Cat People (1982 film)

Cat People
File:Cat People 1982 movie.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Schrader
Written by	DeWitt Bodeen Alan Ormsby
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer
Starring	Nastassja Kinski Malcolm McDowell John Heard Annette O'Toole
Cinematography	John Bailey
Edited by	Jacqueline Cambas
Music by	Giorgio Moroder David Bowie (theme song)
Production companies	Universal Pictures RKO Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 2, 1982
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18 million
Box office	Domestic $7,000,000 Foreign $14,000,000 Worldwide $21,000,000

Cat People is a 1982 American erotic horror film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski. Jerry Bruckheimer served as executive producer. Alan Ormsby wrote the screenplay, basing it loosely on the story by DeWitt Bodeen, the screenwriter for the acclaimed original 1942 Cat People. Giorgio Moroder composed the film's score, including the theme song which features lyrics and vocals by David Bowie.

Plot

Irena Gallier meets her older brother Paul, a minister, in New Orleans. It is the first time they have met since their animal trainer-parents died, and Irena was sent to a series of foster homes. Paul's Creole housekeeper Female (pronounced feh-MAH-leh) helps Irena settle into her brother's home, but Paul himself disappears. That same night, a Ruthie, prostitute, walks into a fleabag motel to meet a john — and is instead mauled by a black leopard. The police capture the leopard, aided by a team of zoologists: Oliver Yates, Alice Perrin, and Joe Creigh.

The next day, Irena finds herself in the zoo where these scientists work. Drawn to the newly-captured leopard, she befriends Oliver and takes a job in the gift shop nearby. Shortly afterward, the leopard kills Joe by tearing off his arm and it escapes. Soon, Paul turns up and tells Irena of their family's werecat heritage. He also tells her that their parents were actually brother and sister. Only sex with another werecat prevents the transformation; the werecats are ancestrally incestuous. When a werecat has sex with a human, it transforms into a leopard, and only by killing a human can the werecat regain human form. On the run from her dangerous brother, Irena takes refuge in a sexually-frustrated romance with Oliver, afraid of what might happen if she consummates their passion.

Eventually, Paul (in leopard form) breaks into Oliver's house, intent on killing him so he can have Irena to himself, but is shot by Alice. While performing an autopsy on the cat, Oliver finds a human body inside and the panther disintegrates; Paul has literally disappeared..

Irena is trapped. If she takes a human lover, she will have to kill to regain human form. Eventually, Irena has sex with Oliver, transforms into a leopard and flees, sparing Oliver's life. She escapes, but is later trapped on a bridge by police. Shortly after Oliver arrives at the scene, Irena sees him and jumps off the bridge and escapes. Oliver realizes where she is headed and confronts Irena at a secluded lake house, she having regained human form by killing the house's caretaker. Irena tells Oliver she did not kill him because she loves him, and begs him to let her "be with her own". Oliver realizes that he cannot live without her, so he ties Irena's arms and legs to the posts of the bed and proceeds to have sex with her, knowing what she will become.

We then see Oliver at the zoo working. By this time, he and Alice are romantically involved. He walks to a cage that contains a black leopard, casually hand-feeding it and stroking its fur.

Cast

• Nastassja Kinski as Irena Gallier
• Malcolm McDowell as Paul Gallier
• John Heard as Oliver Yates
• Annette O'Toole as Alice Perrin
• Ruby Dee as Female
• Ed Begley, Jr. as Joe Creigh
• Scott Paulin as Bill Searle
• Frankie Faison as Det. Brandt
• Lynn Lowry as Ruthie
• John Larroquette as Bronte Judson
• Tessa Richarde as Billie
• Berry Berenson as Sandra

Themes

Director Paul Schrader has said, in relation to the erotic and horror aspects of Cat People, that the film "contains more skin than blood". He has described the film as being more about the mythical than the realistic. He has likened the relation between Oliver and Irena to Dante and Beatrice, putting the female on a pedestal.

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by Universal Studios on April 2, 1982. It grossed approximately $7,000,000 at the domestic box office.

The film has been released twice on DVD in the United States; once by Image Entertainment in 1997 and again by Universal in 2002.

Cat People received a variety of mostly positive mixed reviews upon its initial release. The film currently holds a 64% approval rating at the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film a positive three and a half out of four star rating. He stated that "Cat People is a good movie in an old tradition, a fantasy-horror film that takes itself just seriously enough to work, has just enough fun to be entertaining, contains elements of intrinsic fascination in its magnificent black leopards, and ends in one way just when we were afraid it was going to end in another."

Weekly entertainment-trade magazine Variety also gave the film a positive rating by praising how "Kinski was essential to the film as conceived, and she's endlessly watchable."

However, the film's star, Nastassia Kinski, stated when being interviewed by her friend, actress Jodie Foster, in Film Comment that she disliked the film, describing it as slick and manipulative. This surprised Foster, who asserted she thoroughly enjoyed the film.

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for three prestigious awards:

• Saturn Awards

Best Actress (Nastassja Kinski)

• Golden Globe Awards

Best Original Motion Picture Score (Giorgio Moroder)

Best Original Motion Picture Song (David Bowie)

Soundtrack

Untitled

The theme song "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" was performed by David Bowie, who wrote the lyrics to music composed by Giorgio Moroder. The song was released as a single in 1982, and in 1983, Bowie included a re-recorded version of the song on his album Let's Dance. Bowie performed the song live regularly during his 1983 "Serious Moonlight" tour. The song was also used in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds.

Bowie's rerecording had guitar by a then-unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Track listing

All compositions by Giorgio Moroder, lyrics by David Bowie on "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)".

Side one

1. "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" – 6:43
2. "The Autopsy" – 1:31
3. "Irena's Theme" – 4:20
4. "Night Rabbit" – 1:58
5. "Leopard Tree Dream" – 4:01

Side two

1. "Paul's Theme (Jogging Chase)" – 3:51
2. "The Myth" – 5:11
3. "To the Bridge" – 2:50
4. "Transformation Seduction" – 2:44
5. "Bring the Prod" – 1:57

Personnel

• Bob Badami – music editor
• Brian Banks – additional keyboards, Synclavier II programming
• Steve Bates – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
• David Bowie – vocals on "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" & humming vocal on "The Myth"
• Alexandra Brown – backing vocals
• Keith Forsey – drums, percussion
• Brian Gardner – mastering
• Craig Huntley – blaster beam
• Charles Judge – Prophet 5 and Jupiter 8 programming
• Laurie Kanner – production coordinator
• Michael Landau – guitar
• Sylvester Levai – keyboards, arranged by
• Paulette MacWilliams – backing vocals
• Tim May – guitar
• Giorgio Moroder – producer, guitar, bass, mixing
• Brian Reeves – engineer, mixing
• Lee Sklar – bass
• Stephanie Spruill – backing vocals
• Trevor Veitch – musical contractor
• Allen Zentz – mastering (Bowie's vocals)

External links

• Cat People at the Internet Movie Database
• Cat People at the TCM Movie Database
• Cat People at AllRovi
• Cat People at Rotten Tomatoes
• Cat People at Allmusic

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