By ERIC RED
SEE
RED’S IMDb PROFILE HERE
CAT
PEOPLE
(1982)
Director:
Paul Schrader.
Writer: Alan
Ormsby. Based
on the story by DeWitt Bodeen.
Cast: RNastassja
Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard, Annette O’Toole.
Sex and horror are a hot
combination. “CAT PEOPLE” is
easily one of the most erotic horror movies ever made. It’s a well-crafted
sexy blend of great characters, wonderful performances, skillful scripting,
atmospheric photography, good makeup effects, provocative themes of carnal
obsession and loads of visceral sex and gore.
Irena (Nastassja
Kinski), a naive, stunningly beautiful and virginal young woman on the verge of
romantic and sexual awakening comes to New Orleans to stay with her brother,
Paul (Malcolm McDowell). He has
troubling news for her. They are
descendents of an ancient race of Cat People, black panthers supernaturally
shape shifted into human form, who can mate only with brothers and sisters of
their own species. If they have sex
with regular humans, they transform back into their true panther forms and must
slaughter their lovers before they can walk on two legs again
(Yeah, I know, just go with it).
The
shocked Irena uncomfortably rejects her disturbing brother’s incestuous
advances as she falls in love and lust with a good-natured zookeeper named
Oliver (John Heard). Lethal sexual
jealousies and jeopardy ensue over Irena, first from Paul against Oliver and
then Irena over Oliver’s girlfriend Alice (Annette O’Toole).
The story culminates in a bloody and haunting conclusion as people turn
into big cats and the fur and flesh fly.
A redo of
the 1943 film by director Val Lewton, Paul Schrader’s film is another of the
rare worthwhile remakes that both honors and reinvents the original.
In this case, adding a startling level of graphic sex and gore required
by the subject matter, that was not possible during the restrictive era when the
suggestive and poetic first picture was made.
The film
is anchored by the amazing screen presence that was Nastassja Kinski, as Irena.
Talk about animal magnetism. You
can’t imagine anyone else in the part. Impossibly
beautiful and sensual, mysteriously primal, radiant, sensitive, and not afraid
to bare it all when the film requires it, which this one does.
The actress physically inhabits the role and makes you believe viscerally
she is part cat, all woman. Until
Natasha Henstridge showed up in “SPECIES,” Kinski was it.
John
Heard, then one of the best and most sensitive and intelligent young American
actors, grounds the audience in his portrayal of the other protagonist, Oliver.
He plays him as a conflicted ordinary hard-nosed man struggling with
extraordinary things beyond his comprehension, mostly the obsession growing in
him for the irresistible Irena, which makes him do things he doesn’t
understand.
As anyone
who has seen my films (or read this column) knows, my kind of horror films are
the ones that deal with the real human psychological basis of monsters, and
treat the subject matter in a realistic and convincing manner.
It’s all about the suspension of disbelief, and making the audience
believe what’s happening on screen. The
Cat People here are a metaphor for the beast of romantic longing and sexual
hunger in everyone, and the violence that can come along with it.
And there is a tangy layer of incest in the story between the brother and
sister. These provocative and
compelling dramatic layers go a long way towards making the audience buy into
the nutty concept of people turning into cats.
Lots of
great set pieces in this film…in one tense sequence, Oliver leads an animal
control squad on a dangerous ladder rescue to subdue a powerful and violent
black panther in the second story window of a whorehouse, after it mauled a
prostitute…A chillingly gruesome zoo autopsy on a dead black panther reveals
the shocking supernatural internal components of the beast….in a suspenseful
homage of the original, Alice (O’Toole) goes to a local indoor swimming pool
to take a topless (worth the price of admission) swim all alone.
While she is bathing half-naked, she hears the terrifying growls and
roars of an unseen savage panther reverberating around the echoing walls of the
pool, stalking her and scaring her senseless.
Indeed, a catfight with Kinski is not one any femme wants to get into.
The
movie’s best, and hottest scene, is the inevitable climax where Irena and
Oliver sleep together. They both
know Irena may turn into a black panther when she has sex, but she and Oliver
have gone too far gone to turn back now. The
scene is a pure classic horror “Don’t Do It” sequence, where we want to
scream at them not to Do It, but at the same time, as Nastassja Kinski does her
sultry walk upstairs, shedding her clothes and getting naked, we do want them to
Do It. Schrader milks the
scene for all it’s worth and gets our juices pumping. And well, you got to see
the picture to see what happens, but things don’t turn out exactly how you
think.
John
Bailey’s colorful cinematography is straightforward and richly evocative, free
of all that over-amped MTV hyperkinetic crap that’s the trend right now.
Together with production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti, they infuse the atmospheric old New
Orleans locations with a lush air of Voodoo menace.
The music in the movie is practically another one of the stars.
The famous pulsing, throbbing electronic score by Giorgio Morodor (“SCARFACE”)
is seductively melodic and hypnotic. So
is the great David Bowie end credits song, “Putting Out Fire With Gasoline.”
The 80’s at it’s best music adds a hip, cool dimension to the
sometimes formal filming style. The old school Special Makeup Effects work by
Tom Burman is scary and gruesome, without any CGI bullshit.
Director
Paul Schrader and screenwriter Alan Ormsby take an intelligent approach to the
subject matter and treat it in a straight and convincing manner that involves us
in the characters and suspends our disbelief through the outlandish events.
This story could so easily have become camp or schlock, but the
filmmakers play it straight and take it seriously, to great effect.
Schrader is admirably unblinking and direct in his depiction of sexuality
and eroticism here. It’s hard to
believe in today’s sexually prudish Hollywood environment that studios made
pictures this graphic just a few years ago.
Whatever
else about “CAT PEOPLE,” it’s different.
Early 2000’s horror movies risk becoming a cliché by defining
themselves (some better than others) as cynical and ugly exercises in brain dead
sadistic torture, debasement and cruelty. It
dumbs down the whole genre, and bores the shit out of me personally.
Seeing a stylish film again like “CAT PEOPLE” shows what the virtues
of solid direction, great performances, a good script…and FUCKING HOT women…
bring to a horror movie.
See you next month!
READ
ALL OF ERIC RED’S REVIEWS HERE
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed