DOOMED TO SLINK & PROWL & COURT BY NIGHT....

!942's "Cat People" is one of the finest horror films ever made. Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur made a string of classic horror films in the 40's and this was the first. Simone Simon is unforgettable as Irena, a young fashion artist living in New York who falls in love and marries but won't consummate the marriage because of fear of an ancient Balkan curse. That curse being that the people of that sect (of whom she is a descendant) will turn into a panther and kill when aroused by passion. Her perplexed and lonely husband turns to a female co-worker for solace. The co-worker (Jane Randolph) is then stalked through the night by an unseen thing lurking in the shadows. Tourneur handles these scenes with pure film noir terror. The swimming pool scene and the bus stop scene where Randolph can hear the thing but can only see the shadow are beautifully done. Another excellent and chilling seen occurs in a bar where a strange cat-like woman passes Irena and her husband and says "Sister..." directly to Irena. Irena is visibly shaken. She has been detected by another "relative". When Irena turns to psychiatrist Dr.Judd (Tom Conway), the beast is unleashed when he crosses the line. "Cat People" is a beautiful b&w film noir horror tale that retains its classic status and I hope it opens the door for the other Lewton-Tourneur 40's films to follow. They deserve to be seen and appreciated by a new generation of film lovers.

Cat people review

A young psychoanalyst (Tom Conway)calmly tells his patient (Simone Simon) that her idea that she is turning into a panther is merely a fantasy, so she kills him with her fang and talon.
Val Lewton made his name famous as a producer in this fantasy-horror film, produced for RKO on a low budget.While other B-budget horror films that came out around this time used cheap imitations of the King Kong ape, fractured arms, and haunted houses, Lewton and the director Jacques Tourneur, employ suggestion, use odd sound effects, and camera angles that suggest Orson Welles, which leaves everthing up to the viewer's imagination.
Some scary sequences, such as the scare at the pool or the restraunt are classical.
The acting isn't as good as the effects though. With Kent Smith as Simon's husband, Jack holt, Alan Napier, Jane Randolph (As the colleague Kent smith likes), and Elizabeth Russell in a cameo as the wicked, real cat woman.

if it weren't for the exquisite Natassia Kinski...

...I would've given this zero stars.

It felt like a bad 1970s made-for-TV movie: clumsy pacing, cheesy keyboards on the soundtrack, tacky "matte" color photography, high-school-drama-class production standards during the absurd prehistoric Africa scenes... CHEEEEEEEEE-SY!!!

There's a little sex and some bared breasts I suppose, but far from "Basic Instinct" quality.

This little pussycat doesn't roar, it just kinda sorta meows.