Cat People (1982)
July 14th 2008 02:02
One of Jerry Bruckheimer’s early movies as executive producer, and certainly the “high concept” factors are in play, but the movie is very much director Paul Schrader’s vision, utilising ex-special make-up effects designer-cum-writer Alan Ormsby’s provocative screenplay. It’s an under-rated movie, very different from the original, but with enough merits to stand and stalk on its own four feet despite not performing well at the box office when it was first released and despite years of being trashed.
Irena (Nastassja Kinski) arrives in New Orleans to meet with her older brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell). Paul lives alone in a terrace he shares with Female (Ruby Dee) who is the housekeeper. She’s of old New Orleans voodoo stock, but welcomes Irena with open arms, happy that Paul is finally able to be reunited with his sister.
Nastassja Kinski as Irena
Irena's brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell) is strangely affectionate
Annette O'Toole as Alice
Soon enough Paul escapes, but not until he kills (in a scene which freaked me out when I first saw the movie twenty-odd years ago). Oliver eventually cottons on to the whole mythology and realises what has to be done, in one of Hollywood’s rarer moments of sexual bondage.
Paul Schrader’s Cat People is very much a movie of sound and vision. From the stunning opening scenes set on the stylized landscape that is home to the cat people; red desert sands, gnarled trees, tribal living amidst the skeletal bones of victims. The dream sequences are excellent, especially the intense “night rabbit” hunting sequence, and the superbly atmospheric stalking scene in the inside swimming pool (the one whole scene straight from the original). The other brief moment from the original is when an old worlde cat-like stranger (Neva Gage) “recognizes” Irena in a bar and whispers “My Sister” (in Serbian).
Oliver turns on the light and is confronted by an aggressive Irena fresh from hunting
Irena dreams of Paul showing her the land and curse of their ancestry
Paul tries to seduce Irena and Irena's inner feline begins to purr
It’s saddening seeing the archaic real New Orleans zoo and the size of the cages, to think animals were kept this way for so long. But the claustrophobic containment fits with the movie’s ancient concepts of possession and freedom, slaves to the rhythm of beastly desire. How they got the panthers so riled up is questionable, but the genuine animal rage is undeniably effective.
PMT is a whole new curse
The special effects make-up effects created by Tom Burman are very good, especially the dismemberment, but handled with restrained skill in the transformation sequences (sensational feline contact lenses!).
Oliver (John Heard) is forced to take extreme measures with Irena
Here's the original trailer:
Here's Irena changing into a panther:
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Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Your right in the re-envisioning, how can you compete with the near perfect original?
Comment by Anonymous
Excellent review.
Kemi~
Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
Kind of like Eddie and the Cruisers, some of it lags but there's definitely something there!
I have to agree with the Anon comment, I'll NEVER forget the scene where Ed Begley, Jr. gets this arm torn off. Kept me away from the zoo for a couple of years! *L*
I've seen this AND the original (was it 1942 ). Luckily, by the 80's the eroticism could be explored which almost results in a whole new movie!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Yes Kemi and James, that arm ripping with the tendons snapping! ARGH! At the time, and to a degree still so, it was so realistic. I think the movie was an R18 in New Zealand when it first came out, possibly because of that sequence, but also the full-frontal nudity and general perversity of the whole incest angle.
JD, yes, guilty pleasure, and one that still pleases more than makes me feel guilty.
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
That scene where the hooker is sitting on the bed and feels a cat tail thumping against her foot from under the bed made me sit with my feet tucked under me during the movie, hahaha!!
And O yes, the Bowie song--"I've been putting out fire with gasoline.."
Spot on review as always, Bryn!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Wayne F
Bucket Movies
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile