Cat People

Director Paul Schrader's dreamlike, stylishly atmospheric remake of Val Lewton's 1942 horror classic needs to be taken on its own terms: viewers who assent to its Freudian logic and creepy sexuality will likely be entranced, but just a little critical distance renders the whole thing irretrievably ludicrous. The Cat People, latterday descendants of Africans shamans who mated with leopards, look like ordinary humans, but they have the disconcerting trait of turning into ravening beasts during moments of stress--or, crucially, orgasm. Two of their kind--Irena (Nastassja Kinski) and her long-lost brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell)--find each other in New Orleans. Irena, ...