Cat People (1942, Jacques Tourneur)
Surprisingly watchable psychological drama, and the origin of the jump scare.
🏆 👩👨🐈💕👰♀️🦜🚍🏊♀️🐈⬛🧐 Trying to wash the bizarre taste of Cronos out of my mouth, I saw Cat People from 1942 in the Max recommended movie list, and didn’t realize there was a version that preceded the Nastassja Kinski/Malcom McDowell version, so I watched it. Nobody ever listens to the cats. I imagine this was a scandalous movie for a variety of reasons in 1942, but that might just be my media-distorted view of past generations. Otherwise it’s surprisingly watchable, though it isn’t very scary, except for the lack of assurances that no animals were harmed in the making of the movie. But wait, there’s a genuine jump scare at 44:15! The first one in movie history? It is!! It’s no wonder generations of people feared psychology after movies like this. Nice touch that Irena’s costuming changes from light to dark over the course of the movie. (Max.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1942_film)