Who are Your Cat People?

Since Criterion has that Paul Schrader playlist up now, I decided to watch his 1982 remake of Cat People again. That movie is a lot better than I remembered. I still greatly prefer the 1942 original but Schrader's version is pretty, wicked fun.

I think I first watched it on VHS, possibly even in pan-and-scan. I can't actually remember if I watched a better quality copy before now. I certainly think better sound helps the film a lot, especially with the jump scares involving growls, or fake growls, like the shot of the bus pulling into frame that Schrader replicates from the first film.

Certainly the score is terrific and though it'd been a while since I watched the movie, I have listened to Giorgio Moroder's score many times, with the David Bowie vocals. Its familiarity makes it even cooler to hear paired with Nastassja Kinski stalking through the woods or kneading bed sheets. She sure does look like a cat.

I also love the dream where she walks through the door and suddenly she's in a desert, talking to Malcolm McDowell.

As much as I love how the cat was kept to the shadows in the original, I love the autopsy in this one where a human arm sudden pops out of the dead leopard before it melts.

It's kind of hard to choose between Nastassja Kinski and Simone Simon for best Irena. They're both vulnerable yet convincingly predatory. Simon seems more heartbroken about it. Annette O'Toole is a better Alice. Having her topless in the pool scene is an improvement to something that's otherwise identical to the original, not just because she has great breasts but because it adds to the sense of her being caught off balance.

Schrader's version lacks the arrogant psychiatrist character played by Tom Conway in the original and adds the brother played by Malcolm McDowell. Although he's basically part of the opposite faction, let's say, it's kind of a similar role. He's there to smugly explain things but it was more satisfying in the original when Irena responded to the psychiatrist's sexual assault.

The end of the 1942 film is a lot better, it's more tragic and noir-ish. The 1982 film's ending is just kind of odd. But you gotta love that Bowie song. It's no wonder Tarantino repurposed it for Inglorious Basterds, saying it was too good just to be played over closing credits.