“With a unique blend of mysticism, eroticism and tension, this remake is both engrossing and terrifying in an off-beat way.” - Dwight Brown, Sepia
“The late, great Ferdinando Scarfiotti's elaborate set designs imagine New Orleans as a post-feminist kingdom whose traditions are on the brink of destruction.” - Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
In Schrader’s interpretation of Jacques Tourneur’s ’40s cult classic about people who turn into cats when sexually aroused, Nastassja Kinski stars as Irena, and Malcolm McDowell stars as Paul, siblings who reunite in New Orleans after being separated as children. When a panther attacks a prostitute and Paul goes missing, Irene begins to understand who—or what—she really is. Working within the horror genre to consider themes of repression, intimacy, desire, and morality, Schrader said of CAT PEOPLE, “If one is too literal about it, it sounds quite silly,” rather describing the film as a universal story about the “truth of sexuality that has always expressed itself in dreams and in nightmares, in legends and myths throughout time.”
Awards & Nominations
Nominee - Best Score, Best Song, Golden Globes
Nominee - Best Actress (Nastassja Kinski), Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu