A cat that starts your engines

This time I’ll talk about a strange movie that I saw in the ’90s: Cat People

The movie is from the year 1982. In the Latin world it was known by names like “The Kiss of the Panther” and “The Mark of the Panther.” Paul Schrader was its director. Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell and John Heardthey interpret the main characters.

It’s really a remake of another movie with the same name, but from 1942.

The plot

Irena Gallier (Nastassja Kinski) moves from Canada to New Orleans, to reunite with her brother, Paul (Malcolm McDowell). Their parents died long ago and they were separated as children. Irena was living in orphanages, while Paul alternated between different institutions and the jail.

Upon arriving at Paul’s house, his housekeeper, Female (Ruby Dee) greets her and helps her get settled.

That night, a prostitute arrives at a cheap hotel to meet a client, but instead finds a black panther. The Police capture the panther with the help of a team from the Zoo, consisting of Oliver Yates (John Heard), Alice Perrin (Annette O’Toole) and Joe Creigh (Ed Begley Jr.). The team takes the panther to the Zoo and they lock it in a cage.

The next morning, Irena cannot find her brother. Female tells her that maybe Paul will come back later and advises her to enjoy the city. Irena begins a tour around the city that takes her to the Zoo. Over there she stays watching the panther, even after closing time. Oliver finds her and offers her a job at the Zoo.

Love at first sight

Irena seems to enjoy her job at the gift shop of the Zoo, but one day witnesses how the panther tears off Joe’s arm, causing him death. Oliver decides to sacrifice the animal, but when he returns with his rifle, he only finds a strange puddle of melted flesh. There is no sign of the panther.

Paul shows up and tells Irena about his inheritance of therianthropy: They belong to a race of panther-men. At first their ancestors fed the panthers with human children, then the panthers began to transform into humans. So they born a race that can only reproduce among themselves. If they have sex with a human, they transform into a panther. From that moment on, the only way to become human again is to kill.

Paul also reveals that his parents were brothers and expects Irena to be his sexual partner, in order to avoid the transformation. But Irena refuses, horrified. She runs away and runs into a patrol. She doubts whether to betray her brother or not, but it’s too late: A police dog detects an odor and the officers raid the house.

Over there They find a dungeon in the basement with chains, bones and human remains. The Police assume that Paul used to keep an animal captive there and feed it human flesh. They request Oliver’s help in the investigation, who offers to give Irena asylum in his house. Paul manages to escape but police arrest Female because they suspect she has been an accomplice.

A hundred times I shouldn’t

Irena tries to take refuge in her frustrated romance with Oliver, but she is afraid of what might happen if she has sex with him. Paul tries to attack Oliver in his Panther form, but Alice shoots and kills him. Oliver performs an autopsy on the animal, but when he opens the body, a green gas begins to come out of it and a human arm emerges. Before he can study the phenomenon, everything is reduced to a puddle of melted meat, just like before.

Irena tries to talk to Female in the jail, but she tells her that she already knows everything she needs. Irena flees aimlessly and has a vision where she finds herself at a red desert.

Walking through those dunes she reaches a tree without leaves where Paul and her mother (in the form of a Panther) are waiting for her. They explain everything to her. Irena returns to town and begins stalking Alice. She follows her to a swimming pool, but does not dare to attack her.

We have to do it

She eventually sleeps with Oliver and transforms, but she doesn’t want to kill the man she loves. She flees towards a bridge where the police corner her. She jumps to the river and swims to an island where she and Oliver had visited a friend of his. Knowing he might find her there, Oliver goes to look for her.

When he arrives he finds his friend dead. Irena, now in her human form, explains that she killed his friend because she didn’t want to kill him. She asks him to kill her, but Oliver refuses. Then she asks her to make love one more time. Oliver ties her to the bed and they make love again. ¿How will this doomed love story finish? You will have to watch it to find out.

Here the trailer:

Bibliography

• https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(pel%C3%ADcula_de_1982)
• https://miradasdecine.es/2021/12/el-beso-de-la-pantera-cat-people-1982-de-paul-schrader.html

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