Review of Cat People (1982) by David L — 31 Jan 2008

This is an interesting interpretation of the original, using the same themes of repressed emotions and sexuality and taking it to the next level. Nastassja Kinski is a young woman, newly come to America to live with her older brother, Malcolm McDowell. What she doesn't know is that she and her brother are the results of incest (parents were brother and sister) and, as if that wasn't bad enough, descended from a long line of inbreeding shapeshifters. It seems that the members of her truly twisted family can only mate with each other. To do otherwise causes them to transform into vicious black panthers, which must kill to regain their human shape.

Set in New Orleans with dreamy flashbacks to a mysterious desert land of red skies and massive bare trees draped with exotic panthers, Cat People is visually stunning. Haunting and moody, it moves at the pace of a dream that gradually turns into a nightmare. It doesn't lack for good performances either. Nastassja Kinski is flawless; sultry, vicious, frightened and innocent all at once. Her scenes with her transformed brother/wild panther, are absolutely hypnotic as the two beautiful creatures lock eyes and blood flows. Malcolm McDowell is perfect as her perverted brother, casually menacing and always bestial, killing with barely a shrug and raging as the transformation overtakes him.

I've never understood the bad reviews this film has always received. I thought it was very well done, very atmospheric and tense, It paid homage to its predecessor with a great swimming pool scene and a spooky jog through a night time park. You'll either love this film or hate it. While I can't say this film is a lost classic, I do feel its a film worth checking out.