Released in 1943, Cat People was the first production from the unit set up by RKO to make low-cost, high-return horror movies. Producer Val Lewton was handed the title and ordered to come up with a film to fit. He and director Jacques Tourneur created an innovative picture about a Serbian emigree in New York (Simone Simon) who's convinced she's suffering from a hereditary curse that will transform her into a panther if her passions are aroused.
Kim Newman positions this 74-minute classic in terms of the horror film genre from which it emerges and against which it rebels. Through close analysis, he teases out the layers of meaning and intent that make this at once a supernatural drama and an unusual psychological study.
Author Biography: Kim Newman is a novelist, critic and broadcaster. His fiction has been translated into many languages and he is a past recipient of, among others, the Horror Writers of America Bram Stoker Award and the International Horror Critics' Guild Award for Best Novel. He is also the editor of The BFI Companion to Horror.
Released in 1943, Cat People was the first production from the unit set up by RKO to make low-cost, high-return horror movies. Producer Val Lewton was handed the title and ordered to come up with a film to fit. He and director Jacques Tourneur created an innovative picture about a Serbian emigree in New York (Simone Simon) who's convinced she's suffering from a hereditary curse that will transform her into a panther if her passions are aroused.
Kim Newman positions this 74-minute classic in terms of the horror film genre from which it emerges and against which it rebels. Through close analysis, he teases out the layers of meaning and intent that make this at once a supernatural drama and an unusual psychological study.
Author Biography: Kim Newman is a novelist, critic and broadcaster. His fiction has been translated into many languages and he is a past recipient of, among others, the Horror Writers of America Bram Stoker Award and the International Horror Critics' Guild Award for Best Novel. He is also the editor of The BFI Companion to Horror.
Cat People
96Cat People
96Paperback(2nd ed. 2013)
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781844576432 |
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Publisher: | BFI Publishing |
Publication date: | 11/08/2013 |
Series: | BFI Film Classics Series |
Edition description: | 2nd ed. 2013 |
Pages: | 96 |
Sales rank: | 909,753 |
Product dimensions: | 5.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.30(d) |