Written and directed by Paul Schrader, the 1982 remake of Jacques Tourner's 1942 picture Cat People definitely takes things in its own direction, in fact there really aren't a whole lot of similarities between the two outside of the basic concept. This more modern take introduces us to a beautiful young woman named Irene Gallier (Nastassia Kinski) whose adoptive parents have passed away. When we meet her, she's heading to New Orleans to visit her old brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell) who she hasn't seen since she was much younger. Regardless, Paul has no trouble whatsoever recognizing her. As it turns out, there's a very good reason for that. See, Paul and Irina have an unusual connection: he understands that now that she's older, she's going to experience some difficulties trying to control a more primal side of her psyche.

Shortly after her arrival Irene decides to visit the zoo. Here she meets Oliver Yates (John Heard), the man in charge. They hit it off and before you know it, she's got a job working in the zoo's gift store. Though she's hardly going to get rich at this, it obviously offers her the opportunity to get closer to Oliver and it becomes painfully obvious that their mutual attraction for one another is pretty intense. Thanks take a turn for the bizarre when, shortly after Irene arrives in town, a black panther kills a prostitute and then one of the zoo's guards before making its way to Oliver's home and trying to kill him too. The only reason he survives is because his partner Alice Perrin (Annette O'Toole) shows up in time to save him. While all of this is going on, Paul's motives become more obvious and Irene finds herself in a love triangle where sex and death collide in the most unusual ways.

Of course, the film fills in the collective backstory of Irene and Paul so that we get a better understanding of who they really are and why all of this goes the way that it goes, but we'll avoid that (even if it is fairly obvious) with the intentions of staying out of spoiler territory. Let it suffice to say that Schrader's script brings the primal sexuality of the concept laid out in Tourner's picture to the forefront, throwing subtlety to the wayside though doing a good job of ramping up sexual tension and twisted psychological horror along the way. The nudity in the picture, plentiful as it is, generally seems fitting and rarely out of place. Is it exploitative? Perhaps, but never distractingly so, it fits the tone and the plot and the participants seem committed to using it to further their performances here. If it offers up some titillation along the way, so be it, that's definitely allowed and when you've got a film that casts the likes of Ms. Kinski, Annette O'Toole and even the lovely Lynn Lowry (in a supporting role), most won't likely complain too much.

Visually speaking, Cat People is impressive. The movie essentially plays out in two worlds, one being the obvious present where Irene and Paul's narrative unfolds, the second being the past. While the modern part of the story is nicely shot and certainly well put together on a technical level, it's the scenes that take place in the past that really let Schrader and company go wild with the visuals. Here windswept desert landscapes are awash in gorgeous colors on what looks completely alien, a land that shouldn't exist by any logical conclusion but which the story dictates as essential to how the parallel story plays out. This is complimented nicely by a fine score courtesy of Giorgio Moroder (and a theme song sung by none other than David Bowie).

The acting is strong across the board. Obviously it has to be in order for any movie to really work on any sort of serious level but the commitment that the cast shows to the concept Schrader explores is admirable. McDowell never goes too far over the top as he is sometimes apt to do, he's well cast here. John Heard is also very good, really getting into the intensity of the storyline as his character's obsessions for Irene become almost unbearable. Annette O'Toole is fine in her supporting role and completely beautiful as well, while a young Nastassia Kinski really steals the show. She almost perfectly encapsulates her character's emerging animal side as the story unfolds. We see her evolve from a meek, virginal and almost timid creature into something far more bold, confident and primal. She plays this part very well and is a joy to watch and it allows what is really a pretty ridiculous concept to work far more effectively than it has any right to. There's a lot of great entertainment to be had here, and Cat People, which very obviously a product of the early eighties, remains a really fun, entertaining watch.

Video:

Cat People arrives on Blu-ray in a nice AVC encoded 1080p image framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. Colors look excellent, they're very nicely defined and very bold and there are more than a few moments here where they really pop. Black levels are also pretty decent, offering pretty solid shadow detail and faring quite well. That's the good news. The bad? Noise reduction, or so it would seem. While there's virtually no print damage here there's also a marked absence of grain and some obviously waxy looking skin tones that are hard not to notice. This takes what is otherwise a clean, colorful transfer and brings it down a few notches.