Cat People

Name: Cat People
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Released: April 2, 1982
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 61
Cast: John Heard, Malcolm McDowell, Nastassja Kinski

1982

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Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 90 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 90 Ratings

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Cat People

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: April 2, 1982 | R

Starring: John Heard, Malcolm McDowell, Nastassja Kinski

Summary: In this erotic remake of the 1942 classic, a young woman's sexual awakening brings horror when she discovers her urges transform her into a monstrous black leopard.

Director: Paul Schrader

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Fantasy, Horror, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 118 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Jack Kroll

Cat People retains the psychological suggestiveness of the original while adding a blazing, carefully controlled eroticism and violence as well as state-of-the-art special effects and a ravishing over-all physical design. And it has the quintessential cat-person in Nastassia Kinski. As with all horror classics, what might be ludicrous is transformed into something gripping by the passionate logic of a grotesque metaphor. Alan Ormsby's screenplay has the logic and Paul Schrader has the passion. The result is Schrader's best work as a director. [05 Apr 1982, p.74]

Roger Ebert

Cat People moves back and forth between its mythic and realistic levels, held together primarily by the strength of Kinski's performance and John Heard's obsession. Kinski is something. She never overacts in this movie, never steps wrong, never seems ridiculous; she just steps onscreen and convincingly underplays a leopard. Heard also is good. Read full review

Chuck Bowen

The opening credits immediately insist that director Paul Schrader isn’t interested in merely reprising your grandparents’ beloved version of Cat People, the 1942 horror film memorably directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton. Set to the background of a profoundly bright brick red, which is soon revealed to be a desert jungle-scape, Giorgio Moroder’s primal synth score prepares us for an erotic blowout that overtly literalizes the Cat People conceit for the sake of a little soft porn fun. Read full review

Empire Kim Newman

It's not exactly good, and it has some very bad scenes indeed, but the performances sometimes sparkle and the unusual happy ending -- scored with David Bowie's 'Putting Out the Fire With Gasoline' -- is surprisingly moving. Read full review

Vincent Canby

Miss Kinski and Mr. McDowell are most effective - eerie and damned -and Mr. Heard is stalwart and self-effacing as the mere human who stumbles onto the truth and forever guards the secret. Read full review

Richard Schickel

Anyone grownup enough to gain legal admission to the movie (it is rated R) will probably find himself either reduced to guffaws or wishing he had stayed home looking at his poster of Nastassia Kinski wearing a snake. Read full review

Gary Arnold

All the modest virtues of the original film have been discarded in favor of lurid excess. What was once unpretentious, suggestive, implicit and erotically tragic has become bombastic, literal-minded, explicit and erotically stupefying. Read full review

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User Reviews

Perineum

Jan 14, 2020

One of the best horror remakes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9 of 13 users found this helpful94

Steven1981

Mar 21, 2020

Cat People is a 1982 fantasy horror that never gets boring if at all hardly ever. It's a nice story which swings back and fourth from different time periods and Natassia Kinski sort of brings the film a sparkle with her natural beauty and this is even without wearing any makeup or lipstickCat People is a 1982 fantasy horror that never gets boring if at all hardly ever. It's a nice story which swings back and fourth from different time periods and Natassia Kinski sort of brings the film a sparkle with her natural beauty and this is even without wearing any makeup or lipstick or dressing too fancy. Annette O'Toole also gives a good performance and her character is likeable but all of them are in this film but add beauty to a few hints of terror and suspense and a bit of horror, gore, blood and you've the Cat People recipe. Plus a hint of love in the film as it deals with that aspect and also trust especially if you examine the film carefully and you'll see there's a subject surrounding or involving trust in probably a few ways. The mutation from human to beast is in there too and executed reasonably well and nothing looks fake in Cat People and it's all old fashioned but decent directing unlike today with computer nonsense and jumpscares. Malcolm McDowell, Natassia Kinski, John Heard and Annette O'Toole star in this entertaining horror and there's a few gory scenes but some dude getting his arm ripped off by the black cat beast is priceless. Malcolm McDowell laying naked on the bathroom floor and getting stabbed by a pane of glass by his sister before looking at his hand to see him mutating and them evil eyes. Cat People is an underrated movie beautifully directed and was made with care and attention and is actually fairly scary which is odd because I've seen many horrors and none are scary so this is a unique, beautiful and essential movie for any film lover. The use of beautiful and bright colours in some scenes and not so bright but dull in others but this doesn't spoil the movie because the whole story moves at a decent pace and genuinely feels put together well. The acting isn't silly and a good performance by all the cast and people involved even if some only had a small role because each was vital to create this beautiful gem. Blood, horror, some violence, sex scenes, nudity and the beautiful Kinski. Cat People delivers!… Expand

10 of 12 users found this helpful102

John935

Apr 11, 2019

Hmmmm. I'm writing this in 2019, ok?, so it's an old movie, but probably my favorite Paul Schrader, and, let's be honest, Nastassia has a few fans and she's a Hot Potato in this. Visually it tells you practically all you need to know about the early 1980s. Weird? Yes. Great? That'sHmmmm. I'm writing this in 2019, ok?, so it's an old movie, but probably my favorite Paul Schrader, and, let's be honest, Nastassia has a few fans and she's a Hot Potato in this. Visually it tells you practically all you need to know about the early 1980s. Weird? Yes. Great? That's debatable. But I still remember it, fondly. Prrrr.… Expand

3 of 23 users found this helpful320

FilipeNeto

Apr 26, 2020

This is a slightly erotic "remake" (only the title and general concept were reused) of a 1942 film, more than forgotten today. And this film, apparently, follows the same path. The story revolves around a young woman who goes to visit her brother, from whom she was separated as a childThis is a slightly erotic "remake" (only the title and general concept were reused) of a 1942 film, more than forgotten today. And this film, apparently, follows the same path. The story revolves around a young woman who goes to visit her brother, from whom she was separated as a child because of the death of her parents. She ends up discovering that they are both descended from a long-extinct people where incest is necessary, because they turn into murderous panthers when they try to have sex with normal people, being forced to kill to return to human form.

The film plays on two realities that shock us in almost the same proportion: incest and homicide. The story is rather weak, it never sounds authentic, but if we accept it, the film flows. It is full of eroticism but if we can handle some reasonably explicit woman nudes we will have no problems with that. There are some tougher or violent scenes, but it never shows anything truly grotesque or scary... at least for me.

What I liked most about the entire film was Nastassja Kinski's excellent performance. I didn't like her for her physical beauty (I even thought she was very normal, to be honest) but for the way she was able to show her character's internal doubts and questions, the way she confronts fears, taboos and traumas to find out who really is. The incest issue disturbs and even leaves the romantic plot in the background, but the film works better as a psychological drama and it happens thanks to Kinski. Malcolm McDowell has done a decent job, but he is never more than average and does not shade anyone. John Heard is totally cliché and boring.

Technically, it is a very dated film, with a cinematography and colors very fainted, but that was the standard at the time. Everything else is as it should be, with sets and costumes according to the period and very functional special and sounds effects, which seem totally archaic to our eyes, as that we are used to something much more elaborate. The soundtrack, with an interesting David Bowie theme, looks really good.

Not being a wonderful film, because it is not, it seems to me one of those films that are difficult to frame. Not being terrifying or scary, it has several elements of terror; not being erotic, she has a lot of exposed skin; not being romantic, it is based on a romantic drama. Anyway, not as bad as I expected.… Expand

0 of 10 users found this helpful010

O3Chaos

Feb 14, 2021

Tedious, boring, melodramatic, over wrought, bad dialog, sheesh. What a turd of a movie.

0 of 12 users found this helpful012

Broyax

Feb 20, 2020

Pas loin de deux heures pendant lesquelles on a tout le loisir et le temps -ou pas- d'admirer deux belles panthères... l'une est très noire et plus animale que l'autre, laquelle est presque blonde et d'une beauté et d'une grâce (féline) vraiment charmantes à tous points de vue...

Je disPas loin de deux heures pendant lesquelles on a tout le loisir et le temps -ou pas- d'admirer deux belles panthères... l'une est très noire et plus animale que l'autre, laquelle est presque blonde et d'une beauté et d'une grâce (féline) vraiment charmantes à tous points de vue...

Je dis bien "ou pas" parce que c'est bien sûr optionnel selon le temps dont on dispose... ou pas. En effet, ce prétendu film "fantastique" n'est surtout que bavardage et remplissage à dormir debout... d'un bout à l'autre ; d'ailleurs, au bout de... presque une heure, si Nastassja (oh que c'est difficile à écrire ce prénom mais je tente de me concentrer quand même !) si Nastas... enfin si Nast ne montrait pas son joli cul, on ronflerait déjà à faire trembler l'immeuble.

Malcolm fait ce qu'il peut, lui aussi dans ce navet pas frais mais que voulez-vous... un acteur, faut que ça mange ! C'est pas rigolo tous les jours, qu'est-ce que vous croyez... Rien qu'à les voir, ça fout le bourdon : ils rament, nous on baille... et ça n'avance pas, ça meuble à n'en plus finir. Bon, j'avoue, d'habitude, j'arrive à finir ce genre de daube au moins en avance rapide... mais là, j'ai pas pu... au temps pour moi ! mais il y a des limites qu'on ne peut pas franchir en termes d'ennui...… Expand

0 of 12 users found this helpful012

Meatpasta

Jun 30, 2020

I had to stop halfway, too much incestuous crap and sex stuff and it was really boring, what I saw of the first half wasn't really that great and at 2 hours long, I wasn't gonna waste another hour, avoid.

0 of 11 users found this helpful011

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