Cat People (1982)

Directed by Paul Schrader. Starring Natassja Kinski, John Heard, Malcolm McDowell, Annette O’Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley Jr., Scott Paulin, Lynn Lowry, Ron Diamond, Frankie Faison. [R]

Liberal remake of Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People from 1942 ups the kink factor (not to mention the quantity of supple skin and spilled blood) but falls apart on the levels of exhilaration and credibility. Virginal Kinski and predatory McDowell are reconnected siblings with a dark, supernatural secret (unknown to her at the outset): evidently, animal lust literally turns them into animals, black panthers to be exact. This can only become a problem when she finds herself drawn to zoo curator Heard, awakening the long-dormant, savage beast. There’s style and eroticism to spare, but the characters are all surface, the scare scenes are clumsily executed, and the drama is inert, with halfhearted stabs at psychological convolutions, mytho-mumbo-jumbo, and primitive animalism; when it doesn’t mesh (which is often), it’s usually either laughable or dull. Giorgio Moroder’s music, including the title tune co-written and sung by David Bowie, is a considerable asset. John Larroquette appears briefly.

44/100