72.750

Another solid Lewton "horror".

Unconventional sequel to the 1942 hit. Good acting and a delicate atmosphere make this the most unusual film in the Val Lewton canon, not so much a horror film (despite a token dark old house) as a gentle fantasy.

No where in this film were there cats. Nor were there curses. In fact there is hardly anything here that links this movie to its predecessor. I loved the first Cat People, but this one was just NOT what I was hoping for. The direction here is quite good though, with great uses of lighting, but I just could not get into the loose story. Perhaps I need to watch it again with different expectations.

Such a strange combination of suburban kitsch and atmospheric horror. Even though it doesn't really go anywhere in the end, I still found myself captivated by the sheer strangeness of it all, not to mention the killer cinematography and Simone Simon in a sheer hip-hugging dress with no bra. I can see why others don't care for this, but I got a real kick out of it.

Seriously, where are the cats?

Magical and elegant.

Except for the child's parents and a few brief references this film has nothing to do with the first film.Instead we get a light fantasy about a girl and her imagination that did nothing for me.

A lot of people consider this every bit as good as Cat People. For me, it's the weakest film of Val Lewton's superb RKO run.

Not as engaging as its predecessor, "Cat People," but still good. It's not a horror movie like the original and tells a completely different kind of story. If I were to wager a guess, I'd say that higher ups made Val Lewton keep the title and names of the characters and make it a "sequel," but Lewton made a completely different movie. Watch it as an unrelated movie.

A very vanilla sequel, lacking the mood brought to the original by Jacques Tourneur's direction and Simone Simon's screen presence (she's present, just without that troubled, schizophrenic undercurrent). Instead it boasts a soft and benevolent aura that seems to hang over an angelic little girl, played with all the stilted clumsiness you'd expect from a child actor in the 40s. And what's up with that tenuous and undercooked "eccentric neighbors" subplot?

Pales in comparison to Cat People, but once you get past that it's a pretty fine film. The child acting is actually pretty good and the film trades the menace and hard shadows of the original for a soft and magical look. It works quite well as the story of a lonely little girl and her imagination and it moves along at a nice pace.

Even better than the excellent Cat People. It lacks the menace of the first film, but it's a strange and kind of magical film about childhood terror and fantasy. It has some beautiful photography, too.

Ann Carter gives one of the best child performances in cinema. An oddly charming little movie, but don't watch it expecting horror; this is much more of a fantasy.

I don't really like this one any more or less than the first movie. Movies about rosy-cheeked angelic children always rub me the wrong way, and Ann Carter is about as precious as they come. On the other hand, I like that there are multiple interpretations and that it's not necessarily a horror film at all, so I guess it balances out. Kent Smith seems like a douchebag. Not just his character, but the guy himself. Some really nice lighting and effects in this one.

Love it for different reasons than Cat People. While CP is clearly about a true supernatural event, Curse plays off the ambiguity of childhood friends to create its own haunting atmosphere. The threat in Curse is more diffuse, less certain. And while there are less pure thrilling moments in Curse, it's conclusion exceeds that of CP. Two excellent, yet very different films.

Odd fantasy. Not much happens, but it is absorbing nonetheless.

The title is a downright cheat -- _Curse_ isn't really a horror film at all -- but this is still an extremely haunting, often moving, and poetic pic contrasting Amy's melancholy hallucinations with the overinsistent clarity and relentless reality of her suburban surroundings. Another neat job by producer Val Lewton, Bodeen, and the entire RKO crew.