Editorials
[It Came From the ‘80s] Curse of the ‘Cat People’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
Save for some very basic plot elements, the iconic pool scene, and subtle references, Cat People shares very little in common with the 1942 film it’s based (loosely) on. It’s not much of a remake but more of a complete reinvention. Something that it shares in common with another loose remake based on an RKO Pictures property released only two months later; The Thing. Cat People fared slightly better at the box office. Written by makeup artist turned writer/director Alan Ormsby (Shock Waves, Popcorn), and directed by Paul Schrader (First Reformed, Taxi Driver), Cat People is a strange beast.
An opening prologue set to Giorgio Moroder’s theme (with David Bowie on vocals in a later recorded version) reveals a desert set primitive settlement where a sacrificial woman is being tied to a tree as an offering to an approaching black panther. Then we see a different woman, with oddly feline features, peacefully enter a cave of another panther. Between the Moroder’s score and the vivid red hue, this prologue sets the dreamlike tone from the outset.
Cut to present day, where lead character Irena (Nastassja Kinski) has arrived in New Orleans to reconnect with her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell) after years of separation in the foster system. The last time they were together was when they were small children, so Irena’s memories of her family are sparse. Paul attempts to fill her in on the key details; they belong to a cursed family line of cat people. For cat people, lust is the equivalent of bloodlust; if a cat person gives in to their sexual desires they’ll transform and slaughter their partner. Unless, they have sex with their sibling. Yes, cat people are doomed to be incestuous. Irena doesn’t believe him, until she finds herself falling for a zookeeper and Paul ends up on a murderous spree.
Much like the original film, the initial intent for the remake was to be rooted more in psychological fear. That was Schrader’s vision and how the screenplay was written. But that shifted thanks to films like The Howling, which wowed audiences with impressive transformation sequences and special makeup effects. While special effects and transformation sequences were always part of this project, they were dialed up to accommodate studio demands, making for a much gooier and bloodier affair – wet piles of fur, viscera, and slime is left behind in the wake of a cat person’s transformation here. These panthers literally burst from their human skin.
One of my favorite things about monsters in horror movies is that often they’re the ones we sympathize most with; it’s usually humans that are the true monsters. The virginal Irena has no clue that she’s a cat person, and struggling with her awakening sexuality that turns her into a literal monster takes the 1942’s theme to a new, primitive level. Taking her predicament into account, special makeup effects designer and creator Tom Burman (My Bloody Valentine, Howard the Duck) called on makeup artist Bari Dreiband (Scrooged, The Goonies) to design a more empathetic, sleeker cat person look for Irena, from a feminine perspective. By contrast, Paul’s creature design and transformation is much harsher and brutal.
Cougars dyed black stand-in for the panthers, because the panthers apparently aren’t trainable. Much of the film takes place in the New Orleans zoo, where the habitats are much too small for the animals. They don’t look comfortable. Considering there are stretches where certain scenes drag, the use of real animals tends to be a distraction.
Cat People was marketed as an erotic thriller upon release, and considering its central theme, there is indeed plenty of sex and nudity. But it’s more than that. It’s well shot, full of great mysticism, and the psychological intricacy of Irena’s story does come across. And Moroder’s score ranks high. Then there’s the gory effects, which gives the film just enough to appease horror hounds. This remake does what the best remakes should; pay respects to the original while making it something wholly different. That it straddles the line between arthouse thriller and full-blown horror means that most audiences struggle to embrace it. The end has proven quite polarizing, too.
It’s been 75 years since The Thing From Another World first warned us to “watch the skies”, and filmgoers have done just that by showing up to multiple instances of extraterrestrial contact on the big screen. This makes sense, as a recent CBS news poll estimated that 63% of Americans believe in intelligent life on other planets, and the ongoing disclosure movement aims to raise that number with each passing day.
With Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day leaving many genre fans hungry for more alien footage (preferably of the spooky variety), today I’d like to share a list recommending six underrated alien invasion thrillers for your viewing pleasure. After all, regardless of whether or not you believe that we’re alone in the universe, it can be fun to dream about the worst-case scenario if our cosmic neighbors ever decide to visit.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be focusing on lesser-known invasion stories rather than the popular extraterrestrials of franchises like Alien and Close Encounters of the Third (or even Fourth) Kind. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own alien favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling movie.
While it won’t be featured in this article, I’d highly recommend checking out Dean Alioto’s UFO Abduction/The McPherson Tape if you’re up for some ufology-inspired found footage thrills.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. The Arrival (1996)
Not to be confused with Denis Villeneuve’s Academy Award-winning Amy Adams vehicle about learning to communicate peacefully with extraterrestrial life, David Twohy’s The Arrival is a much more straightforward (but no less entertaining) genre romp where Charlie Sheen faces a global conspiracy involving hostile alien invaders.
It’s not exactly up there with Close Encounters or even Independence Day, but Twohy’s conspiratorial thriller plays out like an exceptionally fun episode of The X-Files that I’d recommend to sci-fi/horror fans who don’t mind a little bit of wonky CGI and 90s excess alongside their alien thrills.
5. Extraterrestrial (2014)
The Vicious Brothers made a name for themselves with the success of 2011’s Grave Encounters, but that was far from the Canadian duo’s only collaboration. And while it’s not exactly a fan favorite, I always point out 2014’s Extraterrestrial as one of their most underrated projects simply because I agree with the filmmakers’ opinion that there aren’t enough ‘cool alien abduction movies’ out there.
Admittedly, the majority of the picture functions like a run-of-the-mill creature feature with paper-thin characters and familiar horror tropes, but I’d argue that the cosmically-terrifying final act elevates the experience to new and memorable heights. The movie also boasts great performances by both Michael Ironside and Emily Perkins – a combination that more than makes up for the occasionally janky CGI.
4. Alien Raiders (2008)
Director Ben Rock has gone on record lamenting how his John-Carpenter-inspired creature feature was forcefully renamed from Supermarket to the painfully obvious Alien Raiders (a change which likely resulted in many potential viewers skipping out on the experience), but the new title doesn’t change the fact that this single-location thriller is something of a hidden gem.
Taking place entirely within a supermarket, Alien Raiders tells the story of an ensemble of customers and employees who are taken hostage by a group of armed men looking for something far more dangerous than an easy payout. I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoiling the experience, but I’d highly recommend this criminally underseen flick to fans of John Carpenter and the Resident Evil games.
3. Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
You’d think that a Ridley-Scott-produced retelling of one of the most infamous real-life UFO sightings of all time would have a bigger following, but I rarely see Justin Barber’s Found Footage period piece brought up during discussions about extraterrestrial-focused horror movies.
This is a huge shame, as Phoenix Forgotten is just as spooky as it is convincing, with this well-researched dive into the Phoenix Lights incident benefiting from surprisingly believable special effects as well as an appropriately horrific finale.
2. Communion (1989)
I wouldn’t blame you for disregarding Whitley Strieber’s controversial book about his alleged close encounter as sensationalist slop, but I’d argue that Phillipe Mora’s 1989 adaptation of these events is much better than the source material. After all, the movie works as a standalone piece of speculative fiction while also benefiting from an incredible performance by the one and only Christopher Walken!
Mora’s take on Communion may not be particularly scary, but the film is still an unforgettable character study regardless of whether or not the abduction really happened. Not only that, but the flick also paved the way for plenty of future sci-fi stories where the extraterrestrial invaders aren’t as evil as they initially appear.
1. Altered (2006)
Originally envisioned as a Sam Raimi-style horror-comedy titled Probed, Eduardo Sánchez (of The Blair Witch Project fame) eventually realized that it would be much more interesting to turn the film into a serious exploration of the emotional aftermath of a traumatic abduction incident.
That’s how we got Altered, a clever inversion of the standard abduction narrative that follows a group of troubled friends as they capture and experiment on an alien in order to enact revenge for their own abduction years prior.
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