ts techniques would be adopted by noir, its themes are aped by horror films and thrillers today.
Cat People (1942)
Runtime: 73 mins
Synopsis: Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) is a young, Serbian artist living in New York City. When she meets American Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), she falls in love and gets married. But their union hits the rocks when she becomes consumed with the belief that she is the victim of a curse. According to Irena,... Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) is a young, Serbian artist living in New York City. When she meets American Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), she falls in love and gets married. But their union hits the rocks when she becomes consumed with the belief that she is the victim of a curse. According to Irena, the curse will make her turn into a deadly panther the minute she becomes emotionally aroused. In an effort to fix their problems, Oliver seeks psychiatric counseling for his beautiful and tormented young bride. But talking about her problems may only make them worse. The first of several interesting horror films by producer Val Lewton, CAT PEOPLE was innovative in its style. Joining Lewton's artistic sense and mastery of atmosphere with Jacques Tourneur's directing talent, the film created fear in its audience precisely by not showing too much. This restraint and emphasis on psychological tension rather than physical violence would go on to influence later horror directors. [More]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Starring: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt
Reviews
First in the wondrous series of B movies in which Val Lewton elaborated his principle of horrors imagined rather than seen, with a superbly judged performance from Simon.
No mere creature feature, this 1940s classic offers more subtle chills.
Cat People wasn't frightening like a slasher movie, using shocks and gore, but frightening in an eerie, mysterious way that was hard to define; the screen harbored unseen threats.
More a film about unreasoning fear than the supernatural, this work demonstrates what a filmmaker can accomplish when he substitutes taste and intelligence for special effects.
What works the best, though, is the compelling sense of conviction -- something missing from most 1940s horror films.
Ladies who have such temptations -- in straight horror pictures, at least -- should exercise their digits a bit more freely than does Simone Simon in this film.
Female sexuality is a rich source of a certain kind of horror - the kind of horror that plays upon the anxieties that prudish bourgeois men have about their wives' sex lives.
The way it messes with your head -- and Jacques Tourneur's deft ability behind the camera -- make it quite the '40s standout.
It's what you don't see in a Val Lewton production rather than what you do see that makes it frightening.
Pretensioso, artificial e com uma péssima atriz como protagonista, o filme empalidece frente à refilmagem comandada por Paul Schrader.
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