This movie should have been excellent. The subtle 1942 version lacked little except more bite and a modern update should have provided just that. Add the excellent David Bowie theme song and a sexy (and frequently nude) Nastassia Kinski, how could you go wrong? Well, this travesty of a movie managed to get everything else wrong. The suspense is totally lacking, the dialogue is boring, the pacing is slow, there are huge logical flaws everywhere concerning the characters motivations, actions and the rules to which the transformation applies. A few attempts at humour are cringe-worthy (look, boats), the actors deliver uninteresting performances and the directing is all over the place. I disliked this movie, and I was sure there was no way that was going to happen!
Lots of good atmosphere here and some cool shots. Plenty of issues with pacing and character development/motivations though. Lots of female full-frontal nudity, but Malcolm McDowell has the same cat powers and never hangs dong? What's the deal cowards??
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.
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Alfredo Garcia
This should have been made by Brian de Palma :(Zeltaebar
This movie should have been excellent. The subtle 1942 version lacked little except more bite and a modern update should have provided just that. Add the excellent David Bowie theme song and a sexy (and frequently nude) Nastassia Kinski, how could you go wrong? Well, this travesty of a movie managed to get everything else wrong. The suspense is totally lacking, the dialogue is boring, the pacing is slow, there are huge logical flaws everywhere concerning the characters motivations, actions and the rules to which the transformation applies. A few attempts at humour are cringe-worthy (look, boats), the actors deliver uninteresting performances and the directing is all over the place. I disliked this movie, and I was sure there was no way that was going to happen!mcmakattack
Decades Exploration - Hooptober X1982
Lots of good atmosphere here and some cool shots. Plenty of issues with pacing and character development/motivations though. Lots of female full-frontal nudity, but Malcolm McDowell has the same cat powers and never hangs dong? What's the deal cowards??
Watched on VHS
Siskoid
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.chapteronemanhattan
I definitely agree with the comment above, I feel like De Palma could have made this film great and had better pacing.