Val Lewton Collection: Curse of the Cat People

As expected by the title, Curse of the Cat People (1944) is a sequel to producer Val Lewton's first horror film Cat People. Unexpectedly, at least by RKO Studios, was the fact that the sequel is not a horror film at all, but a moody exploration of childhood fantasy. Lewton took the road less travelled in delivering a sequel, and the result is a beautiful and quite brilliant fantasy drama.

DeWitt Bodeen again wrote the screenplay, and the story does have some narrative connections with its eerie predecessor. Oliver (Kent Smith), Irena's husband from the first film, is now married to Alice (Jane Randolph), and they have a child, a young girl, Amy (Ann Carter). Often retreating into a fantasy life, Amy has trouble developing friendships with other children, and begins to have visions of Irena (Simone Simon). Irena died in Cat People after being tormented with the belief that she has the occult power to transform into a black leopard. Amy befriends Irena, much to Oliver's disbelief and annoyance. His punishment of Amy after she refuses to deny that she has seen Irena is one of the film's most moving passages. Irena's magical friendship is a source of comfort and wonder to Amy, but most adults in the film are determined to suppress Amy's fantasy life, and the film seems to argue that by denying childhood fantasies we actually expose children to danger.

The credited co-director Gunther von Fritsch was fired by Lewton for running behind schedule; most of the film appears to have been shot by Robert Wise, who of course went on to direct Hollywood classics like West Side Story and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Imbrued with the atmosphere of a gothic fairy tale, some scenes foreshadow Wise's great The Haunting, one of the eeriest supernatural films ever made, particularly a shot of Amy approaching a foreboding, mysterious house. Haunting and moving, Curse of the Cat People is one of the most beautiful cinematic meditations on the inner life of a child.

The Curse of the Cat People DVD pairs it with the original film. The picture is very clear, especially in a night scene with Irena's Christmas present to Amy in the garden.