Product Description

An innocent beautys affair with a new orleans zookeeper seals her feline fate with her long-lost brother. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/24/2004 Starring: Nastassia Kinski Pat Perkins Run time: 119 minutes Rating: R Director: Paul Schrader

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8683 in DVD
• Brand: Universal Studios
• Released on: 2002-08-27
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

Sex, Violence, and an Emerging Cult Favorite
In general terms, the basic premise of both original 1942 CAT PEOPLE and the 1982 Paul Schrader remake are the same: an exotic European beauty is given to transforming into a black panther when sexually aroused. But Schrader unravels this fantasy concept in some very Freudian directions, setting his version in against the decadent charm of New Orleans, introducing a theme of incest, and ramping up the original with a lot of nudity, a lot of sex, and some of the most graphic violence around. The result is an American blood-and-gore horror film with a hypnotic European sensibility that equates both sexual frustration and orgasm with violent death. The story line concerns two orphaned siblings (Natasha Kinski and Malcom McDowell) who are reunited in New Orleans as adults-but they are, unbeknownst to the sister, the descendents of a mutant race who can only mate with their own kind without transforming into ravening beasts who must then kill to regain their human form. When sister Natasha rejects her brother's advances and then falls in love with a hunky zoo director all hell breaks loose.

In some respects the film is extremely, extremely frustrating, often sliding over the edge from a sexually provocative shocker into moments of annoying silliness-but on the whole it works extremely well as a both a sexual fantasy and the penultimate statement in gratuitous sex and violence. Kinski is ideally cast as the sexy but virginal Irena; you can literally see the "cat" side of her nature emerge more and more as the film progresses. McDowell is equally interesting as her mad brother, and John Heard, Annette O'Toole, and particularly Ruby Dee offer excellent performances in the supporting cast. The New Orleans backdrop is extremely effective, and (speaking as one who has been there) the darker side of the city is perfectly captured; the Moroder score-which includes some sultry vocals by David Bowie-is also extremely good.

A great many people will loathe CAT PEOPLE, and the reasons will be diverse. The film is extremely bloody, often to a can-you-stand-to-look-at-the-screen degree; there is tremendous nudity and considerably sexual activity; and the combination of sex and violence into a sadomasochistic eroticism is quite disturbing. Beyond this, more critically inclined viewers may find themselves annoyed by the script's occasional silliness and the fact that it does not always go as far over the top as it leads you to expect, and the film's very literal depiction of fantasy elements will certainly not to be every taste. But if you have a hunger to walk on the wild side, CAT PEOPLE (which is rapidly gaining status as a cult film) will suit your need as guilty pleasure. A personal favorite.

A haunting, erotic horror movie
"Cat People" has two things going for it: a creepy, intriguing story line; and Nastassia Kinski. Kinski is absolutely mesmerizing in the title role; an erotic, exotic presence awakening to her own sexuality and discovering that she can only have a life with one of her own kind. Paul Schrader's direction lends a eerily spooky atmosphere to the film. Malcolm McDowell is excellent as Kinski's brother who sees her as his only salvation, as she sees him as her destruction; John Heard is okay but nothing special as Kinski's lover who finally realizes what she is and commits the act that at once sets her free and imprisons her for the rest of her life; and Ruby Dee has a small but haunting role as the landlady who knows Kinski's secret and confronts her with the devastating reality of what lies ahead for her. There's plenty of blood and plenty of gore, but it all fits in with the story. It's not a great movie, but it's a very good one that deserves a wider audience.

Inbred Felines
Although mostly true to the original this one adds a new element to the story. Nastassia Kinski discovers she has a brother and moves to live with him. Said brother is a little strange as is his housekeeper. They seem to know something about her that they are not saying. Then a killer panther is captured at the same time the brother disappears. The cat is housed at a local zoo and Kinski visits it. From there she gets a job at the zoo and becomes close to one of the other workers there.

But Kinski's feelings bring consequences that she can not yet understand. But as her brother gets in trouble she learns some of the truth of her heritage. Now she must try to find some way to balance what she feels in her heart with the curse she carries. With the help of her new friend she comes up with what she feels is the only solution.

While this film manages to remain fairly true to the original, even duplicating some scenes, it seems more concerned with sex than it does with the original story. Nastasha could go around topless throughout the movie and hardly reveal more than she does with all her transparent clothing. She also has a confusing change of personality when she stalks another character. But all in all it manages to be a pretty good film and a fine tribute. Check it out.