Halloween Review – “Cat People (1982)”

The first of three days of Halloween coverage is here.
Today we review a single film, the remake of Cat
People
. Tomorrow it’s a double header of
Robot Monster and Werewolf vs. The
Vampire Women
, and on Monday we’ll have a review
of a triple header of classics with a Halloween feel,
though not necessarily genre films, with a review of
Buster Keaton’s short Haunted House, followed
by reviews of Hitchcock’s Rear Window and
Psycho.

Cast, Crew, and Other Info

Natassja Kinski as Irena Gallier

Malcolm McDowell as Paul Gallier

John Heard as Oliver Yates

Annette O’Toole as Alice Perrin

Ruby Dee as Female

Ed Begley Jr. as Joe Creigh

Keep your eyes open for John Larroquette as Bronte
Judson in one scene.

Written by Alan Ormsby, based on the 1942 film written
by DeWitt Bodeen.

Directed by Paul Scrader.

Complete information is available from the
IMDB
.

Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca

Past movie reviews can be found here.

Premise

A woman finds her biological brother after years, and
gets pulled into
a side of herself she’d have preferred not to know
about.

High Point

Obscuring the cause and effect timelines with Malcolm
McDowell’s
relationships gave a false sense of security and hope
with Irena’s
relationship.

Low Point

And where did Oliver claim the second cat came from?
What
could he have claimed?

The Scores

This is not a very original film. It’s a
remake of a movie
in the vein common in 1980s horror flicks. I give it
3 out of 6.

The effects hold up surprisingly well. They
did what they
could do effectively, and chose not to reveal what
they couldn’t do at
the time. It’s a good formula for longevity in a
movie, and is often
creepier than actually showing what’s going on. I
give it 5 out of 6.

The story has some portions, like the low
point or the
expository dream sequence, which make little or no
sense. Most of it
is fairly coherent. I give it 4 out of 6.

The acting had some excellent casting.
Kinski is graceful
enough to sell the catlike portion of her role,
particularly during
the window escape. MacDowell is always excellent in
the creepy roles,
and did very well. Heard wasn’t incredible, but he
did a good job
with his role. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response was fairly positive.
This is a rather
creepy film, which managed to include a natural amount
of gore. I
give it 4 out of 6.

The production had some great lighting, but
rather
inconsistent quality in the camera angles. Some
scenes received a
lot of care and attention, but others were neglected
or rushed. I
give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a decent movie for the
Halloween season, but
I’m not sure I’d bother with it the rest of the year.
I give it 4 out
of 6.

In total, Cat People receives 28 out of 42.

One reply

  1. Cat Peoples
    It’s creepy and Kinski is lovely, but they’ve basically remade the 40s film (in places, scene for scene), but revved up the sex and effects. The original draws some of its limited impact from the power of suggestion; the remake largely lacks that element.

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