Val Lewton's Queer-Coded Film Noir Masterpiece - CAT PEOPLE (1942)

"You can fool everybody, but landy deary me, you can't fool a cat!"

Irena, a lonely young Serbian immigrant, believes she is descended from a tribe of shape-shifting witches and fears that any physical intimacy will change her into a killer jungle cat. Irena can run. Irena can hide. But she cannot deny the Beast Inside.

CAT PEOPLE somehow managed to tell a clearly queer-coded tale of forbidden desires and unspeakable passions at the height of Hayes Code Production censorship, and we are thrilled that it did, because this film is a delight to watch.

My special guest this episode are TARA GARNER and KASEY LOMAN.

CAT PEOPLE was produced by VAL LEWTON, directed by JACQUES TOURNEUR, written by DEWITT BODEEN and stars SIMONE SIMON, KENT SMITH, JANE RANDOLPH and TOM CONWAY.

Mentioned in this episode:

Bliss Book

Pick up the gnarly new survivor horror novel BLISS by Brandon Halsey on Amazon! "It's like 28 DAYS LATER meets THE STAND meets TRAINSPOTTING!"

Bliss Promo

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