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The episode looks at Paul Schrader’s Cat People from 1982 and the partnership between Paul Schrader and production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti. Cat People is a movie that Paul Scharder refers too as a beauty film, in this analysis of Cat People I will look at Schrader’s process of directing film and how Schrader worked with Ferdinando Scarfiotti. Paul Schrader had previously worked with Scarfiotti on his hit film American Gigolo and its look is incredible. Schrader and Scarfiotti continued this creative partnership onto the set of Cat People and the result is that Cat People is a film of beauty and exceptional production design. Scarfiotti had worked on Bertolucci’s The Conformist in 1970 and Last Tango in Paris in 1971 and Paul Schrader has said that the influence of Scarfiotti’s work on these films in particular The Conformist was a big influence and the look of Cat People and his other works at the time such as American Gigolo. Cat People is a film that is still finding its audience almost 40 years later and is an incredible feat of outstanding cinematography, production design, special effects and directing.
Some consider the film to be an inferior remake of Producer Val Lewton and Director Jacques Tourneur’s film Cat People from 1942, but Paul Schrader has said that he should really have changed the films name as the comparisons hurt the film in 1982 and the films really have nothing in common at all other than the premise and the title.
Paul Schrader did throw in a few visual homages but other then that the films are completely different. I personally enjoy both films but agree with Paul Schrader that Cat People 1982 is a completely original film in its personal themes and stunning production design. Cat People was part of a planned cycle of remakes from Universal Studio’s that included John Carpenter’s The Thing but at the time both The Thing and Cat People only showed partial returns on their release and the idea was scrapped. Cat People 1982 from director Paul Schrader is a film I first saw on VHS in the video store days and the film has stayed with me ever since. I hope you enjoy my take on the beautiful erotic horror film Cat People from 1982 a film many fans consider to be one of the last great personal genre films made in the Hollywood studio system.
