Cat People (1942) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Cat People
Year: 1942
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Country: US
Language: English

R.K.O gave Producer Val Lewton only $150,000 to make the film, resulting in "creative" producing. This forced many of the scenes requiring special effects to be done in shadows which many believe increased the suspense of the film. Hired by the studio to make low budget flicks Lewton would use Cat People to create a memorable film technique called the "Lewton bus". Essentially it describes slowly building tension to a jarring shock which turns out to be something completely harmless and benign.

An American man (Kent Smith) marries a Serbian immigrant (Simone Simon) who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together

Filmed in only 18 days, the heads of RKO studios were puzzled by the finished attraction. Its themes were far too subtle; they feared it wasn't overt enough for their audiences to "get" the picture. Luckily, Cat People was a resounding commercial and critical success. It played in theatres so long that critics who weren't receptive to the picture would see it again and change their minds. Despite being a "B" picture, it seemed to gain more attention that most prominent films of the time.

Playing on fears of foreign “invasion” via marriage and feminine sexuality, Cat People is quite a remarkable psychological horror for its time. The film explores not just a woman who theorizes that an ancient curse has passed to her, but also a bride struggling to understand the sexual politics of marriage.  The strongest theories about this film come in the way it views sexuality, that if Irena were to engage in sexual stimulation it would let out an uncontrollable, animalistic side to her.

Cat People is far more than a monster movie, rather it is Hitchocockian in its complex approach to suspense. The atmosphere is also quite troubling; from the beginning we are engulfed into a world of uncertainty and dread.Soaked in mystery, the central plot - which handles themes of lust, aggression and not being able to subdue certain emotions, will always be relevant to whoever is viewing the film. The film is certainly worth multiple viewings.