I recently purchased both versions of the movie Cat People on SD DVD. It was interesting to see two different takes on the same material.
The 1982 remake took everything literally and was more like a werewolf movie but with a black leopard instead of a wolf. It's fine for what it is and has two things to recommend it, Nastassja Kinsky and nudity.
I got the 1942 original as part of a single sided disc that has both Cat People and Curse of the Cat People. The original Cat People was a much better movie. It was more of a psychological thriller. At the end, you could argue that either the cat thing was all in Irena's head or it was literally true. In the follow-up, you find that Olliver is convinced that Irena was just mentally disturbed.
The follow-up, Curse of the Cat People was not like a modern sequel. It was really a different story with three of the same characters from the first film. It was more of a ghost story if I could call it anything.
You can probably guess that I thought the 1942 original to be superior. The directing was excellent and the psychological aspect was much more interesting. There were definite Freudian overtones with Irena's fear of losing her virginity.
Jim
