Rating: R
Genre:
Horror
Release Date: 12/16/2007
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 119 Minutes
Flags: Nudity, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
In this loose adaptation of the 1942
horror classic of the same name, a
2001-style opening montage establishes some sort of sacrificial, mystical union between panthers and an ancient tribe of humans. Flash forward to 1980's New Orleans, where waifish
Irina (
Natassja Kinski) meets her older brother,
Paul (
Malcolm McDowell), a minister, for the first time since their animal trainer parents died and she was sent to a series of foster homes.
Paul's Creole housekeeper,
Female (
Ruby Dee), helps
Irina settle into her brother's home, but
Paul himself disappears. Cut to a fleabag motel where a blasé prostitute finds an angry panther instead of a client; after mauling her, the cat is captured by police and a team of zoologists:
Oliver (
John Heard),
Alice (
Annette O'Toole), and
Joe (
Ed Begley Jr.). The next day
Irina finds herself in the zoo where these scientists work; drawn to the newly captured panther, she befriends
Oliver and takes a job in the gift shop. Shortly after the panther's violence turns deadly, it escapes, and soon
Paul turns up spouting an unbelievable story about his family's were-cat heritage and his inevitable sexual union with little
Irina. On the run from her dangerous brother,
Irina takes refuge in a sexually frustrated romance with
Oliver, afraid of what might happen if she consummates their passion. Astute viewers will notice that the zoologist characters refer to the film's panthers as leopards; "panther" is actually a generic term for any large cat, especially a black one, but
Cat People's panthers are in fact leopards whose black color comes from a recessive trait known as melanism.
~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
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