cat people

Director: paul schrader

Actor: nastassja kinski,malcolm mcdowell,john heard,annette o'toole

Data Published: Fri Apr 02 1982

Genres: Fantasy,Horror,Thriller

Key Words: sexuality,panther,human sacrifice,incest,love triangle

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083722/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1982_film)

Description: Cat People is a movie starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, and John Heard. A young woman's sexual awakening brings horror when she discovers her urges transform her into a monstrous black leopard.

Plot: Irena Gallier travels to New Orleans from Canada to reconnect with her brother Paul. They were orphaned after their parents died, and Irena has been in foster care her entire life. Paul spent his unlucky childhood in and out of institutions and jail. They return to Paul's home where his Creole housekeeper Female (pronounced feh-MAH-leh) helps Irena settle into her brother's house. Later, as Irena sleeps, Paul watches her with a predatory stare. That same night, a 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. That same morning, Irena wakes to find Paul missing. Female guesses he went to the mission, and will be home later. Female urges Irena to enjoy New Orleans on her own. When Irena visits the local zoo, she is drawn to the newly captured leopard, and stays long after closing hours. When Oliver, the zoo's curator, discovers her, she runs and climbs up a tree. Oliver calms her, takes her to dinner, and eventually offers her a job in the gift shop. Irena enjoys her time working alongside Oliver and Alice, until one day she witnesses the leopard rip Joe's arm off during a routine cage cleaning, which leads to his death. Oliver resolves to euthanize the cat, only to find that the animal has escaped, leaving behind a puddle of melted flesh and viscera in its cage. Paul turns up and tells Irena of their family's werecat heritage. If a werecat mates with a human, the werecat transforms into a leopard, and only by killing a human can the werecat regain human form. He also tells her that their parents were actually brother and sister because werecats are ancestrally incestuous and only sex with another werecat prevents the transformation. He makes a sexual advance towards Irena in the hopes that she will understand their predicament and accept, but she doesn't, and flees. She runs and flags down a police car, only to have second thoughts about turning Paul in. But it is too late, a police dog catches the scent of something within the house and a detective is called in. In the Gallier's basement, police find shackles, bones, and remains of dozens of corpses. They figure a wild animal was housed in the basement and call in Oliver to have a look. On the run from Paul, Irena takes refuge in a frustrated romance with Oliver. She is afraid of what might happen if she has sex with him. One night, Paul, in leopard form, breaks into Oliver's house, and is shot by Alice. Oliver performs an autopsy on the leopard, cutting it open. A green gas escapes and a human arm and hand reaches up from within the corpse. Before he can document the finding, the leopard has melted into the same flesh and viscera pool as before. Irena has sex with Oliver, and transforms into a leopard. She flees, sparing Oliver's life. She escapes, but is later trapped on a bridge by police. Oliver arrives at the scene, and 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 has 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 kill her. When he refuses, she begs him, then, to make love to her again so she can transform and "be with my own kind." Oliver ties Irena naked to the posts of the bed by her arms and legs to restrain her after her transformation, and has sex with her, knowing what she will become. Later, Oliver is at the zoo working. By this time, he and Alice are romantically involved. Oliver stops at the new panther's cage at the zoo. It is obvious that the "re-captured panther" is Irena, now trapped forever in her panther form. Oliver reaches through the bars, casually hand-feeds and strokes the docile panther's neck