Tuesday, August 16, 2022

CAT PEOPLE (1982) (Scream Factory Collector's Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray Review)

CAT PEOPLE (1982) 
2-Disc Collector's Edition 
4K UHD + Blu-ray 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: Region-Free (UHD), A  (Blu-ray)
Rating: R
Duration: 118 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0,  DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 2160p UHD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Paul Schrader 
Cast:  Natasha KinskiMalcolm McDowell, John Heard, Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, Lynn Lowry

Directed by Paul Schrader (Hardcore) who penned the screenplay with Alan Ormsby (Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things) this reimagining of Jacques Tourneur horror/noir classic Cat People (1992) is a surreal arthouse slice of dark fantasy with painterly imagery, steeped in atmosphere and dripping primal eroticism. At the start of the film attractive young woman Irena (Nastassja Kinski, Paris, Texas), who has recently lost her adoptive parents, is newly arrived in New Orleans to reunite with her estranged older sibling Paul (Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange) whom she has not seen since they were young children. Arriving at Paul's home after being picked-up at the airport by her brother she greeted by Paul's Creole housekeeper Female (Ruby Dee, The Stand) and settles into her new room. The reunion is initially warm and goes well, but the next morning Paul disappears without saying a word as to his whereabouts. 

The day after Paul takes off a prostitute (Lynn Lowry, Shivers) is attacked and killed by a black panther at a fleapit motel, in the aftermath local zoologists Oliver (John Heard, The Sopranos) and Alice (Annette O'Toole, 48 Hrs.) are called to extract the vicious cat from the flophouse, both are quite curious about not only where the non-native animal came from but how the heck it ended up inside a by-the-hour motel room. The next day Irene who is still upset about her brother's sudden vanishing act but is encouraged by Female to explore the city on her own. After visiting the French Quarter she travels by transit bus to an antiquated zoo where she finds herself drawn to the newest exhibit - the black panther that was caught at the fleapit motel earlier. Transfixed by the beast she stays well past when the zoo closes making sketches of the big cat, at least until she is interrupted by the zoo's curator Oliver (Heard); who sendes she's a bit upset and out of sort. They hit it off and go dinner afterward and we can see their instantaneous chemistry, with Oliver offering her a job at the zoo inside the gift shop.

With Paul mysteriously absent Irene begins working at the zoo where she and Oliver fall for each other, but with that new love Irene becomes overwhelmed by her newfound emotions. These emerging feelings coincide with a series of strange happenings, starting with zookeeper Joe (Ed Bagley, Transylvania 6-5000) having his arm ripped off by the panther, the creature managing to mysterioudly escape the locked cage. Not so coincidentally Paul returns home the next day and spins a wild tale to Irene about the truth of their birth parents, of how they're were not normal people, suggesting they were cat creatures as are they, and that they're destined to mate incest-style, further threatening that if she does not do so her new lover's life is in danger. Frightened by her brother's bizarre behavior she flees the house, flagging down the cops on the street outside, but Paul has once more disappeared. The cops search the house where they find a cage with a collared chain in basement, alongside several sets of skeletal human remains, surmising that Paul is a serial killer and that he kept the black panther captive in the basemen and fed his victims to it.  

With the manhunt underway for Paul the scared and  confused Irene stays with Oliver and they become even closer, but when he makes sexual advances she fears the intimacy will lead to more tragedy, and rebuffs him. Later she experiences a trippy  vision that reveals the truth of who and what she is, confirming Paul's explanation, leading to her running naked through the swamps eating rabbits, then pursuing the only female competitor for Oliver's attention by way of O'Toole's Alice who she stalks into a community swimming pool. This mirrors a similar scene from the original film, which this version largely strays from, but it does have a few interesting callbacks to the original, including a nod to the iconic jump scare involving a transit bus. The film is quite happy to pursue it's own sexy arthouse leanings with the sultry Kinski appearing nude for large swaths of the film, not unlike Matilda May from Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce which came a few years later. There's a lot of nudity on display throughout the film, it's not quite an erotic film but Schrader is certainly pushing the erotic-horror elemenys; not only with Kinski, but we see both O'Toole and Lowery topless, and we get a bare-assed McDowell with a brief peek at his bits. 

The look of the film is absolutely gorgeous, it opens with a desert littered with skeletal remains, indicating some form of sacrifice to a black panther which we see holding court beneath a tree - the whole scene is bathed in an eerie red and feels absolutely alien in nature with a terrific David Bowie song playing over it that just sets an ethereal mood from the start. The imagery that fills the screen is saturated in moody high-contrast colored lighting and painterly compositions with a shadowy 80's noir cinematography that draws the eye, it's an arthouse film masquerading as a were-cat terror flick steeped in sweaty bayou atmosphere and peppered with visceral bit of horror. Some tasty gore comes by way of the aforementioned tearing off of the zookeepers arm, Lowery's ankle being mauled, the image of Paul's dismembered victim in a hotel, an gruesome autopsy on a big cat that features a bizarre interior human arm growing inside it, which feels like a reference to The Thing which came out that same year, and we even get An American Werewolf in London-styled transformation scene, and later we get a very similar 'the creature is cornered situation that feels lifted straight from that film. 

Cat People offers plenty of stylish visuals and a surreal images, oddles of sensuality, and some tasty bits of gore, but it's always been a bit of hot mess, there are so many head scratching moments and things that don't make sense even after repeated viewings, but I still love it for all those flaws. I'm completely drawn in by it and by it's mysteries, and it certainly doesn't hurt that Kinski is a stunning woman and turns in a magnetic performance as the sensual feline femme fatale. 

Audio/Video: Scream Factory celebrate the 40th anniversary of Cat People (1982) with a new 4K UHD upgrade, offering the film in  2160p UHD widescreen (1.85:1) sourced from a brand new 2022 4K scan of the original camera negative with the added benefit of Dolby Vision HDR 10 color-grading. The image looks filmic throughout, easily surpassing the previous Scream Factory Blu-ray which was not exactly HD perfection, there was plenty of room for improvement. There are no such issues with the new UHD rease which offers organic film grain textures and lush detail throughout, the wider gamut color-grading offers deeper more saturated black levels and there's more depth to the image with layered contrast. Colors get a nice upgrade thanks to the Dolby Vision HDR10 which refreshes the colors with deeper hues without ever overbaking it. Audio comes by way of uncompressed DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with optional English subtitles. Dialogue and effects sounds great, as does the 80's synth score from disco-pioneer Giorgio Moroder. I preferred the 2.0, thought it sounded fuller and more accurate to my ears, the 5.1 had it's moments and I appreciated the enveloping score, but I think the 2.0 is the way to go. 

Scream Factory carry-over all the extras from their previous Blu-ray edition including the audio commentary with Paul Schrader and nearly an hour and half worth's of interviews with the principal cast, director, effects man Tom Burman and more. The only extras on the UHD is the audio commentary, all others are housed on the Blu-ray disc. Notably the Blu-ray is not a recycle of the previous 2014 release and features the new 4K scan in 1080p HD minus the Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grading, and is far superior to the previous release. The 2-disc UHD/BD arrives in black keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring two theatrical poster artwork, one of which is featured on the slipcover as well. 

Special Features:
Disc 1 (UHD):
- NEW! 2022 4K Scan of the original camera negative in Dolby Vision (HDR 10 compatible)
- Audio Commentary with director Paul Schrader
Disc 2 (Blu-ray):
- NEW! 2022 4K scan of the original camera negative
- Audio Commentary with director Paul Schrader
- More Than A Remake – an interview with director Paul Schrader (9 min) 
- Unleashing The Animal Within – an interview with actress Nastassja Kinski (6 min) 
- Making Memories – an interview with actress Annette O’Toole (8 min) 
- Caging the Animal – an interview with actor John Heard (6 min) 
- Reconnecting with Cat People – an interview with actor Malcolm McDowell (8 min) 
- Cat Fight – an interview with actress Lynn Lowry (6 min) 
- Composing A Cult Classic – an interview with composer Giorgio Moroder (6 min) 
- Cat People: An Intimate Portrait (25 min)
-  On the Set with Paul Schrader (10 min) 
- Filmmaker Robert Wise On The Producer Of The Original Cat People, Val Lewton (4 min) 
- Special Makeup Effects by Tom Burman (11 min) 
- A look at the film’s Matte Paintings (4 min) 
- Original Theatrical Trailer & TV Spot (3 min)
- Photo Galleries – Photos from the Film, Production Art and Posters