#18 - Cat People (1982)

Cat People (1982)

(dir. Paul Schrader)

Irena (Nastassja Kinski) travels to New Orleans to meet her brother Paul, who she hasn’t seen since they were both young children. Paul (Malcolm McDowell) is a total psycho creeper, who immediately makes sexual advances on his sister. Irena finds out before long that they are both members of an ancient race of cat people, who have the power to transform into leopards - or rather, they turn into leopards when they have sex with regular humans, and then must kill someone in order to change back (usually the unfortunate person they just had sex with). Paul tells her that their race is incestuous for this reason - they do not transform if they mate with each other.  Gross.

The original Cat People from 1942, directed by Jacques Tourneur, is one of my favorite horror films of all time. The goofy title implies a b-movie monster story, and that is basically what the studio was expecting, but Tourneur and producer Val Lewton instead produced a brilliant and thoughtful film about the consequences of repressed sexuality, as well as the fear of the “other”. It’s a masterpiece. This remake mostly drops the ball on everything the made the original such a good film - the ambiguity surrounding Irena’s curse is nowhere to be found, it leaves out the xenophobia aspect entirely (Irena is now from Canada instead of Serbia), and any subtlety regarding sex is thrown out the window in favor of what is basically softcore porn. Also I don’t really understand why the incest stuff was added - I don’t think it added anything to the story other than making it a little grosser.

It’s a shame about the strange and slightly repulsive script, because on a technical level this is a really well-made film. The acting is good, especially from Nastassja Kinski (Klaus Kinski’s daughter!) and Malcolm McDowell. Some of the cinematography is really beautiful, especially the surreal dream sequences with the leopards in the red desert, but there are some excellent shots throughout the film. Most of the music is pretty good too, with a very ‘80s-sounding score that features David Bowie singing the main theme. There are even some surprisingly decent (and gross) special effects. The best scene in the original film - Alice walking alone through the park, and later swimming in the pool - are replicated here, and they are both pretty well done. They come pretty late in the film though, way after it already lost me.

There is no way I can recommend this, especially when the original is so superior