Cat People (1982)
Review by Michael Varrati
If you’re a genre film fan who has been to the local multiplex in the last few weeks, then there is a good chance that you’ve seen Quentin Tarantino’s epic piece of World War II fan fiction, Inglourious Basterds. As with most of Tarantino’s films, the storyline, while set during WWII, seemingly exists in a universe all its own (albeit borrowing heavily from films of yesteryear). That is why, in a sequence toward film’s end set in 1940s occupied France, when David Bowie’s Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) begins to play, you don’t really think much of the fact that its placement is totally anachronistic.
The overly sensual strains of Bowie’s ambient music punctuate the scene perfectly, and serves as the perfect lead into the overly violent, and yet, elegantly visual climax.
But for a song that fits so perfectly into Tarantino’s movie, I could not help but think about how it belonged to another film. With the renewed interest in Bowie’s song due to QT’s deft use of it in his Nazi-bashing summer blockbuster, I felt it was time to revisit the movie for which it was initially intended, 1982’s sensuous scare: Cat People.
Digging the movie out of my film library and dusting it off, I realized how long it had been since I saw director Paul Schrader’s updated version of the 1942 drive-in classic, and was somewhat concerned that the movie wouldn’t be as effective as I remembered. It wasn’t…it was even better.
Cat People brings us the tale (or is that “tail”?) of Irena Gallier (lusciously played by Nastassia Kinski, of Stay as You Are and Tess fame), a woman who has come to New Orleans to seek out the details of her past. She had been orphaned in her youth, and has arrived in the city to meet her long lost brother, Paul (Malcolm McDowell – A Clockwork Orange, Rob Zombie’s Halloween), for the very first time. Paul is initially glad, albeit perhaps a little creepily, to have the family together again, and Irena is clearly pleased to finally be putting the pieces of her life together. All appears to be going swimmingly…until Paul disappears.
Not so coincidentally, around the same time Paul goes missing, the local zoo captures and cages a vicious, run-away panther (who conveniently mauled a hooker, giving it extra street cred) with a taste for violence. Naturally, our heroine finds herself inexplicably drawn to the zoo, and particularly the panther cage, to gaze upon this sleek and lethal beast. She catches the attention of the zoo-curator (John Heard – Home Alone, Pollock), and before the night is through they are fast friends, a decision clearly motivated by the curator’s extreme attraction to Irena.
But try as he might, our curator friend just can’t get the cat to pounce on him, per se, and Irena slowly reveals that her inner-turmoil may have to do with something more primal, more violent, and more haunted. She discovers that she and Paul are more connected to the panther than even we as the viewer can initially guess, and that this relationship effects her life, her blood, and perhaps most shockingly, her lust.
I could keep going on about the plot, but I think you get the gist, and to say more would be criminal. Cat People is a movie that truly must be experienced, because despite the almost laughable premise of “were-cats”…this film far succeeds in creating an atmosphere and universe within which one can become fully immersed.
This is, I suspect, because despite the fact that this is supposed to be a horror movie, Cat People is truly only about one thing: Sex.
That is not to say that there aren’t some scares, and there are certainly moments of gore (after all, you can’t have a feral panther running loose without a little claw to flesh action), but the fact remains that Cat People is most successful because it plays on images of lust and seduction in ways that have never quite been utilized within the genre before.
True, sexuality and horror movies have long gone hand-in-hand: Topless women, naked romps, gratuitous shower scenes…these were all essentially the hallmark of 80’s horror when the characters weren’t getting chopped to bits. But I submit to you, dear reader, that while sex was and is rampant in horror, it has never been quite utilized in the manner in which Schrader displayed within the confines of this film. Most horror films rely on brazen sexuality, very little is left to the imagination, and despite the flesh in your face, it’s never really all that sexy. Cat People approaches the viewer not with sex, per se, but sensuality. Everything about this movie seems like foreplay. Scenes of forbidden desires, stolen glances, and mounting frustration fill the film, serving as a reference point to the building pressure within Irena before her transformation to a cat…er…person is complete. Unlike Landis’ pain and anguish filled werewolf transformation in An American Werewolf in London, turning into a were-panther is seemingly a pretty erotic affair, but with that eroticism comes the pain of chastity, the pressure of waiting.
…and with that pressure comes frustration, and in a world where frustration can be acted out via violence, an act of blood-letting is akin to an explosive orgasm.
Like I said, this flick is about sex. Our wanting, our needing, and our submission to that ever present desire…Cat People is about surrender and control in equal measures. If it were you, how long before you gave into your own lust?
Cat People is beautifully executed film, not just in the horror sense, but in the general pantheon of motion pictures. I have been both a student of genre cinema and the larger scope of motion pictures for years, and I think I can firmly state that Cat People can stand next to the twisted visuals of Argento and introspective contemplation of Bergman equally.
In the end, was this much of a review of the film? I don’t know.
I’d venture to say this was more of a consideration of an oft forgotten gem of horror cinema, and if it took Tarantino to remind me to remind you…well, that’s worth the price of admission to the theater this summer.
This film is worth a watch, just check your expectations at the door. Schrader’s direction is flawless and beautiful, the camera working much like an artist’s paintbrush, vividly creating the picture of those hot, New Orleans nights. The cast is equally brimming, Kinski, Heard, and McDowell each deliver a heat of wanting, with a twinge of terror, and justly so…after all, the most satisfying thrills always come with a risk. In my opinion, there is nothing not to like about Cat People, and I submit to you that you will find the same.
Just don’t be surprised if you need a cold shower after the credits have rolled.
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