Watch The Curse of the Cat People For Free

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Too much of everything

How sad is this?

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Cat People was an interesting thriller in which, as in most Val Lewton movies, you can interpret certain elements as you wish. The movie was a hit, so of course it makes sense that Hollywood wanted a sequel. Thus, Curse of the Cat People.If a sequel is a movie that continues the story of individuals from the original film, has some of the same actors, and has the original title in an altered form, then "Curse of the Cat People" is a sequel. But if a sequel is a movie that also is the same genre as its predecessor and aims for a similar visceral experience, then this movie is definitely not a sequel.While Cat People was a thriller with ambiguous elements, Curse of the Cat People is a moody tale of a lonely child's inner life. It is a movie about unhappiness, alienation, and the shaky line between fantasy and reality. It is a movie about the difficulties of parenting and the difficulties of having a parent. It is atmospheric and at times suspenseful, and it is ultimately a far more interesting and, for me, far better movie than Cat People.If you want an actual thriller sequel to Cat People, you may not like this. But if you want a fascinating and unusual film about childhood that is often told from the child's point of view, this is a must-see.

For reasons best known to the cynical, exploitationers concerned, this film was screened in a double bill with Cat People, to which, of course, it bears only the most tenuous connection. Like Cat People - in which I detected several flaws - I found here one gigantic flaw but again that may stem from the fact that I was watching both some seventy years after they first hit the screens. When, towards the beginning of the movie, Amy's contemporaries - three little girl who decline to play with her - first notice the old, large, house, it is on a regular block alongside others, yet when Amy runs out of the house in the last reel, she stumbles on the house after running through the WOODS for several minutes and it is completely isolated. That to one side I can but agree with several people who have recorded here their enchantment at this beguiling movie which is surely, as several of them noted, one of the finest depictions of a lonely child ever put on screen. Of the two titles in the double bill I found this the most enjoyable, entertaining and thought-provoking.

Robert Wise directed this sequel to "Cat People", set several years later. Oliver Reed(played by Kent Smith) and Alice(played by Jane Randolph) are now married with a six-year old daughter named Amy(played by Ann Carter). Amy is a lonely child who has a hard time making friends, and seems to prefer living in her fantasy world, visited by the ghost of Irina(played by Simone Simon) Irina looks after Amy, but Oliver wants nothing to do with this, insisting that Amy must be socialized. Amy does befriend an elderly woman in her "haunted" house, though her daughter(played by Elizabeth Russell, though not as her cat lady character from the first) is resentful. Amy will later run away from home, becoming lost, though she is far from being alone... Unique and thoughtful sequel builds on the story from Part I, rather than repeating it, and result is most satisfying. (No third film was made however!)

In Tarrytown, New York, lonely preteen Ann Carter (as Amy) relates to butterflies rather than other children, which worries father Kent Smith (as Oliver "Ollie" Reed). The girl is also befriended by aging actress Julia Dean (as Julia Farren), who inhabits the neighborhood's "haunted" house. Next, young Carter announces her best friend is Mr. Smith's deceased first wife, ghostly beauty Simone Simon (as Irena) from "Cat People" (1942). Smith and pretty second wife Jane Randolph (as Alice) hope their daughter isn't afflicted with the horrific curse that killed Ms. Simon in the earlier story...This sequel strikes a completely different tone than the original, but it works beautifully. Key to "The Curse of the Cat People" is the fact that Simon left no descendants, so producer Val Lewton and his team went in a different direction; this story amounts to Simon's redemption. In the lead role, Carter is captivating. The blending of her loneliness with the stories involving Simon and Ms. Dean are satisfyingly intertwined. Dean revels in her role as a washed up actress likely stricken with Alzheimer's; oddly, she received no "Supporting Actress" consideration. Of course, the title and promotion cheat.******** The Curse of the Cat People (3/2/44) Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise ~ Ann Carter, Kent Smith, Julia Dean, Simone Simon