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February 4, 2007
Ferdy at the Movies - The Curse of the Curse of the Cat People
The Curse of the Cat People is not a bad movie, it just has nothing to do with the title. This is not a horror film, it's an after-school special.
My biggest criticism (and it's a big one) is that there are no cats. In the original Cat People, there were cats all over the place-- at the office, in the park, hanging around on street corners-- but the only cat in Curse was spliced in by the film company in a failed attempt to make the film fit the title.
The film is about a young girl-- Amy Reed-- who is excessively polite, has a vivid imagination, and doesn't get along with other kids. Bruce didn't understand what was unusual about that (which is kind of scary in itself), but whereas Bruce's parents considered him a hopeless cause, Amy's father Oliver is desperate that she learn to fit in. Oliver's first wife was Irena the cat-woman from the first film. Amy's mother is Alice, Reed's second wife, but Reed is afraid Amy's strangeness comes from Irena in some mysterious way, and that Amy's life, like Irena's, will end in tragedy.
Irena's presence is hanging around the Reed house, but the dark, conflicted witch woman of the first film has been transformed into a benevolent angel, and despite all the sinister lighting and mysterious mood music, the film has a happy ending. In fact, the original ending of the film was only semi-happy, and producer Val Lewton (whose childhood was very much like Amy's) went back after the film had wrapped and shot a new, happier one.
The disconnect between the title and the film comes from the fact that the studio came up with the title and asked Lewton to build a movie around it. The lurid trailer represents what the studio wanted the film to be, and one can only imagine the confusion of the audiences who saw it in the theater. You can avoid that problem by not watching the trailer and by pretending the title of the movie is something innocuous like Amy. From that perspective, it's a pretty good film with a lot of psychological depth.
But don't expect to see any cats.
Respectfully submitted,
Ferdinand T. Cat
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Posted by: Sal at February 5, 2007 8:25 AM
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