Cat People (1982)'s activity

Normally my dislike for Paul Schrader and his gross Lolita obsession keeps me away from his movies, so I fully admit I simply didn't notice his credit when I put Cat People on my "Octhorror" watch list. But perhaps the fact that he didn't write the script and the genre stylings would take the edge off. After all, horror films are supposed to make you squirm and sex is one of the tools they use. Well, no overt Lolita character in this one, but we do get bestiality and incest, and when you think about it, the virginal cat woman is a bit of a Lolita even as an adult (AND laughs at how her foster father groped her), so Schrader's doing his thing even in this context. He probably thinks he's so shocking. Meh. I'm much more disturbed by that grotty zoo where animals are forced to sit on cement floors in tiny brick booths - movies with a lot of animal action always make me wonder about their treatment, so I'm never at ease - and at least that WAS a set, not a real place. Different enough from Val Lewton's original to stand on its own, it's got some good gore moments, and visually, the Doctor Who fan in me sees how it most assuredly inspired the show's last classic story, "Survival", which was broadcast a year later. However, I take exception with the cat woman's final choices, which are so Schrader as to kill my enthusiasm for it. If women exhibit any sex drive, then they are dangerous monsters, and like Golden Age Wonder Woman, they should learn to submit to the male sex drive and only so bound can they be fulfilled. Schrader's sexual politics are so damn icky, I just can't. If I'd set up a reaction camera, I would probably find that I frowned every time a girl popped out of her bra like she was in a Porky's or something.