Cat People (1942)

Star Rating- 3
Length of Film- 73 minutes
Director- Jacques Tourneur
Cast- Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, & Jack Holt













Cat People is considered a horror film, but when you watch it, keep in mind this movie is 72 years old and what they considered scary in the 40's is different than what we would consider scary, BUT the film is still suspenseful, and made me tense up. 

Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) is a woman from a small tribe in Serbia. She met Ollie Reed (Kent Smith) at the zoo where she was sketching a panther. They went back to her apartment and he noticed a unique statue and asked her questions about. She went onto explain that her tribe are descendants from cats, and they become cats themselves when sexually aroused. The cat of course, represents evil. 

Strange things start to happen when Irena is around. A kitten that Ollie bought for her, reacts defensively, so they go to the pet store and as soon as she walks through the door, all the animals throw a fit. As soon as she walks out, they are quiet. Ollie ended up trading the kitten in for a bird and of course, as you guess... the bird died. 

Ollie and Irena marry and yet they have not consummated the marriage because she fears her families curse. Of course the husband is not too happy about it so he talks to his co-worker Alice (Jane Randolph) about it, and she recommends a psychologist. Not only was Alice willing to help a co-worker in need, she uses this as tactic to get close to him because she has always loved him (keep in mind this is a film from 1942!)

One of the best scenes in the movie is when Alice decides to go swimming and when she was in the pool, she kept seeing shadows moving and a low growl. 

This movie is worth the watch, there's some twists and turns in the plot and it's kind of fun to try and figure out HOW they were able to do certain horror effects. Make an opinion for yourself, and happy watching! 

Fun facts: 

This movie was released on December 25th. There's nothing like a film about witchcraft being released on the day we celebrate Jesus' birth.

Freaks (1932)

Star Rating- 4
Length of Film- 64 minutes
Director- Tod Browning
Cast- Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates, Henry Victor, Harry Earles, Daisy Earles, Rose Dione, Daisy Hilton, Violet Hilton, Schlitze, Josephine Joseph, Johnny Eck, Frances O'Connor, & Peter Robinson









This movie literally changed how I viewed movies. It made such an impact, and a lot of that is the shock factor. I mean, this movie was banned in the United Kingdom for 30 years because it was deemed to exploit its cast. I wouldn't necessarily categorize this movie as horror, but in 1932...this probably scared the buh-jesus out of a lot people. 

Director Browning took the exceptional step of casting real people with deformities as the eponymous sideshow "freaks", rather than using costumes and makeup.(http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E07E6D61031E333A2575AC0A9619C946394D6CF)

I mean, that was risque but he did not show them in a negative way, he actually did the opposite. He showed that these individuals, even though they looked different and had disabilities, they weren't that different from "normal". They wanted love just like everyone else. 

The film follows a trapeze artist, Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova) who's in a relationship with the strong man named Hercules (Henry Victor). A midget named Hans (Harry Earles) has a crush on Cleopatra. At first Cleopatra is flattered and flirts back with him, but all changes when she finds out that Hans is loaded. Cleopatra and Hercules converse and set up a plan. Cleopatra will marry Hans, slowly poison him, and then take all of his money.

My favorite part of the film is when the family goes out on the hunt, and this guy crawling on the ground was creepy as hell! The end moral of the movie is that you will watch out for your own kind, and if you mess with them, there will be consequences. Now I really don't know how they pulled off the end, special effects wise 

Now I really don't know how they pulled off the end, (special effects wise) so if anyone knows, I'd love to find out. And I loved how the beginning of the movie started, and we had no idea what was inside the box until the end. It was a great bit of mystery and it was definitely satisfying to find out what it was in the end.

Enjoy the movie, it really is a slice of cinema history that everyone needs to watch.  Happy watching!