Friday, December 24, 2010

A Christmas Curse

On this Christmas Eve, the Horror Dads have convened to share our thoughts on the seldom-discussed sequel The Curse of the Cat People (1942).

If you're done with shopping and wrapping, pour yourself some egg nog and click here to read what Dennis Cozzalio, Paul Gaita, Nicholas McCarthy, head Horror Dad Richard Harland Smith, and myself (with the absent Greg Ferrara there in spirit) have to say about this often-overlooked Val Lewton production.

It doesn't have Jimmy Stewart or St. Nick to recommend it as essential Christmas viewing but The Curse of the Cat People is a poignant holiday-set fantasy, sensitive to the imaginary worlds that children inhabit and the loyal friends that they meet there.

4 comments:

Timmy Crabcakes said...

Strangely I've been running across a number of references to this movie lately... somebody talking about it in an interview, seeing it in various Christmas 'horror' lists... a couple friends mentioned seeing it for the first time recently.
I only became aware of it last year when it showed on one of TCM's Val Lewton fests.

It is deserving of the attention, good choice.

Jeff Allard said...

Thanks Knob, but all credit to the pick goes to Richard Harland Smith. This was my first viewing of COTCP so I was very glad to finally be nudged into seeing it!

Arbogast said...

[Spits his Manhattan] First viewing?!

Jeff Allard said...

Yes Arbo, it's a shameful fact that it's taken me this long to see COTCP. But when you're busy trying to fit as many viewings of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 into one lifetime as possible, other things naturally fall to the wayside!