Hooptober 12 | #1/34 (my list here)

"I like the dark, it's friendly."

It's a chilly rainy September night in 2025. I slip my hand into the ceramic pumpkin bowl I've designated as the vessel to hold all of my Hooptober picks, printed on tiny pieces of paper. This will be my first ever Hooptober film, so I'm itching to see what I get to start with.

It could not be more perfect that I start this off with Cat People. It was always very unlikely that I wouldn't enjoy this. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love cats. I was surrounded by three of mine while I watched this, all of us curled up on the couch enjoying this trip back to the 1940s.

I wasn't expecting how much I enjoyed this. There's so many themes to this. Repression of women and the tendency to never believe us is the main through line. Being misunderstood and doubted at every step of your life. Betrayed by those you thought you could trust, and viewed by men as nothing more than an object they desire to reap. Tying those themes to cats is, in my opinion, wonderfully apt. Considering cats are also often misunderstood creatures that are routinely hated merely because they desire to be in control of themselves and their surroundings and they will make those desires known with immense confidence. On top of all of this, the movie is simply beautifully shot. The horror lies in the shadows and the film displays this perfectly again and again.

A fantastic start and a fantastic film. I can't wait to keep going!

Hooptober qualifications:
- a popular 1940s film you haven't seen
- decade (1940s)