(1982)
2
Brian J. Dillard
This poorly written, ineptly edited muddle wants to be a thrilling erotic parable about the loss of sexual innocence, but screenwriter/director Paul Schrader focuses too much on the softcore kink angle to the detriment of plot, characterization, and atmosphere. Although it's ostensibly a remake of the Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur classic, this Cat People abandons its predecessor's psychological shadings in favor of copious nudity and special effects that can't compare to the previous year's An American Werewolf in London. A few scenes in Cat People are direct swipes from the original, including an inferior copy of the haunting swimming pool sequence, but most of Schrader's script seems like a naughty letter to then-girlfriend Natassja Kinski. Long before she went blonde and right at the height of her python-poster popularity, Kinski brought dark, Eastern Bloc sensuality to her role as Irina, a timid orphan afraid of her inner panther; Malcolm McDowell has less screen time and little to work with as her brother, Paul, a minister with a dark sexual secret. John Heard and Annette O'Toole play characters so clueless it's like they're in another movie, but they play them well, while Ruby Dee makes the most of a small but colorful role as Paul's devoted servant, Female (three syllables, accent on the last). If you can follow Schrader's muddy were-cat mythology and stomach such improbabilities as a brother stupid enough to hit on his own sister without at least offering her a cocktail first, perhaps Giorgio Moroder's droning synthesizers and David Bowie's sultry title song will lull you into a drowsy state that's receptive to Schrader's fever-dream. Mentally alert viewers, however, will probably chalk up this misfire to the writer/director's sexual hang-ups and move on to one of his superior efforts from the same time period.
Cat People on AllMovie
Cat People (1982)
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