Cat People

1943
US
1h 11min
PG

Directed by: Jacques Tourneur
Written by: DeWitt Bodeen
Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph

Writer/producer Val Lewton showed that horror was a matter of the mind. The 1943 original sees Simon haunted by legends of her homeland, leading her to believe that she is about to metamorphose into a panther. In the follow-up, Simon's spectre returns to take control of a young girl. You could read a misogynist subtext into the films, but for all the melodrama and shaky dialogue, there is a dark intelligence and restraint which marks them out as superior B-movie nonsense.