(1944)**
A sequel in name only, Curse of the Cat People takes place 7 years after its predecessor. With the death of his first wife, Irena, Oliver and Alice are now happily married with a 7-year old daughter, Amy. As the film opens we learn that Amy is having some problems both at home and at school due to an overactive imagination and quixotic notions. In one sad scene Amy waits for her classmates to come to her birthday party. When no one shows, we learn that she “mailed” the invitations by putting them in an old oak tree. She believed that the tree was a “magic mailbox”, something her father had told her when she was 3 years old.
Oliver: “I told you that when you were 3.”
Amy: “I know, and I remembered.”
Oliver encourages Amy to make friends but becomes increasingly frustrated when she fails to do so. The other children shy away from her because she is “different” as her schoolteacher calls her. After befriending an eccentric old woman in the neighborhood, she is given a “wishing ring”. Amy, of course, wishes for a friend and soon after she meets Irena, Oliver’s dead wife. Oliver goes ballistic with this turn of events. Not only does May have an imaginary friend, but she claims it’s his crazy, dead, cat woman wife from Cat People! After punishing Amy for making up this “imaginary” friend, Amy runs away at night, into a heavy snowstorm.
I can only imagine that the RKO studio heads were furious when Van Lewton turned in this film. Believing that they were going to be seeing a film about people being hunted by satanic cats, instead they were given this quiet little character study about the dreamy world of childhood. Is Irena real or just the imaginary companion of a lonely little girl? It doesn’t really matter. While an effective film, this is no horror movie. It was fun to view the trailer in order to see how they “sold” the dramatic elements to the audience.
9 comments:
I hope you do the Natasha Kinski Cat People before the month is out.
I plan on it if I can secure a copy!
Wait, why is this "a sequel in name only?" Their plots might be different, but aren't these movies two spots in the same story?
Although the cast is the same you could substitute any other cast and tell the same story. There are no cats in this film and the dead woman from cat people really only represents an imaginary friend.
Oh, you ruined the ending! This is just like when you ruined the ending of Phone Booth.
I ruined nothing you bastard.
Oh, that's right. You refused to reveal the ending of Phone Booth despite my urgings, and despite my point that you'd earlier told me about the crash-landing in Star Trek: Generations, which of course I actually cared about.
You know what else? I remembered that you told me about the original Nightmare on Elm Street's phone-tongue after seeing it with Gary! Another surprise I never got to experience.
I seem to recall you ruining a key point in The Ring to your younger brother. I won't repeat that point here because I'm not a movie-ruiner. Movie ruiner!
Hey! You don't get to call me movie ruiner! My brother doesn't care about that. Can you come up with an example of something I ruined for YOU? No, didn't think so.
A full year before Generations came out and I knew what happened b/c you bought the screenplay at some convention. And you dare call me a movie ruiner. I'm sputtering with indignation.
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