The Curse of the Cat People (1944)

After his wife Irena's death, Oliver Reed has remarried to former co- worker Alice Moore. They have a strange daughter named Amy. She has no friends and hears voices. She befriends elderly recluse former actress Julia Farren living in a nearby mansion who is estranged from her own daughter Barbara. After finding a picture of Irena, Amy starts seeing an imaginary Irena.This is a strange horror sequel where the cast returns but the lead character is dead. Nevertheless, this stands on its own as a spooky little horror. The little girl is spooky herself. It's a moody small scale horror. Other than the original's iconic swimming pool scene, this is just as good. It turns a transformational horror into a ghost movie. Both works on their own terms.

The Val Lewton Series of Films in the 1940's are Simply Special, Without Peer, and a highly Praised, Off-Beat, and an Excellent Event of Filmmaking that was initially Over-Looked and considered Low-Budget Anomalies.At the Time, completely Misunderstood and Ignored, so much so that No One even Tried to Duplicate the Success. One Wonders if Anyone Could.It seems to be a Mini-Zeitgeist, combining elements of the Universal Horror Movies from the Thirties, Film-Noir, and a New Hollywood Exploration that would Result in the then Emerging and now Solid Genre called the Psychological Thriller.It cannot be Overstated just how Brilliant and Influential these Films from the Lewton Stable of Imaginative and Talented Filmmakers would become. In this one, a Semi-Sequel, but a Sequel to be sure, with Returning Characters and Story Arc. But it IS Different. A Dream-Like Fantasy World of a Child's Loneliness, Isolation, and a Wish for a Friend.The Beautiful, and at times Heart-Breaking Performance from Child Actress Ann Carter, along with the Stunning and Visual Template of Cinematographer Muskura, make this a Haunting, Elegant, and Intellectually Stimulating Film.It is yet Another of the Val Lewton Series of Movies that Command Attention with its Professionalism and Creative Style. These were all done in the now Famous Low-Low-Budget and that in itself is Worthy of the often sighted Genius that these Film Folks Achieved.This is one very Different Movie. Fans have Migrated to it from Word of Mouth. It Never seems to Disappoint New Viewers with its Charm and Ability to Penetrate the Subconscious. There are Detractors around who, with all Due Respect, just Don't Get the Appeal. But They are in a very small Minority. For most, the Viewing Experience is Profound, Poignant, and Provocative.Note…The summary title above…Amy and Her Friend…is what Val Lewton preferred.

Trying to help his shy daughter, a man's efforts to give her a friend results in her conjuring her mother as a playmate and spending more time with her to where they find the truth about her and try to stop her before she gets to the child.There isn't a whole lot to this one. One of the better points for the film is the general plot-line. It's a little original and does offer up some potentially disturbing ideas here of the dead mother coming back to her daughter as an imaginary friend, though that tends to fall off quite easily in here. Every now and then, this pops out a pretty nice suspense scene, as the initial walk-through of the house does get some good moments in, as there's a really creepy air going through the place from the large amount of furniture and other objects found to the darkness of the place really makes for a creepy sequence. What also works is the latter scene where she's startled in her sleep from the howling wind, mainly for adhering so closely to horror conventions over the years. The only other thing that works here is the final chase, as the run through the snowy forest looking for her friend, the dogs on her trail and finally finding shelter at the house here for a big final confrontation. These here are the only right parts, but as much good as there is, there's the same amount of bad. This is due to their not being a whole lot wrong since there isn't much at all to the film. Nothing much happens at all in the way of scares, suspense, action or even jumps, and at times very rarely feels like a horror film. There's a bit of potential due to the original plot, but the fact that nothing at all happens really destroys this one. That is the main and central flaw with this one, which is just as bad as it's other one, where it rarely feels like a horror film. This is due to the film really failing to make any real threat associated with what's happening here as though everyone here knows who she is and what happened to her that doesn't come across over to this one. This really could've done something by hinting that the daughter could've started to act like her mother once they let her in on who her playmate really is when she was still alive, but instead this one utilizes the time showing her shyness with other kids and treats the whole affair like a story told by a child with an overactive imagination. This is a really damaging part here as this here not only devalues of lot of what happened in the original but really keeps the film from really embracing what kind of film it really is with the avoidance of being a horror film so much a part of this one. Likewise, the other part that makes no sense here is the relationship of the two women in the house who are given a status to each other but continually deny it without saying why, and the entire point here is lost and quite confusing. These are the main strikes against it.Today's Rating/G: Nothing.

It's probably important to say I wasn't the biggest fan of the first movie "Cat People" to begin with. I pretty much still gave it the benefit of the doubt because it was such a well made movie but its pacing seriously bothered me and I also remember very little about the actual movie. This sequel is pretty much taking the same approach but it's featuring far less memorable moments in it.It's quite amazing; even though this is only an 70 minutes short movie, it feels like a much longer one, due to its slow pace. It also takes away before the movie finally starts to become truly interesting with its story and the twists and surprises that are in it. It are only really the last 20 minutes or so of the movie that are truly interesting. It is then that the movie starts to become an intriguing one with its mystery. A little too late to still make this a a great movie but it does make it a perfectly watchable one still.Don't really know what the motivations were for the film-makers to go with a story that follows a young child. It seems a bit an odd choice for a movie that could be considered to be a horror. Besides, it just isn't the most interesting approach, since it seems to restrain the movie in its drama, mystery and horror.So I never really expected this to be a great movie in the first place but I still thought it would be interesting to see, since its one of the earliest movies from Robert Wise's directing career. I however wish I could say the style and atmosphere was similar to great horror movies such as "The Haunting", which earned Robert Wise lots of fame and praise.But I also really can't call this a horrible movie. Despite of everything, it still is a watchable enough little movie, that should please the fans of the original "Cat People", who are hungry for some more, even though the movie really doesn't have that much to do that much with its original.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/