This week’s installment of “Cuz It’s Good for You” is a spine-chilling tale of horror about . . . cat people! Imagine the nightmare of someone cursed to take on the attributes of a cat! Watch in dread as a beautiful Serbian woman . . . ruins the furniture with her claws! Gasp in horror as she slowly deliberately . . . pushes a glass of water off a table! Shiver in your seat as the hell beast . . . refuses to eat the exact same food she enjoyed yesterday! Can your heart stand the strain as she gazes at the man besotted with her and demands to know if she can, in fact, haz cheeseburger? What twisted mind could concoct such infernal horrors? Well, it’s in the Criterion Collection, so that means you not only have to see it, you have to appreciate it. Turn the lights down, enjoy a feast most fancy, and pray to Ceiling Cat to save your soul from this desperate tail. I mean, tale.
Poll question What horror movie gave you nightmares? What monster stayed with you?
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I was curious what you guys would think of this movie. I love it. The director, Val Lewton, was an amazing creator of low-budget films with mood and class. He made some great films, like I walked with a Zombie, The Body snatcher and the sequel to this film, Curse of the Cat People, which really threw all expectations out the window. It takes place after Irena’s death and her husband has remarried and has a little girl who s haunted by Irena in some very physcholically charged dream(?) sequences.
Monster movies don’t give me nightmares, I don’t think. I pretty much only have nightmares so it’s hard to tell. I will say after seeing Alien, I did not have any nightmares… it was like seeing the alien on film took the place of my nightmare for the moment. I would say that monster certainly stayed with me. I was already familiar with Giger’s work but seeing it “alive” was an experience. I saw the film in a special preview so no one knew what to expect and thought it was going to be funny for some reason. No one left laughing!
Yikes, I’m sorry to hear about persistent, non-cinema based nightmares, Vince. “Alien” is a pretty damn terrifying movie; I fell for every jump-scare the first time I saw it (although there aren’t really that many). Gee, no one got a giggle out of that movie? I remember feeling like I had been repeatedly punched afterwards. Thanks, Vince!
One thing Lewton was know for was the Lewton walk…in many films a character walks alone in the dark, or fog or both pursued by an unseen stalker. The leopard man does this really well and its a good film. Its basically about a serial killer before that term was used who makes his crimes look like an escaped leopard did them…. or is he really a leopard man? We never find out!
Ok, “The Leopard Man” sounds quite a bit more interesting than “Cat People,” at least plot-wise. Thanks, Vince!
Sadly the title sounds more ridiculous and I think many pass it over because of that.