Ryan Reynolds plays a serial killer with a talking cat in 'The Voices'

RYAN Reynolds stars as a serial killer in his new film The Voices. Oh, and he has a talking cat who encourages him to murder. See, cats really are evil.

A still from "The Voices", Ryan Reynolds' whacki...

CATS are evil.

It's a view shared by a lot of people, but it's also the theme of Ryan Reynolds' bizarre film which recently premiered at the Sundance festival.

In The Voices, Reynolds plays Jerry, a socially awkward factory worker who is encouraged to kill people by his talking cat, Mr Whiskers.

He also has a talking dog who tries to be the voice of reason, but it's to no avail as Jerry goes on a murderous rampage, chopping up bodies and storing them in tupperware containers in his fridge.

"When I read this script, I mean, it's f***ing insane," says Anna Kendrick who co-stars in the film along with Aussie actor Jacki Weaver.

The "insane" script is the brainchild of Iranian filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, who said working with a cat posed several challenges, especially because Ryan Reynolds has a fear of the furry creatures.

"With a cat, you shoot half an hour and you have maybe five seconds that's usable," Satrapi said according to Vulture.

In 2011 Ryan Reynolds played a superhero in "Green Lantern". Now we find out he's scared of cats.

"The dog obeys, but the cat … You tell him to sit, and he will not sit. That's the last thing he will do. Plus, Ryan is scared of cats. And cats don't like Ryan either."

Reynolds is so anti-cats that he refused to be in the same room as Mr Whiskers for the majority of filming, meaning the director had to splice separate shots together in the editing suite.

The 37-year-old actor did eventually agree to film one scene with the cat, a decision he came to regret according to Satrapi.

"In the scene where he takes the cat and the cat says, 'Put me down, you f***ing psycho, or I'll s*** in your hand,' I told Ryan, 'First go and make the cat smell your hand. It takes about four minutes [to make him comfortable]. Just look at him and give him a little caress and then you can take him and everything is gonna be fine.'"

But everything wasn't fine.

Reynolds picked up the cat too quickly and it lashed out, tearing up the Van Wilder star's arm.

"But that's his fault!" said Satrapi.

"Be patient! You can't just go and grab a cat, it's a cat! It's not a dog, it's not your slave. The cat is your master."