In "Curse of the Cat People," the beautiful child, Ann Carter, who looked so much like Veronica Lake, plays Amy, the daughter of the now-married Oliver (Kent Smith) and Alice (Jane Randolph) from the film's predecessor, "The Cat People." This is a sweet film about a lonely young girl's fantasy life, showing her to be a highly imaginative and creative child. Unfortunately for Amy, she's the child of two complete duds. Her father, former husband of Irena, sees in his daughter an eerie mental and emotional resemblance to his late wife, and it makes him nervous. He gets even more nervous when Amy sees a photo of Irena and claims Irena is her "friend" who has been meeting her. He has burned all the photos of Irena except for one photo that shows him and Irena together, looking happy, though one wonders a) why he kept it since he told Irena he was in love with Alice and was thinking of having her, Irena, committed; and b) when exactly were they happy? They couldn't even consummate the marriage because she was afraid of turning into a vicious cat.

Irena's appearances are interesting but to my mind, it's left open as to whether Irena was actually talking to the child or not. We probably are supposed to think it's Amy's imagination, but I like to keep an open mind. After all, Amy gives her a pin and Irena puts it on her cloak - anyone ever find said pin? It is strange, though, that now she's singing in French instead of Serbian, and there is no sign of the cat stuff.

If you remember "The Cat People," there was a scene at the wedding celebration where the exotic, cat-eyed actress Elizabeth Russell greets Irena in Serbian as "sister." (Actually, Simone Simon dubbed the Serbian.) In "Curse of the Cat People," Russell plays Barbara, the daughter of an old actress whom Amy visits. It doesn't seem like Russell is playing the same character because her mother is not Serbian. Nice to see her, though, and at least in this film, she receives a credit.

"Curse of the Cat People" is a good film, but you'll be disappointed if you go in expecting another "Cat People." Take this lovely movie on its own merits, and feel sorry for Amy - with Oliver and Jane as parents, she's going to need all the help she can get.

Having just watched both the original and remake version of Cat People, I have now rewatched the sequel to the former, The Curse of the Cat People. It seems some years have elapsed between the end of the original and this one since Oliver (Kent Smith) and Alice (Jane Randolph) are now married with a six-year-old girl, Amy Reed (Ann Carter). The daughter is frequently lonely, even around other kids, and doesn't always have sympathy directed around her especially from her father. However, when she wanders to an old mansion, Amy gets thrown a ring from the window and gets a friendly greeting from its owner, Mrs. Julia Farren (Julia Dean),who regales her with tales of her theatrical career to the consternation of her adult daughter, Barbara (Elizabeth Russell),who her mother thinks died when she was Amy's age. Also, when Amy stumbles into pictures of the late Irena (once again, Simone Simon),she starts imagining her as her friend...If you expected the same tone and atmosphere as the previous Val Lewton cat opus, you probably got very disappointed in this one. I mean, the last one that was directed by Jacques Tourneur was quite a film noirish drama with mostly adult situations while this one is more of an imaginative fantasy with whimsical flights of fancy made enchanting by Gunther von Fritsch and, in his directorial debut, Robert Wise. I do admit though, there was one scene near the end between Amy and Barbara that had me on edge. Anyway, besides the players I just cited, Eve March as Amy's teacher, Miss Callahan, and Sir Lancelot as the Reed family butler and cook, Edward, provide their own charming moments especially when the latter sings. And the writer of the original Cat People, DeWitt Bodeen, expands greatly on the characters from there here. So on that note, The Curse of the Cat People is highly recommended. P.S. Ms. Russell had previously played the woman in the original C. P. who said "my sister" to Irena in their native language.

Uggghhh!!! This might rank as one of the most inappropriate sequels in film history. The original CAT PEOPLE was a moody horror film that was exceptional and super-popular at the box office. This sequel, while retaining most of the original characters, completely re-wrote what had occurred in the first film AND created a very insipid and "inspiring" family film!! This is just wrong and another similar example is if you compare the original WILLARD to its horrid sequel, BEN--where the rats no longer ate people but befriended an annoying little boy who was lonely!! Ugggghhhh!!! In this film, you learn that Irena had NOT turned into a panther and killed people in the first film (even though that IS what happened). Instead, she was mentally ill and she THOUGHT she'd done this before taking her own life (I swear, it did NOT end this way)! To make things worse, while she DOES return, it's not to kill anyone or exact some sort of revenge, but to help a lonely little girl who is Irena's husband's daughter from a new marriage! How schmaltzy and dull! While the acting and production values are good, this is NOT a Val Lewton horror film--more like a "horrible" film in that it is so unlike the original and basically expects the fans of the first film to have amnesia and watch a family movie instead. YUCK!!!