Cat People ‘82
As fun as erotic thrillers were in the 1990s with their quasi porn tendencies, the darkness of their tone would be eclipsed eventually by what would be known as erotic horror movies, most of which would be so depraved that only a specialized audience would be willing to seek out and watch them with their combination of softcore (and hardcore) sex and straight up horror movie conventions where characters being murdered is not off the table. Much of the groundwork for both subgenres was laid out in 1982 by director Paul Schrader in what was ostensibly a remake of Val Lewton’s moody 1942 horror classic but which would incorporate not only a heavy sexual element but also certain taboo ideas such as incest and monstrous attacks during sex that leaves several characters either mutilated or torn apart to shreds. Schrader would wind up being romantically involved with his leading lady Nastassja Kinski and planned on proposing marriage to her after filming wrapped only to be blown off and rebuffed by Kinski who confessed that she would have sex with all of her directors and that he really didn’t mean anything to her. It’s just as well though since Kinski is actually a pretty terrible actress anyway, willing to do explicit nudity at the drop of a hat (particularly in the second half of this film) but just embarrassingly monotone for much of the movie as she sports a short pageboy haircut for the role and is pretty much upstaged by secondary female lead Annette O’Toole with her pouty lips, beautiful long red hair (sometimes in pigtails) and then dealt the final knockout blow when O’Toole does her own nude scene in a swimming pool, thus proving that Kinski is not even the most beautiful woman in the FILM, a defeat made only more profound by the fact that O’Toole can really ACT as well. The film depicts Kinski as a mysterious young woman raised by an adoptive family who has just arrived in New Orleans, having been fetched and brought there by a brother she has never met played by Malcolm McDowell. Here is where we stop the presses again as having the legendary star of Clockwork Orange in a featured role in this film is negated by not only having McDowell in a much smaller role than expected, but wasting the chance to have his character pretty much take over the entire movie without even so much as a whisper of complaint from any viewer. As it is, the tasty morsels we get of McDowell in terms of both his backstory and on screen antics are but a tease to something greater: Besides having a strong incestuous attraction to his sister (with whom only he can mate without anybody getting hurt), he suffers from a family curse (as does his sister) where he will physically transform into a black panther upon sexual arousal and then must kill somebody (usually the unlucky hooker / loose woman he has just hooked up with) in order to become human again. As a result, he has (anonymously) become known as a serial killer in the New Orleans area (who preaches at a church as his cover) complete with a torture chamber smudged with chunks of human flesh in his basement all while being aided and abetted by his housekeeper played by no less than Ruby Dee(!) which by itself could be a horror movie that almost everybody would love to watch (as gruesome as it would be) but instead the movie begins by having McDowell and Kinski first meet up then having McDowell disappear from the movie for an extended period as he apparently becomes so aroused by his sister’s presence that he sets up a date in the red light district with a hooker and then transforms, maiming the hooker in the process before being captured in panther form and brought to the local zoo which is where we meet the real star of the movie in the underrated John Heard as the zoo curator who meets Kinski (who is unaware of her brother’s transformation and was told by Dee that he was off on another pilgrimage for his church) when she visits the zoo and he soon develops an obsession with her that even causes him to look past his equally hot colleague (O’Toole). If there’s such an example of having a capable actor managing to elevate material into being something better than what it actually is, then that example in this instance is Heard, taking his usual milquetoast persona and channeling it into a character racked with both obsession and genuine love, clearly seeing that Kinski is both lost and in need of being taken care of, both of which are things he’s more than willing to rectify if he can wrap his head around the dark secret she carries which is if he manages to convince Kinski’s virgin to have sex with him, it could literally result in his own death (and hers if animal control catches up to her) via being brutally mauled to death, a hard lesson learned by a happy go lucky zoo assistant (Ed Begley Jr.) who gets an arm ripped off (complete with bone poking out at the shoulder) for getting too close to The McDowell Panther with an animal prod, but at least it allows for McDowell transforming back into himself and having a slightly expanded role in the second half, hauntingly telling his sister Kinski that because of their dangerous transformations during sex that having incestuous relationships is the way that it’s SUPPOSED to be among their kind, a fate that seems just as tragic and unhappy as being forced to be alone for most of their lives (keeping in mind that McDowell is not necessarily a lecherous creep but rather somebody who would embrace being in normal sexual relationships with women other than his own relations without the consequences of his cursed bloodline resulting in their deaths). Much of this is pretty heavy psychological material by any definition and maybe if McDowell was allowed a larger role here and not sidelined as much as he is, the horrifying means of how he must live his life would be enough for a whole character study / horror movie onto itself (couldn’t be any worse than Caligula). Instead, we get Heard manfully carrying the movie as a harried, animal loving zoo curator (who makes the call not to euthanize The McDowell Panther when they have the chance to which leads to further deaths) who becomes so hypnotized by the sad eyed Kinski that even once he knows her secret, he is STILL willing to risk his life and the lives of others to let her know that she can be loved by somebody who is not only normal but also stable even as he finds himself being driven to the brink of insanity by what he’s been getting himself caught up in (something noticed by O’Toole who seems to be his best friend along with being his on again / off again girlfriend). Quite a feat by a guy who had amazing acting ability even as he found himself typecast in his usual bland nice guy parts but here got another one of his rare yet rewarding roles of substance which garners Heard the MVP acting honors which is saying something given who his co stars are. Eventually Kinski goes on the offensive when it comes to hooking up with Heard, stalking O’Toole in order to protect her prey and finally breaking Heard and his own defenses down enough to get him into bed which leads to a fascinating ending that defies expectations but still comes across as being rather touching. The film employs some dreamlike flashback type sequences that are visually sumptuous but adds very little to the film in terms of anything but being more backstory. Much more valuable to the film’s momentum is the score by Giorgio Moroder complete with a title song by David Bowie that adds to the overall atmosphere but keep in mind that much of this is just about depicting a lot of softcore R rated sex, nudity (mostly by Kinski) and the occasional gruesome gobs of gore (in particular the disarming of Begley but other nasty bits pop up here and there) in place of the real substance (Heard almost turned his role down because he thought he was being offered a porno while McDowell nearly passed because he thought the 1942 original wasn’t a very good movie to begin with but only signed on after meeting with Schrader and hearing his take on the material) but in the end it was decided that Nastassja Kinski finding her own sexuality with John Heard was a better storyline to run with than Malcolm McDowell and Ruby Dee engaging in ritualistic panther sacrifices disguised as serial killings and so it seems like we’ll never get to know how one would have turned out over the other but at least there’s plenty on display here for us to watch and enjoy…
7/10