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Amazon.co.uk Review
Paul Schrader, the director of American Gigolo, brought a similar kind of sexual chic to this explicit horror movie. A remake of the beautiful, haunting 1942 Cat People, this version takes off from the same idea: that a woman (Nastassja Kinski), a member of a race of feline humans, will revert to her animalistic self when she has sex. Arriving to meet her brother (Malcolm McDowell) in New Orleans, she finds herself disturbed by his sexual presence. A zoo curator (John Heard) becomes fascinated by her, but he will discover that her kittenish ways are just the tip of the claw. Schrader dresses the story up in a stylish, glossy production, keyed on Kinski's green-eyed, thick-lipped beauty; it's hard to think of another actress in 1982 who could so immediately suggest a cat walking on two legs. Luckily Kinski had a European attitude toward her body, because this film has plenty of poster-art nudity. There's also lots of gore and some wacky flashbacks to the ancient tribe of cat people, who hold rituals in an orange desert while Giorgio Moroder's music plays. Cat People doesn't really make all this come together, but it's always interesting to look at, and the dreadful mood lingers. --Robert Horton
Special Features
English
Region 2
Region 2
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
for all its dark. slightly gothic feel, it is in many ways a typical 80s horror flick. A little skin, a little sex, a little gore... Kinski is a competent actress, but made one too many films like this, doing the 'child woman' thing. It got old really fast. McDowell does creepy really well, but sort of sleepwalks through the part. Both leads give me the impression that they didn't really know what the director wanted, and it is there the blame lies. It shouldn't have been remade really, the best thing about it are the big cats! The original had more underpinning it than this has.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I'm not opposed to the idea of remakes, although this film shows just why it's a better idea to remake bad films with unfulfilled potential than great ones that far exceeded theirs. Even ignoring comparisons with Val Lewton's classic, it's rare for a film to misfire on quite as many levels as this early Bruckheimer movie - and it's much more of a Bruckheimer movie than a Schrader one - but sadly, like all Bruckheimer movies, this promises much but then resolutely fails to deliver (after all, Bruckheimer is the guy who made a car chase movie and then forgot to include any car chases until the last reel). The sexual fantasies may be Schrader's, but the style is all Bruckheimer's - glossy visuals, marketable soundtrack, good-looking cast given little to work with, meandering script and a dogged refusal to make good on the hype.
However, even ignoring the fact that the producer is more interested in the marketing than the movies themselves, taken on its own merits, `Cat People' just doesn't work. For a film about a race of incestuous cat people, it's astonishingly boring. Nothing much happens in the most uninteresting way possible for 90 minutes until Kinski's character undergoes a sudden complete moral u-turn and the filmmakers try to wrap everything up in a hurry so they can get home before the pubs shut. As a film about sexuality, it has no insight. As a sex film, it has no sex or eroticism. As a thriller, it doesn't thrill. As a horror film, it has no atmosphere or menace. Worst of all, it's just so astonishingly dull. And don't expect much in the way of special effects or gore - most of what was shot hit the cutting room floor (and don't go looking for them on the DVD - no deleted scenes there).
The DVD itself is a good package - a new 25-minute interview with Schrader and a worrying one from 1982 where he's barely coherent and obviously under the influence; interview with make-up FX man Tom Burman; Robert Wise on Val Lewton; stills montage; trailer; and an audio commentary by Schrader. Absolutely none of which makes this film any better, but at least gives you some insight into how Schrader's admitted personal problems helped send it off the rails. Only a poor stereo mix lets the side down.
However, even ignoring the fact that the producer is more interested in the marketing than the movies themselves, taken on its own merits, `Cat People' just doesn't work. For a film about a race of incestuous cat people, it's astonishingly boring. Nothing much happens in the most uninteresting way possible for 90 minutes until Kinski's character undergoes a sudden complete moral u-turn and the filmmakers try to wrap everything up in a hurry so they can get home before the pubs shut. As a film about sexuality, it has no insight. As a sex film, it has no sex or eroticism. As a thriller, it doesn't thrill. As a horror film, it has no atmosphere or menace. Worst of all, it's just so astonishingly dull. And don't expect much in the way of special effects or gore - most of what was shot hit the cutting room floor (and don't go looking for them on the DVD - no deleted scenes there).
The DVD itself is a good package - a new 25-minute interview with Schrader and a worrying one from 1982 where he's barely coherent and obviously under the influence; interview with make-up FX man Tom Burman; Robert Wise on Val Lewton; stills montage; trailer; and an audio commentary by Schrader. Absolutely none of which makes this film any better, but at least gives you some insight into how Schrader's admitted personal problems helped send it off the rails. Only a poor stereo mix lets the side down.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I dont usually write reviews, but am a serious film lover, and having read all these poor reviews of one of my favourite films, Cat People, it made me wonder, why did I love it so much?? I think it has alot to do with the age i was when i saw it - I was 13. And maybe the problem with the film is that it works best for younger teenagers, who enjoy minor horror, dreamlike fantasy, and mild eroticism. OK, I'll concede, it is slightly dull in places.
But it has alot going for it. First off, the soundtrack, by Giorgio Moroder, is AWESOME. For years after seeing the film i was desperate to find the soundtrack album. I still love the music to Cat People, it really got under my skin. And the theme song, Putting Out Fire by David Bowie, is a killer track, and totally ahead of its time.
Secondly, I adore Nastasja Kinski. I love the dreamlike quality of her acting in this film, she is beautiful, mysterious, detached, alluring, threatening, innocent, all at once. And i loved her journey of dark discovery. The whole film is odd, and frequently dreamlike. Its meant to be an adult erotic fantasy, but really, it works best as a mixed up adolescent dream. Watching it again now, i dont love it quite as much as i did. But I still love it, and will never forget the impression it made on me when i was 13.
But it has alot going for it. First off, the soundtrack, by Giorgio Moroder, is AWESOME. For years after seeing the film i was desperate to find the soundtrack album. I still love the music to Cat People, it really got under my skin. And the theme song, Putting Out Fire by David Bowie, is a killer track, and totally ahead of its time.
Secondly, I adore Nastasja Kinski. I love the dreamlike quality of her acting in this film, she is beautiful, mysterious, detached, alluring, threatening, innocent, all at once. And i loved her journey of dark discovery. The whole film is odd, and frequently dreamlike. Its meant to be an adult erotic fantasy, but really, it works best as a mixed up adolescent dream. Watching it again now, i dont love it quite as much as i did. But I still love it, and will never forget the impression it made on me when i was 13.
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great movie
yes it maybe too 80's but if that movie was done in the 90's where technology is much better, it would have been a blockbuster
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