Rating of
3/4
Cat People
Drive-In Massacre - wrote on 10/10/11
This is actually my second viewing of this film, I decided to watch it again (with a very informative audio commentary by film historian Greg Mank), so I can watch Curse of the Cat People tomorrow. I'm a big fan of the Val Lewton produced horror pictures from RKO, and I think Cat People is undoubtedly the most famous and respected of the films. For me, I think it's probably the 3rd best, behind I Walked With a Zombie, and my personal favorite The Body Snatcher, in which Karloff gives one of my favorite film performances in the history of film. Cat People is genius though, and without question the most symbolic and provocative of the Lewton films. Its simplicity and slow movement is like a dream building up to a nightmare. It really, REALLY, could have been is a hokey movie about a lady who turns into a cat, but instead it's an extremely ambiguous film, and you never know what the outcome truly is, and on top of all-that there's visual scares with that use timing and and jump moments; pretty strange for a 1940s B-horror movie. Can't wait to see its sequel directed by one of my favorite directors, Robert Wise (who also directed The Body Snatcher)
