The list of 100 best horror films I'm working off of has THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE listed, but it doesn't list the movie it was a sequel to, CAT PEOPLE. I found this odd and double checked the list a couple times, because I've been meaning to watch CAT PEOPLE for several years now as I've seen it pop up on several best-of lists, not limited to best horror films but including best films in general of all time. I've also increasingly heard producer Val Lewton's name mentioned as a genius filmmaker, and CAT PEOPLE was his first horror film.The DVD I ended up with had both movies on it, and both movies are pretty short, so I decided I'd watch both -- THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE will count towards my mission to watch 31 movies off of this list in 31 days, and CAT PEOPLE will help satisfy my need to see the films widely regarded as the best ever.
Both movies were produced by Val Lewton, who delivered a very different version of horror from what audiences were used to with Universal up until that time. Lewton headed up RKO's B-horror department in the studio's attempt to make a quick buck after their financially disastrous dealings with Orson Welles on CITIZEN KANE and MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS.
Lewton's low budget horror films delivered more psychological thrills and chills instead of outright monster attacks. RKO studio heads would come up with marketable titles like CAT PEOPLE, then Lewton would turn in something far from the obvious -- a mixture of his own story-telling interests and what might appease the studio as at least a passing resemblance to what you might expect from a movie called CAT PEOPLE.
CAT PEOPLE stars Simone Simon as a fashion designer who falls in love with an all around good guy (Kent Smith). As they get closer and eventually marry, Smith's character becomes disillusioned with the distance Simon's character seems to keep from him. Apparently, childhood stories from her native Serbia have convinced her that if she becomes physically close with a man, she'll transform into a cat person and destroy him. She likes to lurk around the zoo, checking out the panther cages, animals in the pet store freak out when she's around and her pet bird eventually turns up dead.
Smith's character turns to his female co-worker (Jane Randolph) for comfort, and Simon becomes jealous. A psychologist (Tom Conway) is brought in to help Simon but it might be too late.
In the sequel, THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, we follow Smith's character who is now married to Randolph's. Their seven-year-old daughter (Ann Carter) is withdrawn and unpopular with her friends at school, so she turns to an imaginary world for comfort. Smith, disturbed by his daughter's reliance on fantasy that reminds him of the late Simon's issues with childhood stories, attempts unsuccessfully to draw her out. Meanwhile, neighbors in a creepy house down the street indulge the little girl's imagination and tell her tales of Sleepy Hollow, which originated in their town.
These neighbors are the eccentric aging actress (Julia Dean) and her contemptuous daughter (Elizabeth Russell). Russell had a brief but effective cameo in the original CAT PEOPLE as a sinister diner at a restaurant who approaches Simon possibly as a fellow cat person before disappearing in the night.
Finally, Simone Simon herself shows up, reprising her role as Irena from the first film, appearing in ghostly fantasy visions to the young girl who views her as an imaginary friend who has come to save her from her loneliness and boredom.
Both films do what horror films do best, which is to highlight every day fears and neuroses by exaggerating them and focusing in on them. CAT PEOPLE deals with the fear people have that there might be a monster inside of them waiting to do something evil, but it also deals with the difficulties of establishing a relationship with a stranger. At first, she may seem exotic and interesting, but then the dark issues start to surface and even the best guy begins to wonder what the hell he's supposed to do. Of course, it's always tricky because the one with the issues so clearly needs love and acceptance that the other half of the relationship doesn't know what to do -- head for the hills, or dig in and try to get this solved. Here, we have the benefit of shorthand and broad strokes -- the girl's tragic past is literally haunted by evil monsters. In real life, these evil monsters are just as bad, or worse, but come in a much more mundane form and are therefore harder to understand and deal with.
CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE deals with childhood insecurities -- being left out on the playground, the power of imagination, the gulf that exists between the adult world that surrounds kids and the limited understanding a kid has about what's really going on.
Both are tragic but somewhat beautiful tales. CAT PEOPLE is more tragic, CURSE is more beautiful. In fact, CURSE has more in common with great literary stories like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and GREAT EXPECTATIONS than it does with traditional horror. In many ways, CURSE reminded me of the simultaneously sinister and fairy tale atmosphere of THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER in which children are sidelined from an adult world and become potential victims of it.
CURSE is helped along by one of the best child performances I've seen. Little Ann Carter is in almost every scene of the movie and pretty much carries the movie. Some of her delivery might be what you typically expect from a child actor of the era but the depth of emotion and feeling on her face is unique and special for someone so young.
CURSE was co-directed by Robert Wise, who directed THE HAUNTING, which I watched yesterday. He's also directed plenty of other great films, but it's interesting to compare these two because he's been quoted as saying THE HAUNTING was his tribute to Lewton, and he directed CURSE under Lewton's mentorship. I can see where Wise is coming from -- THE HAUNTING is similar to Lewton's film in the way it avoids special effects, puts most of the horror in the minds of the characters, implies things more than explicitly coming out and showing them. Still, I feel like THE HAUNTING is a bad example of all of this, and CAT PEOPLE and CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE are both great examples of the old saying, "less is more."
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