your lives, and don't forget to count the cat! Overall good episode that's well acted and the concept was neat.

The hits keep coming with season 1

[DirkDiggler88 · 7/10 · 26 February 2021]

Joey Pants steals the show. Good twist ending, although fairly predictable.

Done strictly for laughs.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 2 July 2021]

Unlike the two prior episodes of "Tales from the Crypt", this one is far less serious in tone and is actually a dark comedy.

It begins with a loser (Joe Pantoliano) being recruited by a mad scientist to be his test subject. It seems that the doc is going to implant part of a cat in a human....and he assumes this will give the human 9 lives. Oddly, it does work...and instead of enjoying a long life or doing heroic things, Ulric decides to earn money on the carnival circuit and he can die and revive again and again...nine times....or so he thinks.

In addition to Joe Pantoliano playing a doofus, Robert Wahl and others provide additional doofus color to the episode. You can't take it the least bit seriously....as the show never does. Mildly entertaining and silly...and worth a look.

It doesn't get much better than this.

[TheScottman · 10/10 · 30 May 2006]

This is my favorite episode of the whole series, it has the best jokes throughout the whole show and it was nothing short of horror. Joe Pantoliano (Bad Boys) plays Ulric a bum who meets Dr. Emil Manfred (Gustav Vintas) which gives him money to do and experiment on him. When Ulric wakes up he now has nine lives, so he and Dr.Manfred go into business with Barker played beautifully by Robert Wuhl (HBO's Arli$$)and the business is death.

A wonderful story of betrayal, greed, and murder. It's really hard for "Tales From The Crypt" to top this episode, they set the bar with this one and had the rest try to meet it, but few of them did.

This might be the best episode to introduce yourself with "Tales From The Crypt" if you don't know what it's about already. If you like this episode you'll love the rest of the series and if you don't, then no hard feelings, this show really isn't for you.

Resurrection! Resurrection!

[Skinny_Slim · 21 October 2006]

Without a doubt, my favorite Season 1 episode along with "Collection Completed". "Dig That Cat...He's Real Gone" is short on scares but has a fascinating story respite with plot twists and turns. In other words, it's more "Creepshow" than HBO.

Joe Pantoliamo turns in an absolutely wonderful performance as Ulric, a street bum given 9 lives by a doctor, who transplants a gland from a cat's brain into Ulric's brain. Ulric decides to take his act to the circus as "Ulric the Undying", being killed by drowning, electrocution, hanging, and more in front of the audience's eyes. This brings Ulric bags full of money, and a hot young girlfriend to boot! But what happens when Ulric gets too greedy? Featuring a great script, great direction, and wonderful moments of black comedy (wait until you see the scene with Ulric and his girl in his trailer), "Dig That Cat...He's Real Gone" gets my vote for sure. It's a series classic!

"Polanski wants to film my life story, all of them." Neat tale from the crypt episode.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 14 March 2007]

Tales from the Crypt: Dig that Cat... He's Real Gone starts as scientist Dr. Emil Manfred (Gustvas Vintas) convinces a homeless bum named Ulric (Joe Pantoilano) to undergo a little experiment, an experiment to surgically implant the nine lives portion of a cat's brain into Ulric's. Manfred carries out the operation & once Ulric reawakens Manfred shoots him through the head, to both of their pleasure Ulric comes back to life with no ill effects & then the men's attention turns to how much money the can make out of Ulrich's remaining eight lives. However greed, sabotage & murder all play a part as things don't quite turn out as Ulrich had hoped...

This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 3 from season 1, directed by the one of the show's regular executive producers & producers Richard Donner I liked this episode. The darkly comic script by Terry Black was based on a story from the comic book 'The Haunt of Fear' & is what a good tale from the crypt should be, it has a good premise that you can relate to, it moves along at a nice pace & most important of all it as one of those highly satisfying ironic, morbid, twisted twist endings where things just turn out bad. The character's are good as is the dialogue which is pretty amusing at times & overall it's quite a clever concept that works well despite it initially sounding rather silly, Dig that Cat... He's Real Gone is a terrible title though.

There's not much gore here, someone is shot in the head, someone is stabbed in the back & there's a bit of violence but nothing that graphic. There's a cool side show carnival atmosphere to this as they literally sells tickets to people to let them see him die in ever more extravagant set-pieces designed to kill Ulrich in front of a paying audience & it even becomes a spectator sport as audience members enter a raffle to throw the switch which will electrocute Ulrich, in a strange way this foreshadowed the fact we are now fascinated with watching real-life disasters as evidenced by all the TV reality shows out there. The acting was good especially the over-the-top carnival Barker played by Robert Wuhl.

Dig that Cat... He's Real Gone is a twisted little tale from the crypt with a neat ending, well worth a watch & better than the first two Tales from the Crypt episodes.

Another strong, fun, original episode

[SleepTight666 · 8/10 · 26 June 2009]

Another strong, fun, original episode with memorable performances.

Unlike the previous two, this one is extremely light-headed. It's just silly, but in a very fun and original way.

It is about a homeless man that receives the opportunity to die 9 times, in return for money.

But when it came to his 9th, he forgot that the cat he got his lives from had already died once. So what was supposed to be his last, actually turned out to be his real last.

What I liked most about the episode was how much people enjoyed watching him die. It is true, people love death and pain as long as it is not caused upon them. Another excellent Season 1 episode.

Very good up until the ending, but still decent

[bellino-angelo2014 · 7/10 · 5 June 2021]

The episode begins with a bum named Ulric (the always reliable Joe Pantoliano) that is in a grave for an amusement show and he explains his story to us. When he still lived in the streets he accepted to undergo a strange experiment: to have the portion of a cat's brain that has the nine lives implanted in Ulric's. The experiment succedds and when Ulric reawakens the scientist shoots him in the head, and with great surprise Ulric returns to life without bad effects and then a carnival's manager thinks of how much money they can make since Ulric has eight other lives. However, fame, fortune and even a murder are along the way as for Ulric it won't be too easy to handle and he may just have miscounted his lives.

This episode was very good until the ending and I was even scoring it a 8. But the ending was a letdown especially when Ulric found out in the grave that the cat's life was counted as one. It could have been better if he would have found out about it like, midway in the episode. And the epilogue by the Crypt Keeper was a bit annoying this time as he kinda spoiled what we could have seen in the story. Still, however, an ok episode better than the previous one, ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE.

An amazing episode

[trevorreynafarje · 9/10 · 21 August 2020]

I'm new to tales from the crypt so I dont have much to compare this too, but I thought it was an amazing episode

"Resurrection! Get the f**k up!!!"

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 7/10 · 22 December 2013]

This episode requests that you actually buy the old myth about a cat having nine lives... To me that has just got to be one of the most stupid and weak premises in the entirety of the mainly distinguished history of the show! Even for an early Crypt tale it seemed a little too absurd and crazy. I can't believe this was directed by the same man who did The Omen! I am afraid that I couldn't ever really dig this cat too much, it never left all that big of an impression on me. I don't think it has a whole lot of real substance to it. I didn't like the campy comic book transitional scene effects, that style sure wasn't doing this episode any favours, and I hated the horrible quick shots where they'd show the same motion twice, it looked cheap and ridiculous. And the quirkiness levels were plain just a teensy little smidge too much at points. ::: A possibly insane doctor, a(literally) backstabbing floozy, a man who doesn't stay dead, and a guy with a Hitler stache. Nice. I did enjoy the hectic circus tone, even though unlike episode's like "Lower Berth" it's not really a dark 'carnivale' kind of atmosphere, and more of an old-fashioned carny geek show. Go for it granny! The whole point of this tale is just to see a bunch of colourful and entertaining deaths. That's surely a first for a horror feature.. The violent sight gag executions were more interesting than the actual story. They were grisly and macabre enough in traditional ways, but I didn't think they were all that imaginative. I guess the most effectively gruesome demise for me would be the one with the electricity, which was rather gross and uh, well shocking with the bloody tear dripping down his face as he convulses with the jolts. You'd think it may have been a bit soon for the series to touch upon electrocution again so soon after "The Man Who Was Death", but nope! Why would anyone want to pay to see someone die anyway? That's horrible. In that regard, that part of the story could be seen as a clever insight into the way people have such a hunger for the lore of the bizarre and horrendous. Who I thought truly stole the show was Robert Wuhl as the ringmaster. He made for a great, gameshow host/barker amid the disorientating, frenetic extravaganza factor of the scenes. I found that one line especially hilarious when he mutters something nasty at a fat kid! I'm not a fan of Joe Pantaloni's wise-guy attitude routine, although he is good here. At least "Ulrik the Undying" didn't have the ghosts of his past nine lives actually haunting him, like in that terrible 70's cartoon that nobody remembers, "Fraidy Cat!" He definitely wasn't a very likable guy, can't say that I cared one iota when he bites the big one at the end. I thought the deadly realisation when Ulrik figures out that the life of the cat that his magical 'gland' came from also counted as one, would have worked better if he had in classic fashion, simply miscounted somewhere down the line. Saw it coming! I mean, a monkey could have.. I like the added detail of the lighted candle in the sealed casket to burn up the oxygen quicker. His last gasp is cut out in some versions. Not one of my favourites, but it's very energetic and fun, not to mention violent, can't forget that one! In any case, I find that it's quite impossible not to like all these first season episodes, even the worst ones had a lot of charm at this point. It was a good story. Check it out, if you dare!

I'm Resurrected!

[mattressman_pdl · 8/10 · 9 October 2008]

Tale three of season one features a man bequeathed with a phenomenal gift...with dire consequences.

Dragged from the streets and offered the chance to make money doing a medical experiment, Ulric (Joe Pantoliano) has no idea what he's getting into. Dr. Manfried has just implanted a cat's glands inside of Ulric giving him the ability to die nine times! Using the power immediately for monetary gain, Ulric dies again and again in front of an audience. But greed ultimately causes Ulric to rethink his friendships and his addition skills! With a wonderfully macabre sense of humor and a deliciously evil twist, Dig That Cat...He's Real Gone delivers what Tales from the Crypt always promises: entertainment.

Good fun in the "gags 'n' ghouls" tradition.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 27 March 2022]

'Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone' spins the yarn of Ulric (Joe Pantoliano, "The Fugitive"), a homeless person dragged from the street by Emil Manfred (Gustav Vintas, "Lethal Weapon"), a mad scientist needing a subject for longevity experiments. By implanting a gland from a cat into Ulrics' brain, Manfred thereby gives Ulric its "nine lives". And they figure to profit from the circumstance, setting up Ulric as a sideshow attraction who will be repeatedly "killed" by an audience member and then get resurrected. Their plans go awry when both Ulric and his carny girlfriend Coralee (Kathleen York, 'The West Wing') get greedy.

Although it's easy to predict how the main character will get his comeuppance, this extremely lively, stylish third episode of the first season has lots of pleasures. Joey Pants is highly engaging in the lead, and given fine support by Robert Wuhl ("Batman") as an equally sleazy barker (with ever-changing fake mustaches), the sexy Ms. York, and the delightful Mr. Vintas. More of a dark comedy than true horror, this still shows the audience quite a good time, as director Richard Donner clearly has lots of fun with the script by Terry Black ("Dead Heat"). (Donner also has an uncredited cameo as an audience member, chanting "Ulric! Ulric! Ulric!" along with the rest of the crowd.) The Crypt Keeper gets things off to a fine start with his groan-worthy but still amusing wordplay and quips.

Also appearing uncredited is top character actor Larry Hankin ("Escape from Alcatraz") as a coroner who gets the surprise of his life when Ulric sits bolt upright on the autopsy table.

Seven out of 10.

Dig that guy

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 20 October 2023]

"Good evening, fiend fans, and welcome to my crawly crypt. This little drama is about one of life's unexpected pleasures: dying, that is. Most of us only get to do it once, and it's all over before you can really enjoy it. But one man did get to die again. And he liked it so much, he started doing it for a living. This is the story of Ulric the Undying, a sideshow performer who found death not only fun, but profitable. In fact, he's dying to put on a show for you... right now!"

Originally appearing in Haunt of Fear #21 in a story written by William Gaines and Al Feldstein and drawn by Jack Davis, this is the tale of Ulric the Undying (Joe Pantoliano), who has been given the nine lives of a cat by Dr. Emil Manfred (Gustav Vintas). Or eight, as the cat had to die to get its gland.

Working in a sideshow, Ulric dies for money over and over, assisted by a barker (Robert Wuhl) and Coralee (Kathleen York). He's not to be trusted, as he kills Manfred and instead of being about research, these shows are now just for cash. Money that Coralee steals after stabbing him, but he has a few lives left. How many? You'll find out soon.

Directed by Richard Donner and written by Terry Black and Steven Dodd, the show creator, this is an episode in my head when I think of this show. It gets everything that makes it work - bad behavior is rewarded with a horrible ending for the villain - and is pretty funny, too.

awesome episode

[andreww31 · 7 March 2006]

Joeypants and robert wuhl are cast beautifully. One of my favorite Tales, along with the Logsmith who uses an ax instead of the machine powered saw. The episode is pure genius. What an idea to use 9 lives from a cats brain. Loved the life he loses when he kills his partner in the headon crash into the wall. He didn't see his girlfriend killing him though, she had a good idea. A classic! there also was an episode in which a traveling salesman has to "make love" to an undesirable girl in order to save his life and barely rises to the occasion. He gets killed anyway...very creepy episode. Hopefully, Ill see more comments for this great series, I know you old HBO watchers are out there who remember the crypt keepers screeching laugh.

The best episode of the series!!

[TOMNEL · 10/10 · 31 March 2007]

Stars: Joe Pantaliano, Robert Wuhl, Kathleen York, Gustav Vintas.

If you want to see the show that really defines great "Tales from the Crypt" this is it. The episode is about a bum (Pantoliano) who is paid by Dr. Emil Manfried (Vintas) to have a cats gland put in his head. The result, he has 9 lives and becomes a circus performer where the audience gets to watch and participate in his deaths. The acting in this was so fantastic! Joey Pants was great as Ulric the undying, Kathleen York gave a great over the top performance, which worked considering everything was over the top. But, the best performer in this was definitely Robert Wuhl who was absolutely hysterical as the ringmaster always changing his mustache, putting on a fake happy face to get an audience. This story could probably fit in to an hour easily and not seem too long, but the way it's done, it is extremely fast paced with excellent direction by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon). I highly recommend you see this excellent Crypt entry. Its great!

My rating:****/****. 28 mins. Not rated, contains strong violence, language (f-bombs).

Wasted Lives

[hellraiser7 · 10/10 · 3 March 2018]

Warning do not read unless seen episode.

This episode is an honorable mention in my book. It's more of a black comidy and a bit of a neo noir in a twisted sense. Like in some noir stories it starts in the present but then we get the back story to fill in how he got to where he was.

Joe Pantoliano is great as Ulric whom is a greedy creep whom has been granted a gift of extended life which he of course desides to profit from for his own gains. I actually think that's a unique idea, in most comic book tropes it's always a person discovering they have a certain ablity and then just using it to fight evil and serve selfless causes; Ulric unfortunately (or fortunate in his perspective) isn't that guy. Though I also like Robert Wuhl whom was a fun and funny as the ringmaster of the circus, he had a lot of fun lines.

I'll admit seeing each of the death scenes is fun but also really painful, even if I had this ability I wouldn't want to go though any of the things he goes though. We see Ulric die the most colorful deaths about as many times as Kenny from "South Park" , the displays of death in the episode sort of remind me of Herchall Gordon Lewis films like "The Wizard of Gore" and "Two Thousand Maniacs" as each of those films consisted of all different ways to die in the most inventive ways. From getting drowned to getting shot with an arrow to the heart, it was a first for once seeing people voluntarily killing someone while remaining legal.

But as we see the more famous and greedy Ulric gets, the closer to death he's coming. The ending I'll admit gave me a chill, though I wouldn't say it was much of a twist, from a detail in the past he failed to remember but his own name, if you remember the play "Hamlet" then you get the irony and saw it coming. Lets just say Ulric's number is up.

Rating: 4 stars

A skeleton telling a story of how a person died 9 times.

[nivanm · 10/10 · 6 May 2020]

You cannot find a more better version of the story of how a man gets his 9 lives from a cat. "Nine lives" film is nothing in front of this. This is a story of a drunk man who gets discovered by a doctor. The doctor has found a cat which can resurrect and come back to life again. Yes, he had found a cat with 9 lives. He wishes to make a fortune with this and ends up giving this formula to the drunk man. Later they do make a millions by defying death again and again only to know afterwards, that he had miscalculated the number of deaths and this was his last life. This is an amazing story of greed,betrayal,stupidity and death.One of the best episodes from the series -TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

Quality tale that's often forgotten.

[shellytwade · 8/10 · 1 March 2022]

The first season of TFTC is only 6 episodes long and most them are are well known classics. This episode however isn't as famous as some of the others, which is weird because the story is strong. The editing in particular is from another planet. Definitely one of the more underrated episode of the show.

Typically on the money episode

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 7 March 2011]

A homeless man (an excellent performance by Joe Pantoliano) becomes a popular and successful carnival performer known as Ulrich the Undying after he receives a surgical craft from a cat that gives him the feline's nine lives. Director Richard Donner, working from a tight and witty script by Terry Black, brings a tremendous amount of energy and polished style to this particular episode: the brisk pace whisks along without ever hitting any draggy lulls, Donner adroitly mines a wickedly funny line in smart'n'sick gallows humor, and, best of all, everyone has a divinely warped blast depicting death as the ultimate gleefully grotesque spectacle (a key source of amusement and entertainment stems from all the different ways devised to kill Ulric that include drowning, hanging, electrocution, and being shot with an arrow). Moreover, the bang-up cast has a ball with the cheerfully twisted material: Pantoliano excels as the sarcastic lead character, Robert Wuhl delivers a marvelously robust turn as a sharp-tongued carny barker, the cute Kathleen York is a total hoot as the sweetly ditsy Coralee, and Gustav Vintas does well as quirky physician Dr. Emil Manfred. Richard Bowen's slick cinematography and Nicholas Pike's bouncy calliope score further enhance the overall sterling quality of this very cool and enjoyable outing.