Cat People

Cat People is an American science fiction drama film directed by Jacques Tourneur, the first of a series of 1940s thrillers produced by Val Lewton.

The premiere of the film took place on December 6, 1942, and its wide distribution began on December 25 of the same year. The advertising slogan of the film was the phrase " Kiss me – I'll bite you to death!"

The film did not leave the screens for so long that some critics, who initially scolded the picture, then watched it again and corrected their reviews to more positive ones. In 1993, the film, as having great artistic significance, was entered into the US National Film Registry.

A young engineer, Oliver Reed, meets an amazingly beautiful girl, an emigrant from Serbia, Irena Dubrovna, in a zoo near a cage with a black leopard. They have an affair, then they become husband and wife. But Irena is afraid that her closeness with Oliver may awaken an ancient curse of her family: according to the legend she told, during the Turkish occupation, the inhabitants of her native village turned to devil worship and acquired the ability to turn into huge cats in moments of rage and passion. Because of the fear of this curse, she refuses to be intimate with her husband.

Oliver believes that Irena's psyche is not in order and advises her to consult a psychoanalyst, Dr. Louis Judd. He tries to rationalize Irena's fears, her treatment is moving successfully. However, Oliver unexpectedly falls in love with his colleague Alice Moore,and she reciprocates him. Irena begins to suspect something and begins to pursue Alice. She hears the beast growling in the dark and sees strange shadows, her bathrobe is slashed by the claws of a huge cat. Alice turns to Dr. Judd and warns him that Irena can be dangerous. Judd calms her down by showing her that he is armed with a cane with a blade hidden inside.

Oliver confesses to Irene that he and Alice love each other, and offers Irene a divorce. She becomes depressed. Dr. Judd, who has managed to fall in love with Irena, tries to calm her down and kisses the girl, who then transforms into a leopard and kills the doctor. Slipping out of the apartment, Irena goes to the zoo and opens the cage with the panther. The beast, jumping out of the cage, kills her, and Oliver and Alice witness how Irena's dead body turns into the corpse of a huge black cat.

A woman from a Serbian village considers herself a werewolf, capable of turning into a huge cat and attacking people. According to legend, such abilities were shown by people who left her village, worshipping the devil. A woman believes that the curse lives in her and will break free at a time of great excitement – in the case of physical intimacy with a beloved man or in a fit of jealousy. In her opinion, as a result, people dear to her may suffer.

At first, others consider the girl's faith to be a manifestation of a mental disorder. Her essence does not manifest itself in any way, except that domestic animals behave restlessly in front of her. However, in the course of the plot, it turns out that her fear has real grounds. Despite the fact that the transformation process is never shown, the viewer is clearly given to understand that the woman is really a werewolf: cat tracks gradually turn into traces of women's shoes, the shadow on the wall, on the contrary, turns from a human into the shadow of a panther. At the place of the woman who died at the end of the film, they find the corpse of a huge black cat.

Once the attack of the werewolf is prevented by threatening with a cross and saying a prayer. It is possible to kill him with a conventional blade.

British big cats, also known as "anomalous ("alien") big cats" (English Alien Big Cats, ABC), "phantom cats", "mysterious cats", which are often described as a large cougar or black panther, are similar to the description of the creature shown in the film. This is a woman from a Serbian village who considers herself a werewolf, capable of turning into a huge cat and attacking people. According to legend, such abilities were shown by people who left her village and worshipped the devil.

A woman believes that the curse lives in her and will break free at a time of great excitement – in the case of physical intimacy with a loved one or in a fit of jealousy. The viewer is shown that the cat's footprints gradually turn into the footprints of women's shoes, the shadow on the wall, on the contrary, turns from a human into the shadow of a panther. At the place of the woman who died at the end of the film, they find the corpse of a huge black cat.

Once a werewolf attack is prevented by threatening with a cross and saying a prayer. It is possible to kill him with a conventional blade.