Cat People

The original “Cat People” is one of my favorite films.

Ha! And you thought I was going to write about the two felines who share our house. The two furry brothers who think everything we do is for them. Well, they might be right about that.

No, this is October and I’m going to talk about the suspense and/or scary movies I like. To start with, almost everything Val Lewton produced; Cat People, Curse of the Cat People (which has to be the oddest sequel ever while still being a good movie), I Walked with a Zombie, the Leopard Man and the Seventh Victim. My favorite ghost movie, The Univited, for the amazing house, Windward, if nothing else, but there is so much else. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, my second favorite ghost movie and another great house, Gull Cottage. The Others which I found surprisingly good and is the only one of my selections not in black and white.

There are also the classics, The Wolf Man, which I perversely love in spite of Lon Chaney, Jr. And the original Frankenstein which I have yet to see all the way through. When the monster is lying on the table and his hand moves, somewhere deep inside me a shriek starts and I have to look away (run away) or I know I’ll scream. I do not have this trouble with Bride of Frankenstein with Elsa Lancaster, and Son of Frankenstein with Sherlock Holmes, I mean Basil Rathbone. The abstract sets of Frankenstein’s castle in Son of Frankenstein are totally strange, I doubt anyone could be happy with the staircase in their house, but this film is the basis for most of the spoofing in Young Frankenstein so it’s worth a look.

Halloween is coming and I need to get into the mood. I think I’ll turn off the lights and watch Cat People again.