Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Rare is it when a sequel outshines its original film. Rarer still is it when that sequel and the original are both considered B films. Films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, or Aliens, have been posited as greater than the first films in those series, although there are good arguments back and forth, but they were both big budget A films. In watching Val Lewton's RKO produced, 1944 black and white, 70 minute long masterpiece, The Curse Of The Cat People, I think there's little doubt that it's superior to the very good film that preceded it, 1942's Cat People. Even people who agree with my assessment of the later film's superiority, however, often miss out on the reasons why. More on that in a bit.
This film's closest companion, in terms of filmic kinship, would not be made by Lewton, however, nor by any other American nor European filmmaker. It would take almost a quarter century, but 1968's Japanese Godzilla's Revenge (Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru Kaijû Daishingeki)- another sequel to a B horror film, put out by Toho, and about a latchkey urban child who is bullied and retreats into the fantasy world of Godzilla, is the only film that is nearly as accurate and sensitive in its portrayal of life from the view of a sensitive child- although that is a definite male take on the subject matter. This film's real and palpable sense of girlhood puts you in the moment with its lead character, and it all works. And, on top of that, The Curse Of The Cat People is an even better film than Ishîro Honda's great kid's film.
It is heavily dependent upon a great screenplay by DeWitt Bodeen, who seamlessly moves the story of Oliver and Alice Reed (Kent Smith and Jane Randolph) up a good seven years from the original. The two lovers, who survived the terror of the earlier film, imposed by the feline charms of his first wife Irena (Simone Simon)- a murderess who may or may not have been capable of shapeshifting into a panther, are now suburban residents of Tarrytown, in upstate New York. This allows for the working in of Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow mythos. They now have a beautiful blond daughter who is moody and a loner. Her name is Amy, and she is played by Ann Carter, in one of the greatest performances by a child....The rest of the plot has been discussed elsewhere....Not only is the look contemporary, but so is the narrative. The cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca is top notch, and the morph of Barbara into Irena is still effective. An early scene of a male classmate of Amy's, who accidentally kills a butterfly she likes with his hat, is very subtly animated. Her reaction- an angry slap, is dead on realistic and apropos for the character we see unfold. The contrasts of black with white, and all the subtle shades of gray between, is outstanding. The directors of the film were journeyman Gunther Von Fritsch, who fell behind schedule and went overbudget, and Robert Wise, who was promoted from RKO editor on Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), to finish the film. Both shot an almost equal load. The commentary by Mank claims that Fritsch directed what are the more pedestrian scenes, while the climax, and scenes within the Reed household, were all Wise's work. The next year Lewton had Wise direct The Body Snatcher. He then went on to a long career that would include directing such film classics as The Day The Earth Stood Still, West Side Story, The Sound Of Music, and The Andromeda Strain. That the man, despite two Oscars as Best Director, is never mentioned in conversations about great directors is odd- to say the least, and his lack of recognition is almost criminal. Yes, he has no trademark style, the way a Bergman or Scorsese film does. Yet, all he did was churn out consistently good, and occasionally great films for half a century. This was his very first.
Many critics, however, have overlooked this film, and denied its connection to the original film, thus revealing how little most film critics are worth....Another aspect of the film that is taken as a given by most critics is the idea that Julia Farren is a delusional old woman when she claims that Barbara is an imposter. Yet, we never really know the truth of that claim, and there is a suggestion that it might very well be true. Several times, when we see Barbara skulk away from Julia, we see her descend down the stairs, to the place where- in such a grand mansion, the servant's quarters would be. It could very well be that Barbara is an imposter trying to con a delusional old woman out of her fortune.
The Curse Of The Cat People is a truly great film, and is considered a B film only because of its budget. Yet, very few films, A or B, American or foreign, pack as much punch and psychological realism into it, especially at a child's level. Not even Ingmar Bergman ever came close to depicting the pre-adult mind with such depth. That this all occurs in a horror film, which is also every bit as much a family film as more recent classics, like My Dog Skip or October Sky, is a testament to both Lewton, and especially Wise, who, in his film debut, greatly uplifted the more pedestrian work of the man he replaced, and sent his own career into film history. Alas, Ann Carter faded from the film business, just like Gunther Von Fritsch, or her character's idée fixe, Irena, did. Growing pains can really suck.

Producer Val Lewton was forced to work with a small budget during his time with RKO, but faced with financial constraints and lack of star power, he hooked up with director Jacques Tourneur to create several horror films that many decades later are still considered the finest ever made in the genre. "Cat People" is one of those films.

While "Curse of the Cat People" often gets lumped with these horror classics, this Robert Wise directed film is more fantasy and mood than horror. This exploration of a child's world is both sensitive and affecting. "Cat People" is a wonderful horror classic, and while this film has always been marketed as a sequel due to that film's success, it could not be any more different, and is no less memorable.

Both Kent Smith and Jane Randolph return in this quasi-sequel but it is young Ann Carter as their daughter Amy who is at the center of this film. The memory of the tormented Irena hovers over every frame. Once again the anguished elegance of Simone Simon becomes a presence in the life of Reed when his young daughter Amy begins to retreat into a world of her own. But it may be more than mere fantasy despite her loving father's refusal to believe.

There is a magical and somewhat haunting feel to this exploration of a child's mind and what is real and what is not. Just as in "Cat People" where you ached to believe in the curse surrounding Irena (Simone Simon), Lewton and Wise create a bridge between Amy's imagination and Irena's presence we want desperately to believe in. This is a very special film with a mood unlike the horror films Lewton made. It stands on its own, however, and should not be dismissed.

While quite different in tone and with a distinctly different atmosphere than the original, "Curse of the Cat People" is an excellent example of how great cinema can become when story and filmmaking technique are used to capture the viewer in its world. That world in this instance, is that of a child. An excellent film.