Hollywood Gothique

Reviews of horror films feature felines

The original 1942 version of CAT PEOPLE – producer Val Lewton’s gem of atmospheric ambiguity – is about a Serbian woman named Irena (Simone Simone) who fears that she will turn into a lethal feline if sexually aroused. Unlike Paul Schrader’s horrendous 1982 remake, this is a classic of subtle horror, emphasizing shadowy shudders rather than [...]

Stuart Gordon’s MASTERS OF HORROR episode “The Black Cat” came out on DVD this week (I reviewed the film here), so it makes sense to make that the focus of this week’s episode of Friday Cat Blogging.

This is yet another adaptation of Poe’s story, more faithful than most, i which a man is driven by [...]

If ever there were a kitty co-star wasted in a stereotypical role, it is Jack, the scaredy cat character in this inexcusably atrocious time-waster about a supernatural serial killer terrorizing the police officer who sent him to the gas chamber. Jack is first seen munching on leftover pizza, while Detective Logan [...]

This Mexican horror film, from prolific producer-actor Abel Salazar, features a leaping kitty co-star, whose role is somewhat confusing: on the one hand, the black cat seems to be a Satanic familiar, signaling Samuel Magno (Enrique Rambal)’s deal with the Devil; on the other hand, the frisky feline seems aligned with Samuel’s disapproving mother (Ofelia [...]

This sequel of sorts to Batman Returns spins Catwoman off into her own film – the would-be beginning of a franchise that failed to materialize, thanks to poor box office returns. The problem is that Michael Pfieffer’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman is nowhere to be seen (unless you count a brief glimpse of a photo). Instead, we [...]

The low-budget opus belatedly attempts to cash in on Cat People, but it has little of the subtlety or style of the 1942 Val Lewton production. In a strange way, Cat Girl seems more old-fashioned than its model: the limited production values, melodramatic tone, and outdated attempts at spooky atmosphere suggest a cheap British rip-off [...]

I cag-blogged this classic horror film quite a while back, but at that time I did not have any good images besides the poster. Here are couple that show off the titular star (who actually has more of a cameo role in the movie, to justify the use of the Edgar Alan Poe title). [...]

That Lucio Fulci sure loved kitty cats, so much so that he made a film of Edgar Alan Poe’s THE BLACK CAT in 1981. That was not enough, however; cats also feature in DEMONIA (a rather ridiculous puppet) and in this 1990 flick, as seen below. I’ve never managed to track down [...]

Sorry, Caturday blogging arrives one day late this week. Sometimes there just are not enough hours in the day. Anyway, this week we take a look back at a monster movie classic from 50 years ago, THE FLY, starring Al (David) Hedison and Vincent Price. Pity poor Dandelo, one of the most [...]

One of the joys of Hong Kong Cinema is the sheer uninhibited exuberance of their fantasy films. The results can be wildly outrageous and entertaining – or, in this case, they can be a complete mess. This haphazard combo of horror, sci-fi, mystery, and action is a botch; fortunately, there is at least one outrageous [...]

I sort-of cat-blogged this movie last year, when it screened at the American Cinemathque, but in honor of its HD-DVD release, I’m giving it another go. Besides, I have a new image to present… Above, we see Nastassia Kinski with her feline alter ego in Paul Scrader’s 1982 remake of the 1942 classic. [...]

It’s Saturday – time for Cat Blogging! This week, we have our eyes on the kitty cameo in THE EYE 10, the second sequel to 2002’s THE EYE (the source of the current remake, which opened nationwide on Friday). The kitty cameo in THE EYE 10 Unlike the original EYE and its first sequel THE EYE 2, [...]

This is just a little joke in the tradition of Friday Cat Blogging…