The Curse of the Cat People (1944)

It is a performances centric movie

hyped garbage

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

I don't suppose any horror film has created more critical controversy than Curse of the Cat People. It has its admirers, its detractors and those who stand in the middle. Me, I'm a firm admirer. I love the movie. I think it's almost perfect. Ann Carter is so convincing a little actress, it doesn't really matter that Simone Simon's role is so small, nor that the script is sometimes a bit ambiguous, nor that the story sometimes heads in one direction only to veer off in another. Miss Carter not only holds it all together but overshadows any and all deficiencies in script, support acting and production. It doesn't matter to me whether Irena is a real ghost or whether she exists solely in Amy's imagination. I don't care if Amy's fantasy world is Disneyesque, - why wouldn't it be? If the attitudes of her parents and teacher appear stiff or inconsistent or enigmatic, isn't this precisely the way they could be interpreted by a child? Once you view the movie from Amy's perspective, the inconsistencies and non-sequiters, the oddities and half-explained events, don't just dissolve but become part of the fabric of the child's vision. Such is the skill of Wise's editing and direction, it's impossible to tell where he begins and another leaves off. Musuraca's moodily atmospheric photography gives the images a luster that are always a joy to behold. The sets strikingly contrast Victorian fusty with cleanly modern, the workaday real with romantic fantasy. Irena's costume has been criticized, but isn't it precisely the trailing-sleeved gown of a fairytale princess? The music too, the carols, are highly appropriate. An engrossing 70 minutes. The pace never falters. The only thing wrong with The Curse of the Cat People is its title. OTHER VIEWS: Great acting from Ann Carter who is actually the lead in this alleged "sequel", with some excellent support from Sir Lancelot as the little missy's minder, Julia Dean as a half-mad old thespian and Elizabeth Russell as her embittered daughter, and of course Simone Simon as the is-she-menacing-or-is-she-not wraith of traumatic past. These players more than overcome any slight feelings of doubt audiences may have about the story and its veracity. John Howard Reid writing as Charles Freeman.

Strike One: labeled as "horror" which simply can't be more inaccurate. If this is "horror" then "Halloween" is a "family" film.Strike Two: There is no obvious or even subtle "curse" as mentioned in the title of the film.Strike Three: There are no "cat people" anywhere to be seen.For reasons I cannot fathom, many reviewers here give the film a pass on all of this and rave about the film while stating "oh just forget the title." OK...recall the sequel to "Frankenstein" - "Bride of Frankenstein" - now imagine there is NO bride, there is NO Dr. Frankenstein, and only the monster appears, but only in a few scenes and not really as the monster but in some other manifestation, and it turns out the film has nothing really at all to do with Frankenstein or the monster or the bride, but some other character you'd never heard of. Um, what? That would be a mess. And yet, that is what you have here with "Curse of the Cat People." This cannot be excused, I'm sorry.I understand that Val Lewton wanted to name the film something else and not have it linked to "Cat People," but he lost that argument to RKO and as a result we have this film as is. It must be graded as such, and unfortunately it's a jumbled mess that doesn't make much sense when viewed as the continuing story from the original. Perhaps the most aggravating aspect of the film (aside from the title) is the father, Oliver, suddenly having a serious memory block on what happened at the climax of "Cat People." In that one, his first wife was revealed to be able to change into a panther and she literally died in panther form. Oliver witnessed this and it's how the film ended. Suddenly six years later his memory has apparently been completely lost and now he says his first wife 'drove herself mad' because she believed fantasy stories! Wait, what? Does Oliver not remember seeing his dead panther-wife lying on the ground six years ago? What are you talking about? This made absolutely no sense, even more so when he became intolerant of his daughter's alleged fantasies, because having witnessed a real-life panther woman, he of all people should be open to fantastical stories. But no.It was also irritating for Oliver to castigate his daughter Amy for not having friends or playing with them, because what we are shown doesn't jive with his claims. The opening scenes show Amy playing with other children. Yes, her mind wanders as she sits there, but she is playing with them. Later when talk of her birthday party comes up, she is excited and rattles off the names of at least five children she expects to see at her party. If this child was a loner with no friends, how is she able to identify several children coming to her party? And why is she excited to see them? And later, when it is learned that the party invitations were not mailed, and thus the children weren't invited, the children are upset by this and shun Amy in retribution. Now, if Amy was a loner with no friends, why would all of these children care about her party at all? They shouldn't even want to go. None of this makes any sense. The film-makers utterly failed to establish that Amy really was a loner or a dreamer who was losing touch with reality. She was a typical little girl who occasionally chased butterflies and somehow this translates into 'she lives in a fantasy world?' I don't think so.The film suffers from these flaws, and others, and what you're left with is a confusing hodge-podge that also, at times, manages to exude some real charm. That comes mainly from Ann Carter as Amy; she was very convincing, especially for a child actor. I also enjoyed Simone Simon's 'cameo' and the cinematography is also noteworthy.In sum, not a total loss, but not at all as advertised. More like a sheep in wolves' clothing (jumbled on purpose, because it falls flat and is not horror in any sense of the word). 6/10.

I really like Cat People (1942)and was curious for its sequel even though I knew beforehand that Curse would be no horror at all. Indeed this is more of a drama with fantasy elements. However not as good as its predecessor I think it's a wonderful movie in its own right. It was nice to see the 3 main characters from Cat People again. I think it was very nice to make Irena return as ghost. It makes sense, Irena was a cat person and cats are said to have nine lives. However here she really isn't a cat person more of a good fairy. Her scenes with little Alice are splendid. Kudos to very young Ann Carter to make the movie pretty much hers. Her befriending an old lady from which she got a gift eventually provides us with a dramatic back story that unfortunately doesn't get elaborated on enough. That's a pity because it could have made the movie even better.

Robert Wise directed this sequel to "Cat People", set several years later. Oliver Reed(played by Kent Smith) and Alice(played by Jane Randolph) are now married with a six-year old daughter named Amy(played by Ann Carter). Amy is a lonely child who has a hard time making friends, and seems to prefer living in her fantasy world, visited by the ghost of Irina(played by Simone Simon) Irina looks after Amy, but Oliver wants nothing to do with this, insisting that Amy must be socialized. Amy does befriend an elderly woman in her "haunted" house, though her daughter(played by Elizabeth Russell, though not as her cat lady character from the first) is resentful. Amy will later run away from home, becoming lost, though she is far from being alone... Unique and thoughtful sequel builds on the story from Part I, rather than repeating it, and result is most satisfying. (No third film was made however!)