Cat People (1982) User Reviews

Putting out fire, with gasoline!

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 23 June 2019]

Alan Ormsby scripted and Paul Schrader directed this 80s remake of the well-regarded 1942 Val Lewton production. Nastassja Kinski stars as Irena Gallier, who hooks up with her long-unseen brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell), who ends up making insane demands of her. You see, he's been kept aware of their heritage while she, still an innocent, has been in the dark on the subject. Meanwhile, a black panther rampages through the community, and Irena falls in love with Oliver Yates (a bland, but likeable John Heard), a zoo curator.

There are quite noticeable differences between the 1940s and 1980s renditions. Schrader is much more *explicit*, and takes the implications of the schlocky title literally, while the Lewton film was all about *suggestion*. The 1942 film ran a trim hour and 13 minutes, while this takes its time and runs close to two hours. This version is much more sexy and much more violent, with Schrader taking advantage of the big leaps in special effects technology.

It was a clever move to reset the story in New Orleans, with its incredible atmosphere and European feel. It lends a definite presence to "Cat People" '82, as does the haunting electronic score by Giorgio Moroder. And that theme song (music by Moroder, lyrics by David Bowie, and performed by Bowie) really kicks ass! One nice touch is the "cat person" p.o.v. devised by Robert Blalack, but we only see this for one sequence. Visually, the film is stunning, with "visual consultant" Ferdinando Scarfiotti and cinematographer John Bailey giving "Cat People" '82 a great look. Legendary matte artist Albert Whitlock also lends his expertise.

Schrader is at least wise enough to pay tribute to the suspense / shock sequence which any fan of the 1942 version remembers well. And it leads to a genuinely creepy confrontation between Kinski (who's since come to terms with her reality) and a vulnerable Annette O'Toole. Speaking of these two fine ladies, the film certainly does not lack for attractive women, as cult actress Lynn Lowry and the bubbly Tessa Richarde also turn up. The cast, overall, is good, with the stars given strong support by familiar faces (Ruby Dee, Ed Begley, Jr., John Larroquette) and top character actors (Scott Paulin, Frankie Faison (who's curiously dubbed by Albert Hall), Ray Wise, and Marco St. John all make appearances.) Berry Berenson, widow of Anthony Perkins, appears as the pool attendant.

Pretty enjoyable overall, but this viewer would advise against spending too much time fretting over the differences in the two versions. They're clearly playing to different audiences. Lovers of creature features will likely derive some entertainment from this.

Seven out of 10.

This got the remake that movie audiences deserved.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 27 October 2021]

As a major fan of the Val Lewton produced eerie horror films at RKO made between 1940 and 1946, I wasn't expecting much from the remake than a sexualized erotic thriller and was glad that it ended up being so much more. Nastassja Kinski is understated in the key role of the mysterious woman who turns into a black panther when she makes live, falling in love with the handsome John Heard while pursued by her creepy brother Malcolm McDowall who knows a secret about their parentage. Kinski, quietly alluring, has the quiet stalking aura of a wildcat, one who can be kittenish but then attack with carnivorous lust. McDowall adds another creepy characterization to the memories of "A Clockwork Orange" and "Caligula", while Annette O'Toole plays the woman whom Heard ends up with that upsets the fragile Kinski when she realizes that the curse has caused her to lose the man she truly loves.

Fascinating and erotic, this remake of the 1942 cult classic is not just horror, but a sexual thriller along the lines of "Body Heat" , "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct". I'm not always in favor of the classics being remade unless they are done with new ideas and different themes, and this is truly powerful in the way it is done. The great Ruby Dee has a pivotal supporting role as Kinski's mentor, her accent quite believable, and being as cat like herself as if she was a combination of Eartha Kitt and Shirley Bassey. Beautifully filmed, just has a few slow moments but for the most part is stunning from start to finish with some great location footage and a nice musical score. Kinski, especially in her quiet moments, is totally alluring. This is definitely a remake that I can call the cat's meow.

Nastassja Kinski in a feline fantasy

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 13 October 2008]

This '80s film is more of a love story than a horror although it does have a few fairly horrific scenes in, in particular a rather graphic scene where a zoo worker has his arm ripped off by a black panther.

The film opens in the prehistoric past with a girl being tied to a tree and left for a big cat... the action then moves the the present day where a beautiful young woman called Irena arrives in New Orleans and is met by her brother Paul who she hasn't seen since their parents died when she was a child. The next night her brother disappears around the same time a panther mauls a prostitute in a seedy hotel, this creature is captured and taken to the local zoo.

Irena goes looking for her brother but can't find him so decides to do some sightseeing and ends up at the zoo where she seems drawn the the recently captured panther which she starts to sketch, in fact she is so engrossed that she is still there an hour after the zoo closes. When Oliver, the zoo's curator, finds her there they end up going out for a meal of oysters together and she is offered a job in the zoo's gift shop. Her first day at work doesn't end well though as she witnesses one of the zoo workers being killed by the panther, and when Oliver arrives to put it down the panther has escaped. Once home she finds that her brother has returned, he explains their families strange heritage; that they are part panther and whenever they have sex with a person they become a panther and can't be human again until they have killed a person. He also tells her that the only exception to this is if they do it with another of their kind and as they are the last too that means incest. Irena is horrified at this and flees, bumping in to the police outside, they search the house's basement and find human remains they assume that Paul has been feeding people to a big cat rather than being the cat himself.

Oliver takes Irena to his house out of town which can only be reached by boat, here she starts to feel more in touch with nature and goes out at night, removes her nightdress and prowls around naked till she finds and kills a rabbit. On their return to the city her brother kills again, this time however he is trapped as a panther and killed, when Oliver performs a post mortem on the creature something rather strange occurs.

When Oliver's colleague Alice is out running she has a feeling she is being followed. Later when she goes for a swim she hears a strange growling and is scared when Irena enters as if she somehow knows she is dangerous. Later Irena sleeps with Oliver and as predicted becomes a panther in an impressive transformation scene. She does not however kill him, instead she leaves him but she is cornered by the police on a bridge, when Oliver arrives she jumps from the bridge into the river. Oliver heads back to his river side home and finds a friend dead in a tree and Irena at the house. I won't spoil the actual ending although.

The film is pretty good and the effects have aged well, it is good to see such scenes as the transformation done with makeup and prosthetics that than CGI. There is a fair amount of nudity in the film, some scenes like Irena walking around naked can be justified as it shows she is behaving in an animal rather than a human way others such as Alice swimming topless seem to be there just to show off Annette O'Toole's admittedly nice breasts.

The acting was good, especially Nastassja Kinski's portrayal of Irena which was positivity feline and switched from an innocent to a predator believably through the course of the film. While this film is by no means perfect I'd certainly recommend it to fans of "creature features" or Nastassja Kinski.

The Film Doesn't Get the Credit it Deserves

[Michael_Elliott · 11 March 2016]

Cat People (1982)

*** (out of 4)

Irena Gallier (Nastassja Kinski) arrives in New Orleans to visit her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell) but soon falls for a man (John Heard) she meets at the local zoo. It doesn't take long for the young woman to realize that there's something not quite right with her or her brother and soon her sexual design brings something else out in her.

Paul Schrader's remake of the 1942 film really doesn't have too much in common with that Val Lewton production. I think Schrader and screenwriter Alan Ormsby made the right decision in not trying to just remake that film and instead taking on a different approach. That approach was like several other remakes from the 1980s in that it added up a notch of sexuality. CAT PEOPLE didn't get too much credit when it was released outside the full frontal Kinski but that's really too bad because the film itself is quite good.

I think Schrader did a very good job with the material and I thought he managed to milk the sexuality for everything it's worth as well as create a very interesting lead character. I thought the film did an extremely good job at the psychological stuff as the lead character is constantly wondering who she really is and the very also questions what we're actually seeing. The director managed to build up the psychological drama as well as the sexuality in the material. Some have argued that there weren't enough horror elements, which I can understand them saying that but even the original played with your mind more than actually showing you anything.

A major reason for the film's success is the performance of Kinski who is simply wonderful in the lead role. The film works because you can believe her as this sweet and innocent woman that we meet at the start of the film. She plays a virgin here and the actress makes you believe that as the innocence just leaps off the screen but she also handles the character once she begins to change. The supporting cast is also great with McDowell is especially believable in the role of the creepy brother. Both Heard and Annette O'Toole offer excellent support as does Ruby Dee and Ed Begley, Jr. in their small roles.

The sexuality of the film is certainly something that sets it apart as is the full frontal nudity from the lead actress. I'd argue that the film runs a bit too long as some editing might have helped but there are still plenty of effective scenes. Even the start inside the hotel room with the leopard was quite intense. Schrader's CAT PEOPLE has never really gotten the credit it deserves but it's a nice little gem.

I'm a cat person...and I liked "Cat People"

[Jonny_Numb · 7/10 · 26 May 2003]

Like Joe D'Amato's "Buried Alive," this remake of "Cat People" is technically a love story with a tough horror exterior. Both aspects of these genres fit quite well to create an unconventional entertainment. The movie gets especially high mileage out of two inspired leads--Nastassia Kinski as the young, attractive virgin (she also looks like a more predatory version of Isabella Rossellini); and Malcolm McDowell, who still glows with all the playful malevolence he brought to "A Clockwork Orange," as her brother, who morphs into a panther when sexually aroused. In spite of an ill-defined supporting cast, Paul Schrader's assured direction, the bizarre script (by "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" star Alan Ormsby), those lush New Orleans locations, and the chemistry between Kinski and McDowell keep "Cat People" afloat. It's a sexually charged horror story told with a straight face, and it works.

7/10

Not as Good as the Original, but Still Interesting

[JamesHitchcock · 6/10 · 29 March 2004]

Like many horror films, `Cat People' has at its centre an inherently absurd concept. The central characters, Irena and Paul, are brother and sister and the descendants of a long line of human/animal hybrids. In their normal form, they are human, but they turn into black panthers whenever they have sex with a normal person (but not when they have sex with one of their own kind). After such a transformation, they can only revert to human form by killing.

Absurdity, however, is not always a bad thing in the context of horror films; indeed, the success or failure of such films frequently depends upon the director's ability to persuade his audience to believe six impossible things before breakfast. Once the ground-rules have been laid down, they have to be developed with strict logic; if this is done convincingly enough, the audience can overlook the fact that those rules are implausible or even impossible. In `Cat People' this is largely achieved. At the start of the film, Irena is an innocent girl, still a virgin and unaware of her true nature. Paul, by contrast, is well aware of the truth, and has no compunction about killing to regain human form after his many promiscuous sexual encounters. Irena finds out the truth about herself after she moves to live with Paul in New Orleans. He proposes that they should have an incestuous relationship as this would mean they were free to indulge themselves sexually without transforming. Irena, however, recoils from the idea of incest, and falls in love with Oliver, a curator at the local zoo.

`Cat People' reminded me of another early eighties horror film, Tony Scott's `The Hunger'. Both are frankly erotic, both have an absurd concept at their core, and both are shot in a self-consciously stylish manner reminiscent of a pop video, aiming for a deliberately aesthetic look. (Another link is that David Bowie, who starred in `The Hunger', sings the song at the end of `Cat People' as the final credits are playing). `Cat People', however, is in my view the better film, precisely because it remains true to the rules inherent in its central concept whereas `The Hunger' does not. To take an example, Catherine Deneuve's character in that film is supposed to be ageless and immortal, yet nevertheless dies at the end. `Cat People' can develop its basic concept without departing from it. Moreover, it develops the idea in such a way as to arouse sympathy for the characters, or at least for Irena. She is confronted with an essentially tragic dilemma; she must either resign herself to a life without the man whom she loves and without any possibility of sexual love, or else become a killer. She is aware of this dilemma, and her conscience is troubled by it. As a result, we find that she is a character with whom we can identify, even though she is only half-human. In `The Hunger', by contrast, the vampires played by Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie have absolutely no conscience about killing in order to feed, and therefore seem more alien.

As she showed in `Tess', Nastassja Kinski has a great ability to suggest a disturbing mixture of innocence and sensuality, and this was much in evidence in `Cat People'. While the film is not on the same level as Polanski's, and does not test her as an actress to the same degree, it probably shows off her beauty to even greater effect. With her lithe, slim figure, her piercing gaze and her short, dark hair, she seems physically perfect for the role of Irena. It would be difficult to think of another actress who could have suggested the feline side of her nature more convincingly. Malcolm McDowell, as Paul, showed that he is much practised in the art of combining the charming with the sinister. John Heard gave a more stolid performance as Oliver, but this was not necessarily a fault; the intention could have been to contrast the safe, conventional Oliver with the dangerous but fascinating Paul.

The film is not as good as the Jacques Tourneur original from 1942, lacking the earlier film's ability to convey mood and emotion through suggestion and nuance. Schrader's film is much more direct and less subtle, but nevertheless it is still worth watching. 6/10.

Schrader remake - on fire, with gasoline.

[EijnarAmadeus · 7/10 · 23 October 2012]

Erotic thriller with Nastassja Kinski starring as a young female who's gone searching for her own, inner self. In many ways a remake of the 1942 original, but also in many ways not a remake - a film that stands its own ground, this has a quality of sexual awakening and excitement that the original didn't have. Fabulous music by Giorgio Moroder (also featured is David Bowie's hit-single "Putting Out the Fire") accompanies many of the bloody and sexually occupied scenes that hammers on like they belonged in a artsy-fartsy porn flick. Kinskis performance at the center is typically her: odd, tactless, awkward, outlandish and sensual - in other words, highly enjoyable. She's fantastically beautiful, and she moves through a New Orleans during the fall, shot by John Bailey. And even though the level of thrills ain't always sky-high, the film has a charm and atmosphere that makes it a interesting, stylish and sexy cult picture.

Beautifully Shot, but Narratively Unengaging

[jamiemiller-07611 · 5/10 · 30 May 2019]

Cat People is smart. Like most remakes that stand a chance, it keeps what worked in the original and reinvents it, twisting the narrative into something else. It's just a shame that this new narrative, for all its sexual implications, isn't terribly interesting.

The beautiful Kinski stars as a young woman who reunites with her religious fanatic brother in New Orleans and begins to realize that he's involved in a series of murders. Is he just a run of the mill serial killer or is he a "cat person" devouring hookers and tourists all around the French Quarter? Also, could she have this trait within her as well?

I'm not sure if it was the Blu-Ray I watched this on or if it was poor sound mixing in general, but the dialogue is so quiet and muffled that I had to turn the volume all the way up just to hear what everyone was saying before having to crank it down every time there was an attack scene. Eventually, I just turned on the subtitles and treated it like a foreign film.

There's a lot to like about Cat People. It has moments of the style, the acting is pretty good, and there's a twisted sexual perversity running throughout the story., but it's a bit overlong at nearly 2 hours and there's not enough to justify this runtime. We still don't really get a feel for most of the characters and Kinski's mid-film switch from sheltered, repressed virgin into femme fatale fails to convince.

Sex, Violence, Silliness, and an Emerging Cult Favorite

[gftbiloxi · 8/10 · 20 May 2005]

In general terms, the basic premise of both original 1942 CAT PEOPLE and the 1982 Paul Schrader remake are the same: an exotic European beauty is given to transforming into a black panther when sexually aroused. But Schrader unravels this fantasy concept in some very overtly Freudian directions, setting his version in against the decadent charm of New Orleans, introducing a theme of incest, and ramping up the original with a lot of nudity, a lot of sex, and some of the most graphic violence around. The result is an American blood-and-gore horror film with a hypnotic European sensibility that equates both sexual frustration and orgasm with violent death.

The story line concerns two orphaned siblings (Natasha Kinski and Malcom McDowell) who are reunited in New Orleans as adults--but they are, unbeknownst to the sister, the descendants of a mutant race who can only mate with their own kind without transforming into ravening beasts who must then kill to regain their human form. When sister Natasha rejects her brother's advances and then falls in love with a hunky zoo director all hell breaks loose.

In some respects the film is extremely, extremely frustrating, often sliding over the edge from a sexually provocative shocker into moments of annoying silliness--but on the whole it works extremely well as a both a sexual fantasy and a semi-camp statement in gratuitous sex and violence. Kinski is ideally cast as the sexy but virginal Irena; you can literally see the "cat" side of her nature emerge more and more as the film progresses. McDowell is equally interesting as her mad brother, and John Heard, Annette O'Toole, and particularly Ruby Dee offer excellent performances in the supporting cast. The New Orleans backdrop is extremely effective, and (speaking as one who has been there) the darker side of the city is perfectly captured; the Moroder score--which includes some sultry vocals by David Bowie--is also extremely good.

A great many people will loathe CAT PEOPLE, and the reasons will be diverse. The film is extremely bloody, often to a can-you-stand-to-look-at-the-screen degree; there is tremendous nudity and considerably sexual activity; and the combination of sex and violence into a sadomasochistic eroticism is quite disturbing. Beyond this, more critically inclined viewers may find themselves annoyed by the script's silliness and the fact that it does not always go as far over the top as it leads you to expect, and certainly the film's very literal depiction of fantasy elements will not be to every taste. But if you have a hunger to walk on the wild side, CAT PEOPLE (which is rapidly gaining status as a cult film) will suit your need as guilty pleasure.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

on its own terms it's 'moody', creepy, and also campy

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 7 July 2009]

What made Paul Schrader tackle this production I'm not sure. In a year when John Carpenter was doing his rendition of the short story, not even entirely so much the film, of The Thing, Schrader and his screenwriter decided to go back to the source of one of those stories no one really reads but pretends they have when in reality it's the original film everyone remembers. But this is an opposite case of Carpenters: where the original The Thing was, arguably, not really the masterpiece everyone remembers (albeit influential), the remake truly was. Jacques Tourner and Val Lewton crafted one of those quintessential horror films that scares precisely because how little we see of the actual panther on camera, while Schrader's film, actually, isn't a masterpiece of horror, not quite close at all really. And it's not even because Schrader decided to show the cat on screen, many times over (maybe it's a leopard, they look similar but it's closer to panther to me).

No, it's a different film due to permissiveness of the time period (it's the 80s vs the 40s, so this time we get plenty of nudity, "bad" language, and the Giorgio Moroder musical accompaniment which has dated pretty terribly), and with its subject matter being far more based on the romantic than in the original film. It's a strange effort this Cat People, where incest even comes into question (or rather it's right out in the open, at least between the two parties), the look and feel of New Orleans and the Bayou becomes another character, and the characterizations become enhanced by the mere presence of Malcolm McDowell's inimitable face and Nastassja Kinski's irrepressible sexual charisma on camera. Not to say she can't act, since she can hold her own very well even when she's seemingly doing not much except walking naked through a field at night or, um, walking naked in a room or, you know, not naked in a swimming pool.

How much is actually taken from the original Tourner film or the short story I really can't say for certain. The pool scene is the only one I can recall specifically lifted from the original (and, not too sorry to say, 42 for the win on that one). But comparisons can get too petty in this instance, perhaps, since Schrader's goal is to analyze the characters in this setting, what sex and desire and the psychology of a were-cat does to a person, or to people who realize what they're capable of, as opposed to just simple horror. Schrader's direction has some genuine moments of thrill, or just plain artistic satisfaction, like a not-so simple composition of a tracking shot of one of the hookers walking along on a street at night at her foot level. I'm even reminded of De Palma, whom Schrader worked with once before.

But at the same time, for all of the versatility of the actors, and the occasional moments of surreal imagination, there's also much camp as well (Ed Begley's character's fate for example) and a few really cheesy parts or just scenes that don't work or, perhaps, are too saddled with a need to push the button of sex on film. It's a hot number that works well, more or less, and would take a deeper analysis to dissect than I can give it right now. It's respectable, at the least.

Reworking of the 1942 cult item has Kinski, some style, little else...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 22 January 2006]

Virginal young pixie (Nastassia Kinski, before a spelling-change in her first name) reunites with her estranged brother (Malcolm McDowell) in New Orleans and slowly comes to realize they are "cat people"--when aroused, they metamorphose into cats. Updating Val Lewton's sleek Gothic drama from 1942 was a terrific idea, but this version doesn't give the characters much of a chance to emerge; everything is so shrouded in mystery and half-realized eroticism. The central casting doesn't work, either. Since we never intrinsically feel that Kinski and McDowell are siblings, the incestuous subtext doesn't come off. Director Paul Schrader and writer Alan Ormsby aren't out to make a psychological thriller--at least Schrader isn't. The accent here is on style, nudity, gore. Schrader harbors a fascination with kinky subject matter--and yet he's aloof, at a distance from the goings-on, keeping the material grounded within a moral undermining. Giorgio Moroder composed a whiplash score, but the film isn't a whip-cracker: it's somber, unhappy, vacuous. Zoologist Annette O'Toole gives it a little goose, and John Heard is handsome if inert. *1/2 from ****

Brilliant film, but should not be thought of as a remake

[BrandtSponseller · 10/10 · 11 February 2005]

After looking for years for his long lost sister, Irena Gallier (Nastassja Kinski), Paul (Malcolm McDowell) finally finds her and has her come to New Orleans, where he's currently living. While there, she gradually discovers the truth about their bizarre past and falls for a zoo curator.

First, a caveat. Director Paul Schrader, in his interview on the Cat People DVD, says that he regrets that he didn't just change the name of the film to remove some of the perception that this is a remake of Jacques Tourneur's Cat People from 1942. It is wrong to look at this as a remake. Aside from mostly superficial similarities, Schrader's Cat People really has little to do with the original--no more in common than, say, The Grudge (2004) and The Ring (2002), assuming that "Kayako" from The Grudge would have been named "Samara" instead, or no more similar than any two random vampire films. Irena's first name is the same, there are similarities in her background story and what she is, she visits a zoo, she falls in love with a man with the same first name of "Oliver", and there are maybe two and a half scenes similar to Tourneur's film. That's it. Yes, I'm a fan of Tourneur's film, too--it's my favorite out of his collaborations with producer Val Lewton. But you have to forget about Tourneur's film when watching this one. This is a remarkable work of cinematic art in its own right, with its own story and goals.

Schrader's Cat People deserves a 10 on visual terms alone. The cinematography, production design and lighting are nothing short of genius throughout the film. Almost every shot is one that deserves to be paused and studied. Director of photography John Bailey never ceases to find interesting perspectives, angles and tracking. The sets are elaborate and exquisitely constructed for visual impact. In conjunction with the lighting, the film is mired in a rich, varied palette of colors similar to (and as good as) Dario Argento's best work.

Of course the film is more graphic than Tourneur's--it would be almost impossible for it not to be, both in terms of blood/gore and nudity, and all of that is shot brilliantly as well. The only cinematic instance of blood that I can think of that is as effective as the scene in this film where blood runs by Irena's shoes and down a drain is the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). The event leading up to this image has more impact of most similar scenes, as well. The copious amounts of nudity throughout the film are never gratuitous (not that I have anything against gratuitous nudity, mind you), but always interestingly blocked, with some grander artistic purpose. These scenes range from creating juxtapositions between prurient voyeurism and horror, to surrender to and (sometimes perverse) domination of animality, to interior psychological conflicts--just look at the ingenious placement of a window frames during a full frontal nudity shot in Oliver's "swamp cabin".

The music--both the score and the incidental songs, are just as good. Most of it is an eerie, synthesized score by Giorgio Moroder. It often approaches the tasty moodiness of Brian Eno's excellent work with David Bowie (Low, Heroes, Lodger), which is perhaps ironic in light of the fact that Bowie contributed a great song for the closing credits. The limited incidental music--such as Jimmy Hughes' "Why Not Tonight?" during the cab ride to the zoo--fits the mood of the film perfectly.

Of course, the film isn't all just visuals and music. There's an intriguing, surreal story here, and great performances from a seemingly odd combination of actors--ranging from Kinski and McDowell to Ed Begley, Jr. and John Laroquette. Setting the film in New Orleans was an inspired choice, as it allowed for eerie voodoo-weirdness ala Angel Heart (1987) and moody swamp vistas ala Down By Law (1986) to seep into the already creepy story. Setting the more dreamlike imagery in a desert (albeit a studio-created desert) also helped draw me into the film, as there is probably no environment I find more aesthetically captivating.

I first saw Cat People as a teen during its theatrical run. I didn't like it near as much then, and that fact caused me to put off re-watching it for a number of years. I think at that time, the film may have been too slow for me, I may not have understood it very well, and I certainly didn't have the visual and overall aesthetic appreciation that I currently have. Now, I think it's a masterpiece--perhaps one of the better films of the 1980s. It's worth checking out at least once, and if you've seen it awhile ago and think you didn't like it so well, it's worth giving a second chance.

Not as good as the original but still worth watching

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 7 May 2004]

****SPOILERS**** Paul Schrader's remake of the 1942 horror classic "Cat People" this time set in New Orleans La. not in New York City. Irena Gallier, Nastassja Kinski, comes to live with her older brother Paul, Malcolm McDowell, in the hot and sweltering southern city. Feeling for the first time in her life wanted Irena was orphaned at the age of four when her parents killed themselves. She spent her formidable years in and out of orphanages and it wasn't until her brother tracked her down that she fond a home of her own in Louisiana. It turns out later in the movie that what Paul wants from her is more then what Irena is willing to give him.

Nastassja Kinski in one of her most sexiest roles is both seductive and innocent as Irena and gives the film the electricity that keeps the movie going even though the cast has trouble keeping up with her performance at times. Malcolm McDowell is both creepy and unnerving as Irena's older brother Paul who's like a Tom-Cat in heat during the entire movie having no trouble getting women for his sexual pleasures. Paul also ends up murdering them because of his submerged animal instincts that those affairs bring to the surface. John Heard, Oliver Yates, is very good as the zoo curator and Irena's frustrated lover who Irena, who loves him, avoids having an affair with Oliver in order not to be forced to kill him. Annette O'Toole, Alice Perrin, is also very good in a small but important role as Oliver's co-worker in the New Orleans Zoo. Alice later becomes the focus of Irena's jealousy and resentment for being the woman who's standing between Oliver and her.

The movie recreates a number of scenes from the 1942 version with the cat-like woman coming up to Irena at a bar, in the first film it was at Irena's wedding party, and greets her in a foreign language calling her "My sister" or, what it obviously meant, fellow cat person. There's also the classic indoor swimming pool scene with Alice. This time around with Alice being topless which of course she couldn't have been in the 1942 version due to the censorship of nude scenes by the Hollywood Watchdog Hayes Commision. Alice taking a swim in the indoor swimming pool has the lights suddenly shut off and what seemed to be some kind of big cat in the shadows hounding her in the dark.

Unlike the original movie the new version of "Cat People" has a number of extremely gory scenes that are really shocking. With the black leopard in the movie who both Irena and Paul turn into being so horrific and terrifying that he makes the villains in horror/slashers movies today look as scary as Pee Wee Herman in comparison. With his eerie green eyes and ferocious and deadly fangs and claws you just cringe with fear every time the big cat comes on the screen. There's a blood splattered sequence where the enraged leopard grabs the zoo-keeper's Joe Creigh's, Ed Bagley Jr, arm between the bars of his cage. The sight of the big cat, who was really Paul, going wild when as saw Joe together with Irena, his sister, was one of the most terrifying scenes I've even seen in a motion picture. Joe foolishly tried to settle the leopard down with an electric prong as the dangerous feline suddenly and cat-like grabbed and ripped Joe's arm off with the ease as if it was attached to his body with just a rubber band. The frighting thing about the leopard's actions is that, unlike the killers in most horror films, it was so realistic knowing that a big dangerous jungle cat like that can do that in real life just like in the movies.

Even though Paul Schrader's "Cat People" doesn't in any way measure up to the original the ending was more interesting and innovative with Irena not being killed and Oliver ending up together with her instead of leaving Irena for Alice like Oliver did in the 1942 movie. In the end of the movie we see that Oliver finally accepts Irena for what she is with the knowledge that the only way he can be with her is between the bars that separate them.

Unlike The Original, This Doesn't Leave Much To The Imagination

[ccthemovieman-1 · 2/10 · 12 July 2007]

This is almost the opposite of the original Cat People movie of 1942 which was mostly suggestive violence, sexuality, horror, etc. In that "oldie," everything was implied and gave the film a moody, creepy atmosphere.

Of course, by the 1970s, a lot of that sort of movie-making subtlety went out the window. In the last few years, it's even more the case. Few things are implied today. They are just thrown at us, like raw meat to a hungry lion.

Here, we have plenty of blood-and guts, nudity and - for extra bonuses - incest and bestiality. Wow, that's a little too much "information" for us discriminating movie viewers, don't you think?

It's too bad they wasted a nice cast of Malcom McDowell, Nastassja Kinski, John Heard, Annette O'Toole and more names you know. Kinski, as "Irena Gailier," spends most of the movie with her clothes off and McDowell, as he was in "A Clockwork Orange," isn't shy, either. Well, at least she looked pretty and he looked effectively evil. The growl of the panther was pretty scary, too. However, this a two-hour film that is mostly stupid, filled with unlikable characters.

Great erotic thriller

[DaCritic-2 · 20 January 2000]

"Cat People" is one of those movies that, by all rights, shouldn't be shown on network TV. That's not a comment on quality; it's one of the best erotic thrillers ever made (next to "The Hunger"). But when you have a movie where, for the last half hour, the female lead is mostly undressed ... how can you *show* the last half of the movie?

Very simply stated, they *don't* show it. I tried to watch Cat People on USA or some other network one night, and the last half hour had been cut down to about five minutes and made absolutely no sense. Worse, I was watching it with someone who had never seen it before, and when it was over, she was thoroughly confused and unimpressed.

So, number one: See this movie, if you haven't already! And number two, when you do ... rent or buy the video, or catch a revival on one of the premium cable channels.

An unexpectedly stylish remake

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 3 January 2018]

CAT PEOPLE is a very well directed - by TAXI DRIVER scribe Paul Schrader, no less - and stylish reworking of the Val Lewton 1940s classic of the same name and actually superior to my mind. It stars an alluring Natassja Kinski and a typically weird Malcolm McDowell playing a brother and sister who are cursed to transform into big cats during sex. It's an outrageous premise for sure, but one that's handled with surprisingly sensitivity by Schrader who makes the story all his own. This is a film that looks and feels good, keeping the story moving along with unexpected twists, some shocking moments of horror, and a general erotic atmosphere. Kinski and McDowell excel as expected, while John Heard impresses in a non-comedic role. The use of special effects and real-life animals is neatly handled too. It's not quite as good as something iconic like An American Werewolf in London, but it gets close.

Works pretty well as erotic horror/fantasy

[smatysia · 7/10 · 27 June 2021]

It works pretty well as erotic horror/fantasy. Yes, there are some quibbles. Some of the special effects seem a little cheesy now, in the age of computer graphic effects. But, hey, it was 1982. A couple of times it was obvious that a character had jumped down and walked backward, and then the film ran in reverse to make the movements look more feline. Malcolm Mc Dowell came across as creepy and menacing, as usual. I had forgotten how beautifully doe-eyed an sylph-like Nastassja Kinski looked in this. And Annette O'Toole was great as the contrasting but lovely every-girl.

Bizarre, Erotic 80's Horror Fantasy!

[gwnightscream · 6/10 · 11 May 2019]

This 1982 horror film stars Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell and John Heard. This tells of a young woman, Irena (Kinski) who arrives in New Orleans and meets up with her estranged, brother, Paul (McDowell). Soon, she learns of their mysterious yet deadly, feline gift that their parents had after Paul starts shapeshifting into a black leopard killing people. Irena is a virgin and learns she must mate to stay human before she kills too. The late, Heard (Big) plays Oliver, a zoo curator whom she finds romance with. Ed Begley Jr (Transylvania 6-5000), Annette O'Toole (Smallville) and Frankie Faison (Hannibal) are also featured. This is a bizarre, erotic 80's horror flick with a decent cast, good make-up effects by Tom Burman, excellent score as usual by Giorgio Moroder and I also like David Bowie's "Putting Out Fire" theme song. Horror fanatics may want to check this out at least once.

Press "paws"

[onepotato2 · 2/10 · 12 January 2008]

This movie takes an approach I prefer for remakes... and botches it. It's desirable to rework a movie if you remake it. There's no point in re-executing a movie without finding something personal or new in it. And so it does. Unfortunately some vapid production design and odd inclusions (incest, an obsession with breasts, explicit effects) add nothing to the charm of the wonderfully schlocky and more effective original.

Paul Schrader's version of Cat People is unfathomably formless. Stiff actors portray stiff, dull characters. And casting Malcolm MacDowell as a sexually active human being is just a huge turn-off. As bad as this is, it's still better than some late Schrader films which should show some development by now (Auto-focus? ...geez!). Paul Schrader exorcising his sexual demons again, and studios left to market it; "...um, Let's call it an 'erotic fantasy.'" Only if you have some secret wish to bone your homely brother. Exactly no one watches the original and thinks "This would be so much better if it had incest." Paul Schrader wouldn't know 'erotic' if his psychotherapist seduced him while he yammered on about his guilt complex.

You'll remember some good roars if you have a set of decent speakers.

Kinski steals the show.

[blazesnakes9 · 8/10 · 13 March 2016]

Paul Schrader's version of Cat People is a movie that I've heard of, but never seen. After reading some of the reviews of the movie, I've decided to see on my own for the first time. I must say that I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of this movie because a lot of people who have seen it compared it to the original 1942 Val Lewton picture from RKO. Well, I was very impressed by this version of Cat People and I must say that it's a exceptionally well made, well acted psychological horror film.

Irena, (Nastassja Kinski), arrives in New Orleans, visiting her brother, Paul, (Malcolm McDowell), for the first time. As the movie begins, Schrader sets up the movie very well. Hundreds of years ago, the feline group of mysterious people, called the Cat People, have the ability to change into a black leopard after mating. Unknowable to Irena, Paul starts to develop a incestuous feeling toward her as in one scene, which is, one of the best scenes in the movie, he stalks her while she sleeps in his house for the first time.

Soon enough, Irena is given a job at the local zoo in New Orleans by Oliver Yates, (John Heard). Yates soon starts a relationship with Irena after he witnesses her watching a black leopard, roaming around its cage, milling for food. Irena doesn't tell Oliver about her family secret. Instead, the movie gets even better when Heard and Kinski start a relationship between the two while McDowell takes a turn of the worse, using his cat-like instinct to kill and prey on women, living in New Orleans.

Almost some of Paul Schrader's films walk a tightrope between sexual tensions. He never back away from that particular theme in Cat People. Schrader, as you may know, written the screenplay for Taxi Driver and also directed two feature films, Hardcore, which shares some of the same elements in this film and American Gigolo. His films are quite daring, but nevertheless, interesting and engaging.

Some people might look at this movie as a sleazy exploitation horror film. But, to the tell you the truth, it is not. This is a very good looking movie, with great cinematography, showcasing many colorful sets and sights in New Orleans. Some of the scenes are quite suspenseful, almost ranking up there with the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. The imagery that is used in this movie are very well shot and photographed. One scene that sums it up at all up is when Kinski witnesses a leopard, tearing out a zookeeper's arm. What makes that scene work is that Schrader cuts that with a shot of a pool of blood, running through Kinski's shoes and into a drain in the floor of the zoo. That's very well done, indeed. You can almost feel the darkness and mystery of the picture itself, thanks to the superb music score by Giorgio Moroder.

Nastassja Kinski, I think, steals the movie, away from John Heard and Malcolm McDowell. She is one of the most interesting and mysterious actresses I've ever seen. She provides the movie with a spice of eroticism that lights up the scenes. You can't talk your eyes off of her nor ignore her. She is really something in this movie. Unlike so many other female characters in horror movies, she gives Irena a mind of her own when she develops sexual feeling toward the two completely different men. That's very daring for a actress to do in the movies.

Cat People is a very scary horror film that's very well made by Paul Schrader and also scored very effectively by Giorgio Moroder. An very good movie for adults to see. ★★★ 1/2 3 1/2 stars.

It rattles along nicely in its own crazy way

[MOscarbradley · 6/10 · 19 February 2018]

Tenuously based on the same DeWitt Bodeen story as the classic Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur movie but very different indeed in its treatment, it's development and in the story itself. In fact for most of its running time all this has in common with the earlier movie is the title, (though it does keep the swimming pool sequence). The plot may be silly, (the plots of most horror films usually are), but director Paul Schrader embues it with considerable atmosphere and, with its New Orleans setting, it looks terrific, (once again Ferdinando Scarfiotti is credited as 'visual consultant').

Here Nastassja Kinski is the young woman who turns into a black panther, Malcom McDowell is her brother who does the same with very nasty results and John Heard is the zoo-keeper who falls for Kinski. Being Schrader this is much more concerned with sexuality of one kind or another than the original but it is hardly convincing and the performances are mostly terrible. Still, it rattles along in its crazy way and remains, perhaps, one of the most underrated films in the Schrader canon.

A Visually Stunning But Emotionally Hollow Erotic Thriller

[blakiepeterson · 5/10 · 31 July 2015]

Though widely regarded as one of the finest horror films ever made, the original "Cat People", released in 1942, always struck me as a visual masterpiece luminous to the eyes but cold to the touch. It liked to hide in the shadows, keep its menace restrained, its mood gothically opulent; but when it placed fear directly in our line of vision it forgot to match emotionally, emitting a shallow kind of dread felt more cerebrally than physically. Horror should pump in our veins, causing us to look over our shoulder the second the film closes. Yet despite being called a horror film time and time again, I've never much considered "Cat People" to be one. Instead, I've figured it to be a grotesque fantasy of bloodlust and erotica, inventively packaged but too empty to make much of a lasting impression.

Its remake, a 1982 fear-fest directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski, is similar in its ability to optically arouse but remain intrinsically hollow. Whereas 1942's "Cat People" stimulated our sights with hypnotizing darkness and noir-tinged doom, the 1982 version conversely stupefies with its richly saturated colors and sexual heat. The original had a small budget to work with, director Jacques Tourneur and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca perhaps accidentally making things visually unmistakable for the purpose of making up for monetary deficiencies. But Schrader, given larger financial opportunity, is able to work on a much larger scale, providing us with a more plentiful plot, more ocular risks, more enigmatic intrigue. I can hardly say if it's superior to its '42 counterpart — they hardly resemble one another, one restrained, one indulgent — but "Cat People" is an artistically formidable fantasy mostly worthwhile. If its overwhelming inability to do anything besides look great wasn't such a pressing issue, it could be considered a masterpiece.

But the storyline doesn't allow us to become emotionally invested; conceptually marvelous yet unmistakably outlandish, it is difficult to do anything besides stare, mouth agape, unable to grab onto anything happening on the screen. Because it has to do with The Cat People, a race of centuries past so far evolved that, as of 1982, they resemble sexy humans who literally have an animal deep inside them. But things aren't as simple as they used to be: years ago, when The Cat People were still dominant cats that laboriously reclined on tree branches in windy red deserts (shown in the form of a prologue), mating would come in the form of a female sacrifice from a nearby village. Now, though, the race is almost completely extinct, save for Irena (Nastassja Kinski) and her brother, Paul (Malcolm McDowell).

In the first few minutes of "Cat People", the two are meeting for the very first time — and while the impish Irena, sensuous but virginal, remains an innocent figurehead, Paul makes for a more sinister presence, not because he's a Shakespearean villain in the making but because he's more aware of his heritage than Irena is. In everyday life, The Cat People look like anybody walking down the street; but when in the throes of an orgasm, they transform from sexy human to black panther, killing their human mate in the process. Paul understands his threat to society and isn't afraid to utilize it; Irena, on the other hand, is afraid to unleash the beast that resides within her.

The anxiety comes to a head, however, when she falls into the life of Oliver Yates (John Heard), a mild-mannered zookeeper who instantaneously bills her as the woman of his dreams. With her sexual nightmares looming in the background (and not to mention her brother, who wants to embark on an incestuous relationship like all Cat People before them), Irena just might have to accept who she is — at a price.

The plot is less preposterous the less you think about it; this is, after all, the kind of film that thrives on eccentric chills that trickle down the spine, expecting us to come along for the dangerous ride and forget about any sort of question we might have. Thanks to Schrader's knowing handling of the material (he treats most of "Cat People" like an erotic art house picture, which is more fitting than something akin to a more conventional horror movie), the film doesn't face many concerns when it comes to structure. The problem with "Cat People" is its futile characterizations, which allows for interesting characters more fascinating to look at than to actually care about. Irena is fearful for what will become of her, but because the screenplay is more interested in giving Kinski ample opportunity to smolder, never is the impression quite made; Paul is maleficent, but it's unclear where his villainy will go. And Oliver, taking over Kent Smith's role from the original, is drawn out blandly. The actors are all lensed brilliantly — it's a shame they all remain so one- dimensional than even the more erotic elements of "Cat People" are slightly unexciting.

But when John Bailey's cinematography isn't seducing our eyes, Kinski makes for the best thing about the film. A better actress than Simone Simon, she makes it impossible for us not to look at her; her full lips, sphinxy eyes, and Audrey Hepburn-like demeanor makes her a lithe sex object far too knowing to be exploited — she is magnificent. And for the most part, so is "Cat People". But it's so devoid of any kind of emotional interior that any sort of reaction is kept hidden. Fear? Arousal? Allure? It all wants to be there, but "Cat People" remains a devastatingly beautiful film without a heart.

Channeling A Sexual Beast: 80s Style

[ikennethrios · 9/10 · 6 January 2009]

Despite having been young, semi-conscious (I was under five years old) and possessing few actual memories of the nineteen eighties, the decade has a certain personal eroticism for me. The powdery skin, shimmering camera-work, the outrageous kink and camp of the clothing, the archetypal section of dim-minded actresses performing with the joyful vacant-eyed faces of children: these all stir my heart. The film Cat People was a smarter film when compared to too much of the artistic output of the nineteen eighties but it also suffered from the strangeness of the times. First of all, Nastassja Kinski has a sublime beauty that would attract in any decade but was especially characteristic of ideal notions of sexiness for those years. Her eyebrow were that exquisite Madonna-esquire thick, her lips in a permanent state of partial openness with full-on pout, her hair cut to that boyish cute, and her shoulder pads speaking volumes about her feminine authority. Even her cat-like demeanor, connected to the premise of the film, was equivalent to popular depictions of women as sex kittens. In essence, her performances in the film can be interpreted as one of the finest expressions of the nineteen eighties soft-lit, softcore pornographic aesthetic.

Secondly, as a horror film, it managed to offer moments of decent creepiness in the vein of the times. Fear, of course, has been a universal and timeless emotion yet it can be provoked in a manner reflective of the era. The Germans of centuries ago used grim and blood-spattered folk tales to frighten, director Paul Schrader used shadow. Shadows were such a magnificent aspect of the nineteen eighties aesthetic because their perfect in lockstep with the soft-lit light (consider the Vogue video). Schrader employed shadows in an eerie manner that kept the viewer guessing, achieving what few horror directors actual get from their audiences: fearful concern about what was in the dark. Consider two scenes: when Malcolm McDowell lunges from the shadows as the beast and when Nastassja Kinski has a passion moment in that darkened room. Schrader brilliance was to make the shadow both fearful and erotic: the dark has been traditional as fear-provoker and yet can be quite intimate as well. In mixing the two emotions successfully, Schrader made the film a unique creature for the horror genre.

Third, that soundtrack Giorgio Moroder and Bowie crafted must be one of the strangest in the history of film. Starting off on a campy note, the music over the reddish desert of the first scene ought to make a person either laugh or weep but it does get better. Listen to it; it goes with the images on screen like magic.

Putting Out Fire With Gasoline

[johnnyhbtvs27 · 6/10 · 8 December 2021]

There are some really nice shots in Cat People and some of the cinematography is beautiful. The movie however is too long and i was beginning to lose patience with it at times.

Malcolm McDowell, John Heard & Nastassja Kinski are great & Annette O'Toole is brilliant as the sympathetic Alice, O'Toole should have been a much bigger star.

The transformation scene is well done, not American Werewolf or The Howling but good enough. Some tense scenes, couple of scares and a lot of eroticism, Cat People is a worthwhile companion piece (kind of) to the original classics.

Beauty and the Beast in one

[Coventry · 3/10 · 8 March 2004]

I'm writing this review after just having finished watching Cat People and I'm suffering from mixed feelings a bit.... I certainly expected it to be better and more valuable than this…especially because the I heard so much praising on it. Paul Schrader remakes the brilliant 1942 classic with the same title. The original Jacques Tourneur version was terrific because of the simple – yet very effective – basic plot story, but Schrader adds so many elements to this that it loses its charm. Also, there were the stress was on the mystery in the original…Schrader fully goes for the erotic undertones (like incest, virginity or just plain voyeurism) . And unfortunately…the negative elements don't even stop there. As a viewer, you never really have feeling with the main characters in Cat People and the whole film just is too slow! For a movie that constantly features a black leopard…it could have used a little more tempo. Still, this film can't be bashed entirely of course, as it still is a stylish and very brutal 80's horror highlight. Nastassja Kinski basically makes every film look good and she's damn sexy here, as the confused beauty torn between incest prepositions (by Malcolm McDowell…famous for other cult-hits like Caligula and A Clockwork Orange) and sincere declarations of love by John Heard (C.H.U.D) . Some of the sequences in Cat People are really fascinating and fairly gore…like for example the thrilling arm-amputation, Kinski's colorful hunting adventure and the descent in Malcolm McDowell's terror dungeon. You can almost smell death in that scene. Unfortunately, the pivot scene are practically copied from the original shot by shot. Like the pool-scene only updated with a little bit of naked Anette O'Toole flesh…

If you're intrigued by the synopsis of Cat People, I strongly recommend to hunt down the original version and most likely the sequel `Curse of the Cat People' as well. I haven't seen that one myself, but I can easily imagine it's more than decent. Or, if you want to learn more about Paul Shrader's work in cinema, you'll be better off by renting Mishima, Light Sleeper or even American Gigolo. Cat People doesn't really represent his talent if you ask me.