Hooptober 11: #67
[Criteria: 8/8 decades, 1940s]

The first time I heard about Cat People was Scorsese introducing the movie in his documentary A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies and the name kind of made is seem like B horror schlock. The thing I didn't know then was that B horror tag was given to almost every horror from that era. Multiple times I came close to watching the movie only to decide against it. Something about the movie did not appeal to me. When I finally sat down to watch the movie today I was honestly completely taken aback. This is my third Tourneur, and this feels much closer to Out of the Past than Night of the Demon, both in terms of quality and the portrayal of complex struggles and inner turmoils. Some of the most gorgeous filmmaking I've seen with some of the best uses of shadows I've seen and my goodness the exploration of Irena's character and be it a metaphor for refugee life during the peak of world war is truly remarkable and something that I did not expect at all. Swept away by it completely, a near perfect movie!