Lewton’s “Cat People” and “Curse of the Cat People” have each been used in an attempt to provide examples for defining works of the fantastic. However, I argue that there is one key aspect linking the two movies that may dramatically alter their categorical assignment.
A work that is described as fantastic is one that leaves the audience pondering whether or not the mysterious force in the book or movie is one of natural or supernatural origin. This is a purely fantastic work in that there is no push one way or the other to support either of the explanations. An uncanny fantastic movie is one in which the audience experiences fantastic hesitation but ultimately concludes that the mysterious force is of natural origins. In contrast, the marvelous fantastic work is one in which the origins of the mysterious force are attributed to supernatural roots.
When taken at face, value both “Cat People” and “Curse of the Cat People” fit the definition of a purely fantastic work. At the end of “Cat People”, with its lack of transformation scenes, the audience does not definitively know whether or not Irena is truly a cat person or whether she is just suffering from psychological distress. Similarly, at the end of “Curse of the Cat People” the audience is unsure whether Amy has imagined Irena as an unseen playmate or if she is truly seeing the ghost or spirit of Irena. While in both movies there are strong suggestions to push the plot to one of uncanny or marvelous fantastic, no proof is presented that could stand without a glimmer of doubt.
Now, on to this key aspect that throws the entire categorization up in the air. In “Cat People” Oliver’s concluding line, “Well, she never lied to us” leaves the audience to assume that he believes Irena’s claims to be a cat person. With that in mind, a supernatural explanation is offered and the movie becomes a marvelous fantastic work. However, in the sequel, “Curse of the Cat People” he describes his experiences with Irena to Amy’s teacher in natural terms. He suggests that she killed a man and herself out of a psychologically abnormal mental state. If this were the case, “Cat People” would obviously become an uncanny fantastic work. It is this contradiction that makes or breaks the categorization of “Cat People in terms of uncanny or marvelous fantastic.
Like wise, it effects the categorization of “Curse of the Cat People” also. If the assumption that we are left with at the conclusion of “Cat People” was to carry over to the sequel, as one would suspect, Irena would be associated with supernatural activity and it would be easy to believe that what Amy is seeing is Irena as a supernatural force. This would make “Curse of the Cat People” a marvelous fantastic work as well. However, if we believe Oliver’s contradictory explanation to be true, then Irena would be seen as an afflicted woman and we would associate no supernatural power to her. This would likely result in Amy’s visions being perceived as an overactive imagination.
This contradiction holds massive implications in the way “Curse of the Cat People” is perceived. It is presented in the opening portion of the movie that Oliver is worried about Amy’s imagination and day dreaming because he believes that Irena forced herself to assume imaginary beliefs and that these beliefs ultimately killed her. If he believed in the first movie that Irena died to her activities as a cat person, then this concern of Oliver’s for Amy would not hold up. I doubt that upon making the sequel, Lewton could grasp the extent to which this slight contradiction would affect the philosophical analysis of the cinematic pairing. When analyzing horror from a philosophical standpoint it’s categorization is crucial. The guidelines that Carroll presents narrow the field in such a significant way that if a movie can not be categorized as horror or fantastic, for as much as we have read, then there is no reason to analyze it any further.
Erin Leahy
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