Review of The Curse of the Cat People (1944) by Lidia F — 15 Jan 2008

The pulpy title belies the melancholic, truly haunting and impressionistically beautiful movie it's attached to. One of producer Val Lewton's masterpieces, it's up there with "To Kill A Mockingbird" as one of the great interpretations of childhood imagination, and I can even see some of "Pan's Labyrinth" in its brief running time.

Much like its predecessor, it's more than meets the eye. Oh, and just a note to those who commented on the title and on its relationship with its predecessor, the brilliant documentary shown on TCM by Martin Scorcese on Val Lewton shows that much of that was RKO Studios doing -- they'd throw titles at Lewton, he'd make amazing low-budget movies from them.

All the more remarkable that this one and "Cat People" exist at all.