The Curse of the Cat People (1944)

There's a certain expectation when it comes to sequels of popular films and that expectation is that you'll get a slightly different but, on the whole, similar experience to what you got before. More often than not, though, sequels are often little more than rehashes of what came before, entertaining, certainly, but hardly ambitious or imaginative. But, for better or for worse, every once in a while, you get one that's anything but in terms of how unorthodox it is, like Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and, possibly the most gutsy in this respect, Halloween III: Season of the Witch; the sequel to the original Cat People is another such film. While I can't recall exactly when I first heard of Cat People, I can remember the first time I heard of The Curse of the Cat People and how unusual a sequel it is. It was on that VHS documentary, The History of Sci-Fi and Horror, where it was mentioned briefly in the section on movies centered around the "undead," with Butch Patrick describing it as being, "At its heart, a ghost story, and just barely a sequel." Like the first film, it definitely sounded intriguing, but I didn't see it for a long time, when I got the Val Lewton Horror Collection DVD box-set for Christmas in 2011, and when I did see it, my response was, "This isn't even really a ghost story." Indeed, while there are some parts of it that are suspenseful and atmospheric, as well as some possible supernatural elements to it, this is not a horror movie at all, which is why I didn't review it back when I did the original in October. In reality, it's a drama that focuses on the psychology of a young child and how her parents deal with her very active imagination and the fantasy world she tends to live in. As such, I wasn't sure what to make of it upon that first viewing but, after a few more viewings since then, I must say that I do think this is a good little movie. Granted, it should not have the title that it does (really, the title is more fitting for the first film), and the marketing should have been much more truthful to the movie itself rather than exploit the title, but if you judge it for what it is rather than compare it to the first film, you find that it has quite a lot to offer, particularly in the sophisticated way it approaches its subject matter.

While on a school field trip to the small town of Sleepy Hollow, six-year old Amy Reed, the often daydreaming daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed, gets into a quarrel with a boy who catches a butterfly she's chasing and ends up killing it. This is the latest in a long history of behavior that concerns both Miss Callahan, Amy's teacher, and her parents, especially Oliver, who's never quite gotten over what happened to his wife, Irena, and is afraid that Amy's fantasizing may lead her down a dark path similar to what happened to her. With no friends of her own age to play with, and her only true one being Julia Farren, an elderly, former stage actor who lives in an old, dark house with her daughter, Barbara whom she believes is a spy rather than her child, Amy comes up with an imaginary friend. Initially, this friend has no form but, when Amy sees an old photo of Irena, she takes on her looks and the two of them become very close, with Amy spending every possible moment with her, including a moment on Christmas. Everything is fine until shortly after Christmas, when Amy finds another picture Oliver has of Irena and identifies her as her friend. Angry that she's still living in her dream-world when he thought she was improving, Oliver tries to get her to give up on these fantasies but is compelled to punish her when she doesn't. After being punished, Amy is visited by Irena, who tells her that it's time for her to leave her life and departs, but Amy is unwilling to let her go and runs out after her. Her parents discover that she's gone and head out to search for her, as a snowstorm moves in, unaware that Amy is now in danger not only from the consequences of her imagination but also from Barbara Farren, who's intent upon killing her if she shows up at the house again.

Of the 15 films that he produced in his lifetime, it's possible that The Curse of the Cat People was Val Lewton's most personal. When RKO asked him to produce a sequel to Cat People, which had been a big hit for them in 1942, Lewton, not interested in rehashing what he'd done before, decided instead to make a movie about the psychology of a young child and put a lot of himself into the script, which he co-wrote with DeWitt Bodeen, with whom he did the screenplay for both Cat People and The Seventh Victim (though Bodeen only gets the credit). What made this personal to Lewton was the fact that, like Amy, he was a very imaginative child, one who fantasized a lot (the part of the story that involves Amy seeing a tree as a "magic mailbox," as the place of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in it, is based on an aspect of Lewton's own childhood) and grew into a man who was never really happy and had many self-esteem issues. It also mirrored the tension that Lewton felt with his own daughter, Nina, who had some major issues of her own and who never quite reconciled with her father. Lewton was so invested in the movie that he also completely changed the climax and also wanted the movie to be renamed Amy and Her Friend, but RKO insisted on keeping the film's connection to Cat People prominent. To that end, they even went as far as to make him put in an inconsequential moment that involved some boys coming across a black cat on the field trip, as well as some other scenes. Lewton, undoubtedly, was not happy about this, and it probably stuck in his craw even more when they marketed it as such and the movie ended up not doing well as a result.

Though Mark Robson had directed the last couple of films that Val Lewton produced, for The Curse of the Cat People, he instead went with Gunther von Fritsch, who had only directed short subjects beforehand. However, von Fritsch fell drastically behind schedule, managing to get through only half of the screenplay during the 18 days he was given to shoot, and was promptly replaced by Robert Wise, who'd worked at RKO as an editor at that point. This film would mark Wise's directing debut as well, but while he, after working with Lewton again on Mademoiselle Fifi and The Body Snatcher, would go on to have a long and prosperous director, von Fritsch fell into complete obscurity (I couldn't find an image of him and, instead, had to simply with just a photo of Wise). He went back to making short subjects and didn't direct another feature until 1947, when he made the romantic comedy, Cigarette Girl. Aside from some documentary shorts, the Vienna segment of This Is Cinerama, and the 1953 Swedish drama, Stolen Identity, von Fritsch ended up mainly directing for television, doing episodes for shows like Flash Gordon, Cheyenne, and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. After the 1970 Disney film, Snow Bear, von Fritsch stopped directing and died of a stroke in 1988 at the age of 82.

Though she's fourth-billed in the opening credits, little Amy Reed (Ann Carter) is most definitely the protagonist of the film. Amy is portrayed as a very nice, innocent little girl, but also introverted and a dreamer, often escaping into a world of fantasy that she creates for herself, pretending that animals and places around her are magical. She's so detached from reality that she still believes a story her father told her about a tree in their yard being a "magic mailbox," leading her to put invitations to her birthday party in a hole in the trunk and, as a result, getting no guests for her party, and she's often alienated from the other schoolchildren, who see her as an oddball. Unintentionally not inviting them to her party only drives a bigger wedge between them, and when Amy chases after some girls when they refuse to play with her the following day, she comes across the Farren house and is given a ring by old Julia Farren. Amy is very distraught when, telling her father what happened, he angrily writes off her account of what happened as another one of her fantasies, leading to an argument between him and his wife. Feeling guilty about the quarrel, as well as more lonely than ever, Amy, believing the ring to be a wishing ring, wishes for a friend and appears to get one, as she starts happily playing in the yard as if someone was with her. The only truly real friend she makes is the elderly Mrs. Farren, whose fairy tail-like old house and habit of putting on private little plays for her only fuels her fertile imagination, to the point where she has a bad dream about the Headless Horseman after she's told of the story. Scared, she asks for her imaginary friend to appear and alleviate her fear, which does happen. Not too long after that, Amy sees a picture of Irena and, learning her name, ends up allowing her imaginary friend to take on that very identity. Amy is never happier then, spending as much time as she can playing and having fun with Irena, even managing to spend a little bit of Christmas with her and give her a present.

Through all of this, Amy, despite some instances of rough, child acting is absolutely impossible to dislike. Not only is she cute as a button and sweet but her innocence, imagination, and genuine good nature make her a very lovable child and, as such, it's really sad to see how genuinely lonely she is when the kids refuse to have anything to do with her and how upset she is when her father gets onto her about her fantasizing and when her parents argue over it. With so much turmoil around her, it's small wonder why she continuously opts to escape from reality and it's nice to see her happy when she meets Irena. However, her happiness doesn't last forever, as Oliver becomes upset when Amy tells him about how she's friends with Irena and, when he tries to get her to see that her friend doesn't exist but she insists that she's there, he feels compelled to punish. After she receives a spanking, Amy is visited by Irena, who tells her that it's time for her to leave her life, but Amy is unwilling to let go and chases after her, into the cold night. Her imagination running wild, she nearly gets run over on the road, thinking the sound of it approaching is the Headless Horseman, and becomes stranded out there when a snowstorm blows in. With nowhere else to go, she runs to the Farren house, where Mrs. Farren attempts to hide her from Barbara, who's become so jealous about her mother preferring Amy over her that she's threatened to kill her, but ends up dying from the exertion it puts on her heart. Amy is then confronted by Barbara, who's now intent on killing her, but when Amy calls for Irena and sees Barbara become her in her mind, she embraces her, a moment of affection that prompts Barbara to let her live. At that moment, her parents and the police find her and she's taken home, with Oliver promising her that, from now on, he's going to listen to her and trust her.

Of the three returning characters from the first movie, the one who's still affected the most by those previous events is Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), who has since married Alice Moore and had a child with her. Oliver hasn't completely gotten over Irena and what eventually became of her; as a result, he's afraid that Amy's constant fantasizing and lack of real friends may lead her down a similarly dark path, one where she completely loses herself to the delusions and possibly die as a result. He continually encourages Amy to forget about these daydreams and play with the other children, but at the same time, he's hardly understanding when she tells him that the children ran away from her because of the mix-up with the birthday invitations. Moreover, he becomes angry when she describes what happened when she came upon the Farren house, dismissing her account of it as just another fantasy, calling it a lie, and leading to an argument between him and Alice about it, as he feels she spoils Amy and excuses her fantasies. However, he clearly feels bad when he sees how upset Amy is over it but becomes proud when she seems to start improving, unaware that she's developed an imaginary friend. In the private moments between him and with Alice, we see just how much Oliver still thinks of Irena, as he still has photos of her in the house, and though Alice tells him he'd best get rid of them when Amy sees one of them, he can't bring himself to get rid of one of the two of them together and puts it in a photo album. And there's a moment where Irena sings Amy her lullaby from the previous film and, downstairs, Oliver, who's in the middle of a card game with Alice and some friends, momentarily drifts off, as if he hears it. In any case, that photo of Irena that Oliver placed in the album is what leads to him learning that Amy has made her into an imaginary friend. Not at all happy with this, Oliver takes Amy out into the garden, where she says she plays with Irena, and when she continuously insists that she's there, he feels compelled to take her up to her room and punish her since he doesn't see anyone out there. After spanking her, Oliver has a conversation with Amy's teacher, Miss. Callahan, whom he tells about Irena, what happened to her, and why he finds it disturbing that Amy made her into her imaginary friend. Miss. Callahan, in turn, tells him that he has to trust her and listen to her, and as a result of his companionship, she'll stop fantasizing. Deciding that's the kind of relationship he wants, Oliver decides to go upstairs to make it up to Amy, only to find that she's gone outside. With a snowstorm coming, Oliver becomes desperate to find her, telling Alice it'll be his fault if anything happens to Amy, and when they do find her and bring her home, he promises to listen to her and trust her. When he claims to see Irena in the garden as well, the movie ends with her figure disappearing, showing that Amy is on the road to no longer needing imaginary companionship.

Unlike her husband, Alice (Jane Randolph) is more understanding towards Amy and doesn't see her fantasizing as anything to worry about; in fact, there are some instances where she subtly encourages it, like when Amy makes a wish on her birthday cake and Edward, their butler, says it doesn't work if she says it aloud, prompting Alice to say that rule doesn't apply in this case. What she does worry about is how hard Oliver comes down on her about it, which leads into arguments between them, as she feels like he doesn't hear her out and automatically views what she tells him as lies. She's especially concerned about the situation's ties to Irena, whom she feels Oliver thinks about too much and insists that Amy is nothing like her. Though Alice tells Oliver that she's not jealous of a dead person, during a conversation between her and Miss Callahan at their home, she talks about how she feels as if they're cursed and that it's like Irena haunts the house, directing her wrath, so to speak, at Amy. However, aside from these scenes and moments between her and Amy, Alice doesn't have quite as much of a role here as she did in Cat People, though she's still a well-written and complex character, far from the two-dimensional female leads you often get in these types of movies from around this time. Once Oliver learns that Amy has made Irena into an imaginary friend, Alice tries to stop him from pressing her about it, seeing how upset Amy is becoming, but Oliver doesn't back down, and she tries to intervene when he takes her upstairs to spank her but Mrs. Callahan talks her down. And when Miss Callahan makes Oliver understand that he's been dealing with Amy the wrong way, Alice insists that he go up and talk to her, which leads to them learning that she's gone. One thing I do wish is that Alice was more concerned about Amy than she comes off; instead, when they're out searching for her with the police, all she does is tell Oliver that they'll find her, while he's the one that's worried to death about her. But, of course, she's just as happy to find her as Oliver is.

Though she doesn't have many scenes, Miss Callahan (Eve March), is actually quite an important character in the story. She knows that Amy is different from the other children but she sees her as a good kid and, like Alice, doesn't see her fantasizing as anything to be really concerned about. Knowing how sensitive Amy is, Miss Callahan initially suggests that Oliver's behavior could be a part of the problem, and over the course of the film, she learns about Irena, how Oliver hasn't truly moved on from her, and his fears about Amy suffering a similar fate, especially when he learns that she's made Irena into an imaginary friend. When she witnesses Oliver's punishing Amy for not saying that Irena doesn't exist, Miss Callahan explains to him that what Amy did isn't so unusual, that children like her often come up with imaginary companions, and that the way he's dealing with it isn't helping. She goes on to tell Oliver that she needs to be Amy's companion so she won't need to dream up an imaginary one and that she'll stop when that need is satisfied, imploring him to start making up with her right then and now. When Oliver discovers that Amy's gone, Miss Callahan is the one who calls the state police and joins them in the search, remaining with them when they find her and bring her home.

Far from the mysterious, troubled, and ultimately menacing woman with a frighteningly real dark side that she was in the first film, here Irena (Simone Simon) is depicted as a benevolent, kindly, and almost angelic figure, especially in how she dresses, who comes to Amy when she's desperate for a friend. Although the memory of her is still very much alive for Oliver and Alice, her actual presence is first felt about halfway in, when Amy wishes for a friend on the ring that Mrs. Farren gave her, and she's later heard humming her lullaby to Amy in her room one night, her shadow appearing on the wall next to the bed. She finally takes on her former earthbound form after Amy sees her picture and learns her name and immediately befriends, say that she herself has been lonely. Irena promises to be Amy's friend for as long as she'll have her, but tells her that she must not tell anyone else about her, not even her parents. The two of them spend every possible minute with each other, happily playing in the garden in the Reeds' backyard, and there's even a nice moment at Christmastime when Amy joins her out there and gives her a Christmas present: a lovely pin with stars on it that she wears on the white cape she's now sporting. Irena gives Amy her own Christmas present by having the trees at the rim of the garden glow like ice sparkling in the moonlight. However, things start to go downhill when Oliver learns what Amy has been doing and can't get her to stop seeing Irena in the garden. As she's standing out there, Irena motions for Amy to not say that she's there but Amy, wanting her to be as real as possible, insists that she is, prompting Oliver to punish her. After she's been spanked, and lies on her bed, crying, Irena appears to Amy, telling her that she came to her because she called to her out of her loneliness but, now, she must leave. When Amy says she doesn't want her to leave, Irena says, "You'll remember me for a while, mourn a little, but then, you'll forget, and that is as it should be." Despite Amy telling her that she'll follow her, Irena tells her it's impossible and bids a soft goodbye before departing. Amy, however, does try to follow her, ending up outside in the snowstorm and finding her way to the Farren house. Irena appears to Amy again when she calls for her out of fear, as Barbara Farren closes in to kill her out of her jealousy and bitterness, her image superimposed over Barbara, though it's never made clear whether that's real or in Amy's imagination. In any case, Amy's reaction to it prompts Barbara to spare her life, and when her parents take her home, Irena appears in the garden one last time before departing, seeing that Oliver and Amy's relationship has been mended.

The biggest question to ask in regards to Irena is whether she's really there as a spirit that befriends and plays with Amy as a friend that only she can see and hear or if she's just a creation of Amy's mind after she sees the picture of her. For my money, I think it's a bit of both. While you could definitely say that this Irena is just an imaginary friend that Amy dreamed up and happens to look like the real person because she put her image and name to her, a notion that's supported by how Irena never truly appears until after Amy first sees the picture of her, there is the fact that Irena can be heard humming that lullaby to Amy when she wakes up from a bad dream one night, which is before Amy learns of the real person and what she looked like. Let's also not forget that Oliver appeared to briefly hear the singing as well and that, right after Amy first starts playing with her unseen companion, she can be heard trying to remember the tune. On top of that, how could Amy come up with some things so specific to Irena that, photo or not, she couldn't possibly know of them, right down to her voice and accent? Plus, I see Irena's telling Amy not to tell anyone of her, especially her parents, as her way of not wanting to intrude on their new life, especially after what they went through with her before. So, while this is still most definitely a film about the active imagination of a young child, I personally think that Irena's spirit really does appear to Amy out of her need for a friend, taking only the exact form of her living self once Amy sees her picture (which is what she means that she tells Amy she brought her into being), and, after things are made good between Amy and Oliver, she disappears, her job done.

Two characters in the film who live a truly sad and pitiable existence are Mrs. Farren (Julia Dean) and her daughter, Barbara (Elizabeth Russell). While Mrs. Farren, an old stage actor, who remembers and pines for the days of her prime, is very sweet and kind to Amy, giving her a ring when she first passes by her house and putting on a mock play for her in the den of her house, acting out the story of the Headless Horseman, she's cold and dismissive of Barbara, whom she doesn't believe is her daughter at all. She believes that Barbara died when she was six and the woman in her house is a "poor, lost woman," one who's a liar and a spy and is only there to wait on her. Exactly what happened all those years ago is never made clear, other than it happened on a cold, snowy night, but it seems like, in her belief that Barbara did die, she went completely mad and couldn't remember anyone or anything. In any case, watching Barbara trying to get through to her mother time and again, only to be rejected in favor of Amy, is really frustrating and hard to watch, and because of that, Barbara's hatred of Amy is totally understandable. She was menacing towards Amy from the beginning, as she didn't like her snooping around the house, but as she sees her mother grow all the more attached to her, to the point where she rejects her own Christmas present in favor of one Amy brings her, Barbara's jealousy turns to bitter rage and she proclaims that she'll kill Amy if she shows up again. Sure enough, that happens to be the very night that Amy gets lost out in the snowstorm and seeks shelter at the Farren house. Mrs. Farren, remembering what Barbara said about killing Amy, tries to hide her upstairs but the exertion of trying to get up there proves fatal for her and she dies of a heart attack. Barbara then shows up and, seeing her mother dead, is now determined once and for all to kill Amy, as she feels that she's even stolen her mother's last few moments of life from her. However, Barbara is surprised when Amy, seeing Irena's image superimposed over her, calls her, "My friend," and embraces her. For a moment, she does attempt to strangle her, but this gesture of affection gets to her enough to where she can't go through with it, and when Amy's parents and the search party show up, Barbara gently pushes her off and walks away.

Elizabeth Russell, who plays Barbara, should be familiar to those who have seen Val Lewton's other films, as she appeared briefly in Cat People who called Irena, "My sister," and she also appeared in The Seventh Victim. She was one of a group of actors whom you could call a kind of stock company that Lewton used again and again, and several others appear in this film. One of them is Sir Lancelot, a calypso singer and actor who appeared in I Walked With a Zombie and The Ghost Ship. Here, he plays Edward, the Reeds' dependable and lovable butler and cook who is just as fond of Amy as her parents and who, when she goes to the Farren house by herself, tells her not to do so by herself ever again. In addition, you have Erford Gage, who appeared in The Seventh Victim and plays the police captain who leads the search for Amy late in the film (after this, he was drafted into the service and actually died the following year at Iwo Jima, at just 32), and Edmund Glover, who had a memorable supporting role in The Ghost Ship and appears here as one of the guests who plays cards with Alice and Oliver, possibly as Miss Callahan's husband, as she's also there.

As should be obvious at this point, what makes The Curse of the Cat People such an unusual sequel is how it's completely different thematically, despite being a continuation of the main characters from its predecessor. It's like if you did a sequel to Cujo but, instead of making a story about another vicious dog, you instead focused on the lasting effects that experience had on the Trenton family, especially little Tad. While the events of Cat People still hang over Oliver and Alice here, especially Irena ultimately losing her life and how much that affected the former, the notion of her becoming a deadly panther upon being sexually aroused is not brought up at all. In fact, while her having killed Dr. Judd is touched upon (though not explicitly), as well as other details, such as how she was an artist and the significance of the little model boats that Oliver makes (in the first film, he was a marine engineer and there was a scene in a museum full of such boats), they talk about the Cat People as if they were just a delusion that drove Irena mad and led to her death. In fact, that's the main reason why Amy's fantasizing concerns Oliver as much as it does, as he likens it to Irena doing the same thing, but if you watch that first film, despite its well-known and much-lauded subtlety, it's obvious by the end of it that Irena really is changing into a deadly panther when she becomes aroused or jealous, a fact that Oliver and Alice definitely knew was true. You could blame the really concrete ties and allusions to Cat People that the movie has on the studio, who insisted on such references, like the scene in the opening between the two boys and the black cat, after principal photography was completed, but I find it odd that Val Lewton and DeWitt Bodeen would write it that to begin with. It probably came from how Lewton didn't actually want to make a sequel and was kind of forced into it but it makes me feel that it would have been even more effective than it already is if this were a completely original story, with absolutely no ties to Cat People.

As with all of the films that Lewton produced for RKO, The Curse of the Cat People is a very well-made movie. For one, the cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca, who also shot Cat People, and had worked with Lewton since then on The Seventh Victim and The Ghost Ship, is some of the best black-and-white photography you're ever likely to see (the fact that it didn't even get nominated for some kind of award is a real travesty). Not only is it very evocative, with its constant use of very deep blacks and shadows, especially in the scenes inside the Farren house and the scenes between Amy and Irena in the former's bedroom, but it often truly encapsulates the magical way the world can look through the imaginative eyes of a child. It's really interesting how the lights in a scene slowly dim and slip back in whenever Amy is fantasizing, like when she first wishes for a friend and how, when she's scared after having a bad dream and calls for her imaginary friend, you see the shadows of tree branches outside stretch into the room from her bedroom window, with Irena's own shadow appearing along with them before taking a spot on the wall near the bed. The loveliest example of this kind of effect that I can think of, however, is when Amy and Irena are sitting out in the garden at Christmas and Irena gives the girl her own Christmas present, which is to have the trees along the edge of the garden glitter like twinkling icicles in the moonlight. Besides the amazing lighting, the cinematography is often done in a way to make things look and feel just a bit fantastical and larger life, such as the upshot of one of the Farren house's top windows when Mrs. Farren first calls Amy over, which makes it look a little like a mysterious castle, as well as when you see the entire house during the snowstorm; the way the scene is framed when Mrs. Farren tells Amy the story of the Headless Horseman, the two of them pretending like some curtains are a stage and her coming in closer and closer towards the camera, talking right into it as she tells Amy that you must forever ride with the horseman if he catches you; and the way the garden in the house's backyard is shot to make it look like something in a fairy tail, particularly during the winter scenes. Another bit of cinematography that I like to mention is the shot of Amy sitting outside the classroom, as her parents talk to Miss Callahan inside. The way she looks so small in this really distant shot of the wide, blankly-painted hallway manages to establish early on the isolation and alienation that her fantasizing creates between her and everyone else in her life. Finally, even though it's not a horror film, there are certainly instances here where the camera is used to create a feeling of tension when it comes to Barbara Farren, with how you see her walking down to her room while keeping an eye on Amy at one point, how she can be seen watching her mother's interactions with Amy from the parlor's draped entryway, and how you get a high-up shot looking down on her as she walks up towards Amy in a menacing way near the end of the movie.

Going back to the notion of fantasy, the movie often looks and feels like a fairy tale, and I think a big reason for that is that a lot of the scenes were shot in a studio. There was some location work done at places like Malibu Lake, Los Angeles, and Encino, but most of the movie was shot in the studio at RKO, including the exterior scenes with Amy in the garden in the back of the house. There's just something about the way that set looks when Amy is running around it, happily playing, that makes it feel very storybook, and it's even more so during the third act when it's winter. Obviously, since the movie was done entirely in California, they had to shoot inside for the snow scenes and that artificiality, again, adds to the notion of it being just a tad bit past reality. The shots of the garden when it's covered in snow, particularly with that curved, bent tree in the center of it, a little fishpond off to the side and a small bench out in front of it, truly look like works of expressionistic art, like something I might have seen in some pictures or some child's storybooks I remember seeing at my grandparents' old house, and I also feel the same way about the section of the movie where Amy is wandering the woods and the country roads in the snowstorm. Like I said up above, the Farren house most certainly looks and feels larger than life, in how it's a classic old, dark house, with some interesting architecture and statues to be seen outside, and the inside (the set from the film, The Magnificent Ambersons, which was also used in Cat People) is just as mysterious. It never quite comes across as menacing, until the climax when Barbara is bent on killing Amy, but it does have an aura about it, with how dark it often is, how large and fancy the rooms are, with some memorable decor, such as a stuffed bobcat that's posed killing and eating a bird in the parlor, and the short staircase that's just past the front door in the foyer. Also, we see very little of it, just the aforementioned foyer and parlor, which is where Mrs. Farren often resides, even though we know there's much more to it, including an apparent downstairs room where Barbara stays that can be accessed by some more stairs to the right of the main, and it adds to its mysterious air. Besides the actual sets, the archaic nature of the movie's few special effects, like the butterfly at the beginning that, when in the air, is conceived through animation, and the simpleness of Irena's image being superimposed over Barbara during the climax, also add to the fantasy aura of the film and feel more in line with a kid's imagination than they would if they'd been done in a more elaborate manner.

Other locations and settings, like the small bit of Sleepy Hollow, which the kids visit at the beginning of the film, the school that Amy attends, the neighborhood where the Reeds live, and the Reeds' nice-looking, upper-class home in Tarrytown have more of a feeling of ordinariness about them. The latter particularly comes off as a typical suburban home in 1940's America, complete with a work area in the back where Oliver does his engineering work, a lovely den where the family gathers around the Christmas tree, and fairly large bedroom for Amy herself. But, as ordinary as it is, the scenes at Christmastime where everybody is around the tree feels like something you'd see in a postcard in December, as is the shot of the carolers singing out in the street in front of the house. And while it is a home that Oliver and Alice have made for themselves, there's still Irena's presence in the form of the painting that Alice points out to Miss Callahan as having been her personal favorite (said painting is Goya's portrait of Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga, by the way), as well as the photos of her that Oliver has kept here and there. However, Oliver's thinking of her, not to mention her truer presence, aside, I don't think it's quite enough to where it feels like Irena haunts the house, as Alice describes it, and I feel that scene where she tells Miss Callahan that comes off as one of the studio's attempts shoehorn in the connection to Cat People and make brief mention of the "curse" the title promises.

One of the things that I think makes this movie work so well is that I'm sure the majority of people can very much relate to it. Kids play pretend and fantasize all the time, especially when they're alone a lot, so many viewers can probably put themselves in Amy's shoes whenever she's off by herself, pretending that there are things and people there that really aren't. I know I can, because I was kind of like Amy when I was a kid. Now, unlike her, I actually had some friends, so I never had to dream up an imaginary one, but for a good chunk of the time, I was a loner and a daydreamer, as well as someone who would run around the yard and long driveway at my house, making up stories, pretending that trees were big monsters, that my house was the bad guy's lair, and such. My parents didn't mind my doing this, as long as I had a normal life outside of it and it didn't affect my performance in school (which, I must confess, it sometimes did impact the latter), but I can still see myself in Amy a little bit, especially in the moments where she's ostracized from the other kids. Again, I did have friends, but most of the kids I went to school with saw me as kind of an oddball and so, they would either tease me or just plain not include in what they were doing during recess. It never got to me too much but, there were times where I would see them playing together, with a real feeling of comradery amongst them, and I would wish that I could be a part of it. And I can definitely relate to Amy being upset when the boy at the beginning unintentionally kills the butterfly that's chasing after, as I've always been sensitive to animals, especially cute or beautiful ones, being hurt or mistreated in any way. I don't know if I would have smacked him over it but I do think he and would have had words about it.

Another thing I like about this movie is how it depicts the power of a child's imagination, not just when Amy is fantasizing and daydreaming but also how it can affect their perception of things in everyday life. To a kid like Amy, a big, dark house like the Farren place can seem like something out of a story, especially when you hear a voice calling to you from within and are given something from someone who stays hidden in the window, and so, your account of such a thing can sound made up to someone else. That's to say nothing of the inside of it, which prompts Amy to imagine a book suddenly blowing open from a breeze that has no way of blowing in there, and the effect that Mrs. Farren's story of the Headless Horseman has on her. It's clear that her imagination is on overdrive during that performance, as you can hear the sound of the galloping hoof-beats as she tells her the story, leading to her having a bad dream about it, complete with a shadow passing over her window and bed, and when Amy gets lost in the snowstorm during the climax, the atmosphere of the cold, icy woods around her and the sound of an approaching truck makes her think she hears the horseman coming for her. It really does make for an interesting and insightful peek into a child's psychology, which is a reason for the film being so lauded.

The film also contains some interesting insight into how others deal with a child like Amy. The other children see her as an odd, distant dreamer, with her head always in the clouds, and someone who often spoils the games they try to play, as she's always off in her own little world rather than paying attention to the game. They get mad at her when they end up not getting invited to her birthday party, as they don't understand the bizarre circumstances of how the mix-up occurred, and proceed to ignore her and run away from her when she does try to play with them, which leads to her internalizing more as her isolation increases. In fact, the only kid who tries to befriend her in some way is the boy at the beginning who catches a butterfly for her, only to unintentionally kill it and upset Amy, prompting her to slap him. Miss Callahan knows how much of a dreamer Callahan is but knows that she's a good kid, despite her eccentricities, and feels that her home life, especially her relationship with her father, could be a contributing factor to it. When she learns how deep Oliver's fears about Amy's fantasizing goes and what he feels it might lead to, she brings up the book, The Inner World of Childhood, which is a real book that was written in 1927 by Frances Wickes, and tells him how it contains an entire chapter on unhappy, lonely children like Amy, who dream up imaginary friends to fill a void in their life. She goes on to tell him that she needs to fill that void himself by being Amy's friend as well as her father, to listen to her and to trust her, and that in time, she'll stop turning to her fantasy world and imaginary playmates.

And then, of course, you have the complex and strained relationship between Amy and her father. Oliver is so terrified that Amy's fantasizing will cause her to lose touch with reality, as he feels Irena's beliefs about the Cat People of her village did to her, that he continuously insists that she play with the other children and stop spending so much time in the world of her imagination. Due to the pressure Amy feels from this, she actually makes a wish on her birthday cake to, "Be a good girl... I'll be just like Daddy wants me to be," but when she tries, things take an unexpected turn. Oliver is far from understanding when Amy tries to explain what happened when she tried to play with the other kids, first having more sympathy for the other kids for being angry at Amy over the birthday party, then questioning Amy as to why she didn't run after the kids when they ran away, and then going on a rant when Amy tells him of what happened at the Farren house, thinking it's another one of her made up stories: "Never let me hear anything of that sort again! Your mother may excuse it as imagination, but I call it just plain lying and I'll have none of it! Understand?!" Overhearing him, Alice comes in and questions him what's going on. Oliver proceeds to say that Amy's been lying again, leading to an argument between them when she says that he's being unfair and didn't hear Amy out, leading to him declaring, "I'm never unfair!... But there's no doubt in my mind that you spoil this child." Feeling it's her fault that her parents are fighting, Amy continues to fantasize out of loneliness but keeps it to herself. For a while, Oliver believes that she's gotten over it, feeling that she's keeping a promise she made, but when she claims that's been playing with Irena, he becomes angry that she's still at it and spanks her for it. His anger and disappointment is now tied with his disturbance at the idea that Amy is claiming that she's friends with Irena and because of that, he feels that it's more than just pretend and that his fears have been justified. But, when Miss Callahan explains to him that he's been dealing with Amy the wrong way and that he needs to be more understanding and friendly towards her, Oliver decides to make up for it, becoming all the more determined to do so when Amy gets lost in the storm. As much of a nice and complex look into the subject as it is, it's just a shame that, in reality, Val Lewton's own problems with his daughter couldn't have been resolved as easily.

The sad, alienated relation between Mrs. Farren and her daughter also stands as a sort of example of what may become of Oliver and Amy if things don't improve. The circumstances are different but you still have the some sort of situation, with Barbara's mother not accepting her at all, the way Oliver has a hard time accepting Amy, and refuses to believe that she is her daughter but, rather, is a spying imposter, whose claims of being Barbara are a lie. Mrs. Farren so believes that Barbara died when she was six years old that she's instantly smitten with and doting on Amy, who's the exact same age and is somewhat akin to Barbara in looks (Edward, at one point, comments on how they both have blonde hair), essentially trying to put her in place of the child she believes she lost. Amy, unintentionally, manages to take both her love and her final moments of life from Barbara, which angers the embittered woman to the point where she's ready to take Amy's life over it.

The movie opens with Miss Callahan taking her elementary school class on a field trip to Sleepy Hollow, telling them something of the area's rich history before letting them loose to run and play for exactly 15 minutes. The kids then proceed to do so, running into a clearing beyond the small bridge that they're standing on, with a couple of boys stumbling across a meowing black cat sitting on the lowest branch of a tiny tree, and pretending to shoot at it, prompting it to run off. Meanwhile, Miss Callahan plays a game with the other kids where they pass a shoe amongst themselves, trying to keep a girl circling around the outside of them from catching them with it (I have no clue what this game is called but it's kind of a version of Duck, Duck, Goose). After a couple of turns, it ends up in Amy Reed's hand, but she's off in her own little world and doesn't realize it. The girl sitting beside her tells her that she's it and she stands up to take her turn, only to get distracted by a butterfly and walks off after it, much to the irritation of Evelyn, the girl who was it before. While Miss Callahan tells Evelyn that Amy is a nice girl, just a bit different, Amy walks up to the butterfly as it lands on a bush and calls it her friend, asking it to play with her. The butterfly flies off and she chases after it, catching the attention of some other kids. A boy joins her in chasing it, saying he'll get it for her, and he manages to snag it in his cap. However, when he pulls it out of the cap and shows it to Amy, she sees that he ended up killing it. Upset at this, Amy steps towards him and slaps him on the left cheek (the boy doesn't react to the slap at all, though), with the scene transitioning into a conference between her parents and Miss Callahan, where Oliver first tells her of his fears about Amy's constant daydreaming. After the meeting, Amy comes in to remind her parents of her birthday party, which is to take place that afternoon, and as she and Miss Callahan walk out to the car, Oliver and Alice note some children's drawings on the wall outside the classroom. Finding one by Amy, Oliver notes on its imagination, despite its lack of artistry, and this leads to a conversation about how Amy reminds Oliver of Irena to an uncomfortable degree.

When no one shows up for Amy's birthday party, Oliver asks her where she mailed the party invitations and she takes him to the backyard, to a tree that he once told her was a "magic mailbox." Finding the invitations inside a cavity in the side of the tree, Oliver tells her again that she needs to stop with the dreaming, but to cheer her up over her disappointment, they have their own party and it turns out to be a nice one, with Amy wishing on her birthday cake that she can be a good girl for her father. However, the next day, when Amy tries to play with the other kids, she finds that they're angry at her for not inviting them to her party, and when she tries to explain that she did, they trick her into looking in the opposite direction before running off. Amy runs after them but gets left behind, with the girls coming across the old Farren house. The three of them mention that it's haunted and that a witch lives in it before going on, with Amy rounding the corner near it behind them. As she approaches the gate, the curtain parts on one of the top windows and a female voice calls, "Little girl, come into the garden. It's pleasant and cool here." Amy, despite looking a little leery, does what the voice says and approaches the house's front steps, standing in its shadow. The voice asks her to step back so that the speaker can get a look at her and when she does, the person in the window tosses a handkerchief attached to a ring into the lawn by her. Picking it up and looking at it, Amy is startled when Barbara Farren makes her first appearance by yanking the handkerchief out of her hand, glaring at her as she walks away, towards the front door. The still unseen speaker up in the window tells Amy to go away and she takes off running back home.

Coming home, Amy, after talking with Edward and showing him her ring, him telling her, "I wouldn't be so surprised if it were a real wishing ring," Amy decides to go see Oliver and tell him about how she wasn't able to play with the other kids. Finding him in his small workshop, he presents her with a model ship he's made for her as a present for being a good girl, but when she says that she didn't play with other kids and tries to explain what happened, Oliver becomes angry, leading to him scolding Amy and an argument between her and Alice. Seeing how upset she is, and trying to convince her that they weren't fighting but just having a discussion, they send Amy out to play but, in the next scene, she sadly walks over to a small fishpond, sits down by it, and fiddles with a toy before putting her hand in the water. Glancing at the ring, she says to herself, "I wish for a friend," and suddenly, the area suddenly darkens and leaves start falling on the ground around her. Intrigued by this magical turn of events, Amy starts running around, happily twirling her toy, as the place brightens up again. Her sudden happiness doesn't go unnoticed by Oliver and Edward, as they work in the shop and see her out the window. That night, after eating her dinner, and as Alice takes Amy up to bed, the girl tries to hum a tune that she said a friend of hers often does but can't seem to remember it. Up in her bedroom, Alice washes Amy's hands, when she notices the ring on her finger. Amy tells her where she got it and Alice tells her that she shouldn't accept gifts from strangers, telling her to have Edward take her back to the house the next day and return the ring. This is fine with Amy, as she says the wish she made on the ring came true anyway.

The next day, Amy gets impatient while waiting for Edward to finish his chores so he can take her to the Farren house and, with his blessing, goes by herself. Arriving at the house and knocking on the door, Amy is allowed in by Barbara, who tries to take the ring from her when she says she's returning it. Amy, however, is insistent on giving it back to the woman who gave it to her and Barbara, in turn, directs her over to a sofa near the stairs in the foyer, while she walks down another flight leading downward, keeping her eye on the girl. Amy sits on the sofa for a little bit but soon gets restless and curious about a closed door to the left of it. She walks over to it, only to find it locked, and then wanders over to another room to the very right of the sofa, one that's separated from the foyer by some drapes. Walking into the room, which is a large and very dark den, Amy is initially taken aback by what she sees in there, including a stuffed bobcat that's in the stance of killing and eating a bird, and is startled when a book on a nearby table blows open. She walks a little further in and hears what initially sounds like some sinister laughing, followed by blinding light hitting her in the face. However, it turns out to have simply been Mrs. Farren, who closes the blinds upon seeing her react to the light, and the two of them sit down. She's not at all intent upon taking back the ring, proclaiming that a famous theater actor like herself could never be a stranger, as Alice referred to her. They're about to have tea, when they see Barbara watching them from just outside the curtain, and Mrs. Farren calls her a liar and a cheat when Amy asks.

Meanwhile, Alice, who's been visited by Miss Callahan, learns from Edward where Amy has gone and sends him to fetch her. Back at the Farren house, Mrs. Farren, learning that Amy has never seen a play or heard the story of the Headless Horseman, decides to put on a performance of it for her. Guiding her over to a chair and having her sit, Mrs. Farren walks over to another set of drapes, saying they'll pretend it's the stage. Amy eagerly watches as she comes back out, telling her that the Headless Horseman lost his head in a great war, when there's a knocking at the front door. It's Edward, who's let in by Barbara when he says he's looking for Amy and he walks into the den, telling Amy that it's time for her to come home. However, she's able to goad him into letting her stay and Mrs. Farren resumes her story: "On the dark nights, on the stormy nights, you can hear him. He passes like the wind, and the flapping and fluttering of his great cloak, beating like gaunt wings, and the thunder of his horse's hooves is loud, and loud, and louder. At the midnight hour, down the road that leads to Sleepy Hollow, across the bridge, he goes galloping, galloping, galloping. Always searching. Always seeking. And if you stand on the bridge at the wrong hour, the hour when he rides by, his great cloak sweeps 'round you, he swings you to his saddle bowl, and then, forever, you must ride. And always, his cold arms around you, clasping you into the carroty of his bony chest, and then, forever, you must ride, and ride, and ride with the Headless Horseman." With that, Edward has Amy come along and she thanks Mrs. Farren for the nice time before they leave. When they reach the front door, there's a moment of suspense when the door won't open but Barbara opens it for them and lets them out, closing it behind them. Outside, Edward tells Amy to never visit the house by herself again, while inside, Barbara confronts her mother about what she said, only to be rebuffed and called an imposter again.

That night, as the wind blows outside her bedroom window, Amy tosses and turns, having a dream about Mrs. Farren's story of the Headless Horseman and she wakes up with a scream, as a shadow passes over her. Downstairs, as she and Oliver are playing cards with a couple of friends, Alice thinks she heard Amy but ultimately decides it was probably nothing and goes back to the game. Upstairs, Amy looks down at the ring, which she's still wearing, and says, "My friend, I'm frightened. My friend." She watches as the wind gently blows the curtains on the window and the shadows of the tree branches stretch in, accompanied by another shadow, that of a figure that Amy finds comforting. She tells her friend, "I'm glad you came... Sing me that song again, my friend," and you then hear the sound of Irena's lullaby being hummed. Downstairs, the others note how Oliver, for a brief moment, is staring ahead and not present in the game, while the humming continues up in Amy's bedroom. The next morning, as her mother is cleaning up the den, Amy looks into a small cabinet and finds an old picture of Irena in there. After telling Amy her name, Alice has her go outside and play, and Oliver then comes into the room. Showing her the picture, she suggests that they get rid of it and any other photos of Irena in the house, hoping that they never have to tell Amy the truth about her.

Out in the garden, Amy is bouncing a ball, repeating Irena's name, when the place dims in light again and becomes lit in a more magical way. Smiling at this, she tosses the ball offscreen and Irena herself walks back with it, smiling at her. Amy asks her who she is and she identifies herself as Irena, as well as her friend, saying that she's wanted one as well. Explaining that she comes from, "Great darkness, and deep peace," the two of them sit on the rim of the fishpond, Irena telling Amy that she will be her friend for as long as she'll allow it. Kissing her on her forehead, Irena tells her that she must not tell anyone else of her, including her mother and father, saying, "This is a friendship only we shall have. You and I. Amy and her friend." Amy says that she likes how that sounds. Meanwhile, in the house, Oliver, while searching through the photos, is unable to burn one of himself and Irena and puts it in an album instead, though he does burn some others, including the one that Amy found earlier. This transitions into a montage that shows Amy and Irena's growing friendship as the year passes, with each scene having a drawing of a twig with leaves that depicts each season in a way. You see the two of them playing tag, Irena showing Amy a different way of looking at numbers, and Irena also showing her how to turn a fire different colors by adding various leaves. Not finding the latter to be much fun, Amy suggests they place house, with Irena being a guest and Amy introducing her to her "children," represented by her dolls. Irena then buttons Amy's sweater, saying it's turning cold, and Amy comments that winter is coming and she doesn't like. Irena, however, tells her that winter is fun, with the wind, the snow, the warm fires, and the long, long nights. Going back to playing house, Amy says that her children are taking their naps and introduces them to Irena one by one, telling her which one is good and which is almost never good. The scene then transitions again, showing leaves falling in the empty garden, changing to show it covered in snow.

It's Christmastime and the Reeds are decorating the tree, when Amy comes into the room, carrying a bundle of presents that are for everybody she knows, including Miss Callahan and Mrs. Farren. Her parents come across one that doesn't have a name on it and curiously ask her who it's for, with Amy being hesitant to answer. Fortunately for her, they're distracted by the sound of carolers singing outside and they walk out to the front door to watch and listen. Afterward, they're invited in, and after some smalltalk, the carolers are convinced to do another carol. They start singing, Shepherds Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep, with Alice playing on the piano, and as Amy listens, she begins to hear another voice singing nearby. Looking out the backdoor's window, she sees Irena standing out in the garden, dressed in a white cloak and hood and happily singing her own carol, in French (odd, seeing as how she's supposed to be Serbian). Seeing this, Amy walks over to the Christmas tree, takes the unnamed present, puts on her coat, and walks outside, the others too busy singing to notice her. Meeting with Irena, Amy presents her with her present. Irena opens it to find that it's a lovely pin with sparkling stars, which Amy says reminded her of her, and Irena puts it on her cloak. Admiring how beautiful it looks on her, Amy laments that Irena is unable to spend Christmas with them but Irena tells her that they'll enjoy Christmas together. She then decides to show her own present, sitting her on the small bench in front of the tree and having her watch as the light dims and the frozen trees along the rim of the garden glitter brilliantly. Amazed as she is, Amy isn't able to enjoy it for long before she hears her mother calling for her. Realizing she'd better go in, Amy heads back towards the house, but not before she and Irena exchange a wishing of "Merry Christmas" to each other.

The next scene has Amy, along with Edward, visit Mrs. Farren and present her with her present. The old woman is delighted at this, saying it's been so long since she had one, and when Amy points out one on the table next to her chair, she says, "That's from her, that woman." She then unwraps Amy's present, talking about she's had a good number of presents in her time, including a ring on her finger that she claims was from the King of Spain, but when she sees the lovely ring that Amy has given her, she replaces it immediately, saying it's a ring given out of friendship. After Mrs. Farren thanks Amy, Edward says they'd best be going and they prepare to leave. Mrs. Farren tells Amy, "You've made my Christmas a very happy one," before they leave, with Barbara showing them out. Barbara then confronts her mother about how she didn't open her present but she, again, is told that her daughter died long ago before Mrs. Farren heads into the next room. Barbara, glumly, heads downstairs.

Some time later, with Christmas over, Miss Callahan is visiting the Reeds as they dismantle their tree and Alice grabs the photo album to show her some old photos, when a picture tumbles out of it. Amy gets it for her and is surprised to see that it's the photo of Irena and her father together. She shows it to Oliver, saying, "You know my friend, too," and Oliver is shocked at this, saying that there's no possible way she could know Irena. Amy, when asked, insists that Irena is her friend and Oliver, unhappy to learn that she's still fantasizing and daydreaming, asks her to take him out in the garden, where she claims she is, so he can see for himself. Walking out on the back porch with her, Oliver asks Amy to tell him if she sees her friend in the garden, which is empty to him. Amy looks and sees Irena, promptly telling her dad that she's there, under the tree. Unhappy to hear this, and insisting there's no one there, he asks her to look again and then tell him that there's no one there, adding he'll have to punish her if she continues saying that Irena is there. Amy looks again and, despite Irena motioning for her to keep quiet, she again says that she sees her. With that, Irena watches as Oliver takes her back inside the house and upstairs to her bedroom, with Alice looking on anxiously, Miss Callahan telling her she'd best not interfere.

Later, while Oliver tells Miss Callahan about Irena and his concerns about Amy treating her like an imaginary friend, Amy is upstairs on her bed, crying over being spanked, when Irena appears to her. Asking her if she knows why she came to her, Irena tells her that her need for companionship brought her into being to brighten up her childhood. However, she tells her that she must send her away, telling her that she'll be able to move on, but Amy says she'll never forget her and that she'll follow her if she leaves. Irena tells her, "No one can follow me," and backs up to the window, whispering a soft, "Good bye," to Amy. Distraught, Amy jumps off the bed, begging Irena not to leave her, but as the camera pans with her as she walks around the bed, it goes behind an object on a table and when it pans past the other side, it's revealed that Irena is gone. Amy looks out the window, down into the garden, and heads downstairs, dressed in her coat and scarf. While Oliver and Miss Callahan continue their discussion, Amy slips out the backdoor and walks through the gate in the back of the garden, calling for Irena. As she makes her way through the woods, Oliver goes upstairs to patch things up with her, only to find that she's gone. Rushing downstairs, he tells the women what's happened and he and Alice grab their coats from the closet, while Miss Callahan calls the state police. The parents go out into the back yard, soon joined by Miss Callahan, and see from Amy's footprints in the snow that she's gone into the woods. Meanwhile, Amy walks down the snow-covered, country road, coming across a small, stone bridge and remembers Mrs. Farren's story of the Headless Horseman. Ignoring her fear, she walks on towards the bridge, when she believes she hears the sound of rapidly approaching hoofbeats behind her. Starting to run, she falls to the snow and tries to hide herself against the bridge's brick rims, as the hoofbeats grow louder and louder. A shadow passes over but it's revealed to have belonged to a passing truck, the sound of its rickety wheels being what Amy mistook for hoofbeats. Getting up she walks on, a snowstorm moving in as she heads deeper into the woods and as the others try to find her. As the snow starts falling around her, and with no sign of Irena, or anyone else, Amy runs off the road and into the woods, tripping and falling at one point.

At the Farren house, when she's yet again rebuffed by her mother, who still refuses to believe she is her daughter, Barbara growls, "You're always worse when that little girl's been here. If that child comes here again, I'll kill her. Yes, I'll kill her!" Elsewhere, Amy is now totally lost in the cold woods, as they're battered by the snowstorm, and she wanders on, doing what she can to praise herself against the winds. At this point, her parents meet up with the police on the small bridge, who tell her that she went across the field and that they'll have to lead the cars behind in order to continue the search. They then disembark and head off into the woods. Amy, meanwhile, has all but fallen asleep in a snowdrift, when she's awakened by the sound of the barking bloodhounds the police are using to search for her. Scared by the sounds, and a glimpse of their flashlights, Amy runs on and finds her way to the Farren house. Her banging on the door and calling for Mrs. Farren awakens the old woman, who's fallen asleep on the sofa in the parlor. Heading to the door, she opens it up and takes Amy in her arms. She then attempts to close the door, only to see that the storm is causing the house to come close to losing power, and she says that she must hide her, remembering Barbara's threat to kill her. Initially thinking about hiding in the parlor, only to decide against it since she knows that Barbara knows every inch of it, she decides to take Amy upstairs, saying that there's a small room up there where she can be hid. They start making their way up, Mrs. Farren telling Amy that she'll have to help her, while back out in the woods, the police find Amy's scarf in the snow, a discovery that further worries Oliver and Alice.

Dropping her cane and holding onto the stairs' railing, Mrs. Farren realize that trying to go upstairs was a big mistake and tells Amy she can't do it before grabbing her chest, sobbing, and collapsing. Amy tries to get her up but it becomes clear that she's gone, and as the wind continues howling outside and the lights flicker again, Amy looking over the railing and watches as Barbara slowly walks up the stairs next to the main ones. She glares at Amy when she sees her, and when she walks onto the landing and moves to the front of the stairs, she sees her mother's body lying on the steps next to Amy. Looking back up at Amy, who's clearly scared, Barbara growls, "Even my mother's last moments, you've stolen from me." Barbara demands that Amy come to her but the girl stays where she is, calling for her father in a panic. Barbara starts to approach her, with Amy now calling for her friend. This ends up confusing Barbara, and as Amy looks at her, Irena's benevolent visage appears over her. Happy to see her friend, Amy walks down the stairs and embraces Barbara, saying, "My friend." Barbara moves her hands towards Amy's head, ready to strangle her, and gets very close to doing so, but ultimately, she can't bring her to do it, especially when Amy again says, "My friend." She then rests her hands on Amy's shoulders and partly returns the embrace, as the lights come back on after having dimmed from the storm. Tears in her eyes, Barbara hears the sound of the bloodhounds and sees the search party approaching from the still open front door. She lets go of Amy and walks away, as the girl is reunited with her father, who comes rushing in ahead of everyone else and embraces her. The last scene has Amy being brought home by her parents, with Oliver telling her that they're going to be friends and that he's going to trust her and believe her. He asks her, "Is your friend in the garden? Can you see Irena now?", and when Amy looks, she does indeed see her there. Amy says she does and Oliver says, "I see her too, darling." With that, they hug and head inside, the film ending with Irena's figure vanishing from under the tree.

Music-wise, the film opens with the same exact opening title theme as Cat People, with the monstrous and tragic-sounding piece that's actually a variation of Irena's lullaby and leitmotif, which is heard a number of times throughout the score, often suggesting her presence even when she's not seen. Again, Roy Webb did the music and he reuses a fair amount of the themes he did before, with other examples being a much more subtle but still off-kilter version of the first few bars of the opening titles, which you hear whenever Irena is brought up in a disturbing way, such as when Amy first asks Alice about her and when she tells Oliver that she's her friend. The music is often very whimsical and airy to accentuate the innocence of childhood, as well as downbeat here and there to go with the sad parts of the story, be it when the boy accidentally kills the butterfly Amy was chasing after, when she realizes that no one's going to come to her party, and the scenes that show the very sad and strained existence of the Farrens. Given the tone, there's not a lot of menacing music to be heard here, but the bits that do fit this description, which you hear when Amy is afraid of the Headless Horseman or during the confrontation between her and Barbara near the end, serve their purpose well enough, as does the score as a whole. Much like the music to its predecessor, the score for this movie doesn't jump out as anything all that special or iconic but it serves its purpose in such a nicely subtle way that that ultimately doesn't matter.

The Curse of the Cat People may deserve its title as one of the most unusual sequels ever produced, with its tone and subject matter being completely different from its predecessor and the movie not at all living up to its title, but that doesn't make it any less of a delightful watch. In addition to good actors, a well-told story, lovely black-and-white cinematography, nice stylistic choices, good use of its locations and sets, and a suitable music score, it's very sophisticated and complex in how it depicts the wonder and untamed imagination of childhood, as well as deals with the issue of children who internalize and fantasize more than they should and how interactions with others, especially their parents, can affect them. Other than a few nitpicks, such as how elements of the story don't match up with the previous film, references to the previous movie that were forced on the filmmakers by the studio, and some moments of stiff acting from Ann Carter as Amy, there's not much bad that I can say about the movie. As Val Lewton's most personal film, it also happens to be one of his best, and at just 69 minutes, it's more than worth a little bit of your time to check out.