Rating of
2/4
Curse of the Cat People
Drive-In Massacre - wrote on 10/10/11
Ehhhh....Well, maybe I had too high of hopes for this movie. I love the first Cat People, Lewton films, and The Body Snatcher, The Haunting, and The Day the Earth Stood Still director, Robert Wise (he's also the editor of Citizen Kane) so could you really blame me? I was hoping for a continuation of the psychological, and suspense driven horror of the predecessor, but alas The Curse of the Cat People wasn't really that at all.
It's still pretty interesting, and an original way to continue the story, but there's absolutely nothing the least bit strange, or eerie in the film until about 50 minutes in...the movie is only 70 minutes long.
It's much, much more like a very overly melodramatic 1940s film, than a Lewton horror-picture. Too much music, lots of very typical melodrama elements.
It's an interesting movie nonetheless, says a lot of childhood which is easy to identify with, but it just didn't really do it for me, Simone Simon is still great, and the story is...unique, but other than that it doesn't have that Lewton-horror feel like the original Cat People or I Walked With Zombie, not even Bedlam. Still an impressive first directing credit for Mr. Wise.
C-
