Temptations Made a Short Horror Film for Cats

Cats are stoic creatures. But will their fur remain unruffled when they screen a horror movie designed especially for them?

Temptations, a brand that normally pampers cats with treats, has decided to freak them out this Halloween with a short film called Scaredy Cat. Created by adam&eveDDB and Zombie Studio, it's billed as the world's first horror movie for cats.

The brand worked with the Waltham Petcare Science Institute to add certain sound frequencies to the film that will cats' attention. Will it actually scare them? Guess you'll just have to experiment at home.

Here's the four-minute film:

The cat is CGI, but most of the film was shot in camera on a miniature set built using more than 400 handcrafted miniature props. Some were sculpted by hand, others were made with 3-D printers and then hand-painted. The first scene of the film, for example, was captured in a single shot, with everything in camera, including the rain.

More than 100 people worked for 14 weeks in production, from the storyboard to the shooting day.

The campaign has been designed like a film release, with illustrated movie posters, trailers, sneak peaks, influencer reviews and an IMDB partnership supporting the film assets and special edition products. adam&eveDDB also created a series of product films to support the launch of the new Temptations Creepy Catnip flavor.

So, what's up with the horde of evil cucumbers?

"If you're a cat lover, there's a good chance you've gone down the rabbit hole of internet videos of cats jumping in fear at the sight of a cucumber," said Craig Neely, vp of marketing at Mars Petcare. "Those very entertaining clips were the inspiration behind Scaredy Cat. We expanded on that insight and turned cats' fear of these seemingly ordinary vegetables into a tongue-in-cheek horror movie for cats and their owners to enjoy together during the Halloween season."

See some BTS shots below.

CREDITS

AGENCY
adam&eveDDB
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: Rick Brim
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Colin Booth
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Ben Stilitz
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Andre Sallowicz
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Simon Vicars
CREATIVE TEAM: Lily Scarlett Hurst, William Blackburn
GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR: Fiona McArthur
MANAGING PARTNER: Charlotte Cook
BUSINESS DIRECTOR: Loella Collier
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Sarah Cornish
ACCOUNT MANAGER: Clive Olamiju
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Alizee Lawson, Hugo Evans
HEAD OF STRATEGY: Milla McPhee
SENIOR PLANNER: Jack Spicer
HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Ben Sharpe
INTEGRATED PRODUCER: Stephen Mead
HEAD OF STRATEGY: Milla McPhee
EXECUTIVE CONTENT DIRECTOR: Simon Adamson
HEAD OF CONTENT: Jess Taylor
SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR: Rebecca Wilson
SOCIAL EXECUTIVE: Phoebe Wright

PRODUCTION COMPANY
Zombie/Blinkink 
DIRECTOR: Paulo Garcia
CO- DIRECTOR: Luiza Queiroz
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Natalia Gouvêa, Bart Yates
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: Marcio Lovato, Gareth Owen
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Daniel Salles
PRODUCTION DESIGN AND ART DIRECTOR: Joseph Specker Nys
PHOTOGRAPH DIRECTOR: Lucas Barreto
ANIMATION DIRECTOR: Patrick Botton
CG/VFX SUPERVISORS: Isaac Buzzola/Rafael Segnini
COLOR GRADING: Psyctho n' Look/Marcinho.abc

MUSIC
Composer: Chris White
Producer: Sean Craigie-Atherton
Music Production Company: SIREN

SOUND
Sound Studio: Factory
Sound Designer: Jon Clarke
Audio Producer: Deborah Whitfield

POSTERS
Illustration Studio: Black Madre Studio
Head of Art: Andre Maciel
Illustrators: Andre Maciel, Icaro Yuji, Leonardo Soares, Priwi e Roberto Souza