THE STORY
While sketching a panther in an American city zoo, Irene, a Serbian-born fashion designer, a marine engineer ,Oliver, approaches her and she invites him for tea in her apartment. At the apartment he's intrigued by a statue of a warrior with a cat impaled on his sword. Irena explains the warrior is King John of Serbia and according to the legend the residents of her village turned into cats and she believes she's descended from them. Oliver then persuades her to marry him but then after a mysterious woman in a Serbian restaurant refers to her as her sister she then avoids sleeping with her husband fearing that emotional arousal may turn her into a predator. After Irene finds out her husband has been confessing his marital problems to his assistant, Alice, she felt betrayed and started following Alice. Alice had a sense of being stalked by an animal. During working time, Alice and Oliver are being threatened by an aggressive animal. After repelling the animal, Alice calls Dr.Judd and warns him to avoid her, but unwilling to control his feelings for Irene he kisses her. Irene then turns into a panther, kills him and then made her way to the zoo where she forced herself to get killed by a panther.
WHAT I THINK OF THE FILM
I believe the film is a link between horror and female sexuality. The idea that a woman can be transformed into a panther goes back to Ancient Egypt where cats symbolized female dominance. Like the Sphynx for example, which was half woman half lion. The strong points of the whole movie are the sound effects and the tense music which engrosses the viewer to watch the rest. Like the noises in the swimming pool along with the huge shadows of the creature created a nightmarish scenery which can be resembled with a nightmare. Even though being a black and white movie, the contrast of darkness and light controlled the whole suspense of the film. The problem was that the movie was moving very slowly and although the tense scenes were grasping, it made the rest of the film a bit dull. I was also disappointed by the panther's transformation which skipped the progress and just showed the animal itself. To sum up I was happy for the opportunity to watch this film as it's named as one of the "classic" ones.
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF THE FILM
"Cat People wasn't frightening like a slasher movie, using shocks and gore, but frightening in an eerie, mysterious way that was hard to define; the screen harbored unseen threats."
I believe is was scary in a way that it made you think how emotional arousal or jealously can turn someone into a killing force.
"Unpleasant film argues we should be afraid of people who are different."
I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. In fact, it shows we should be afraid of people's sudden and unpredictable emotions in terms of relationships.
"Female sexuality is a rich source of a certain kind of horror - the kind of horror that plays upon the anxieties that prudish bourgeois men have about their wives' sex lives."
Well I can define some sexism here.
STILLS
Alice jumps in the pool as she senses someone is fo9llowing her.
While sketching a panther in an American city zoo, Irene, a Serbian-born fashion designer, a marine engineer ,Oliver, approaches her and she invites him for tea in her apartment. At the apartment he's intrigued by a statue of a warrior with a cat impaled on his sword. Irena explains the warrior is King John of Serbia and according to the legend the residents of her village turned into cats and she believes she's descended from them. Oliver then persuades her to marry him but then after a mysterious woman in a Serbian restaurant refers to her as her sister she then avoids sleeping with her husband fearing that emotional arousal may turn her into a predator. After Irene finds out her husband has been confessing his marital problems to his assistant, Alice, she felt betrayed and started following Alice. Alice had a sense of being stalked by an animal. During working time, Alice and Oliver are being threatened by an aggressive animal. After repelling the animal, Alice calls Dr.Judd and warns him to avoid her, but unwilling to control his feelings for Irene he kisses her. Irene then turns into a panther, kills him and then made her way to the zoo where she forced herself to get killed by a panther.WHAT I THINK OF THE FILM
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF THE FILM
"Cat People wasn't frightening like a slasher movie, using shocks and gore, but frightening in an eerie, mysterious way that was hard to define; the screen harbored unseen threats."
I believe is was scary in a way that it made you think how emotional arousal or jealously can turn someone into a killing force.
"Unpleasant film argues we should be afraid of people who are different."
I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. In fact, it shows we should be afraid of people's sudden and unpredictable emotions in terms of relationships.
"Female sexuality is a rich source of a certain kind of horror - the kind of horror that plays upon the anxieties that prudish bourgeois men have about their wives' sex lives."
Well I can define some sexism here.
STILLS
This is the sculpture that captured Oliver's interest.
The romantic couple on the first time they met which ended into a tragedy.
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