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gerd_d's review
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
A few words on Cat People, the remake and its novelization.
A fair warning up front:
The book contains a graphic near rape scene which is not in the movie!
All in all the movie, while less comprehensible storywise, holds up better than Brandner's novelization. Still both fail the promise of being "an erotic fantasy", IMO, by being more concerned with sex and nudity, but the movie at least offers some fine aestethics.
Brandners novelization differs from the movie in several points, and rarely for the better.
It does offer more storybackground, which is a plus, and the scene in which Oliver has to sedate Paul in his leopard form holds more suspense. The book also contains a different scene taken from the original; in the remake we get the "My sister" scene not included in the novel, in the novel we get the scene in which Irena scares a bird to death with a subsequent visit to a pet store, not included in the movie (we do however get to see an empty birdcage in Oliver's house, why I assume that Brandner wrote his novelization from an early script version which later got changed and shortened down).
The opening differs slightly from the movie as well, starting with a different scarifice scene we do not get to see as such in the movie, only have it told by Paul to Irena in a dream sequence. In a ways the books opening scene is more interesting, but having the people in the scene refer to their "Dark Gods" feels disingenous, however the movie's dialogue free opening which hints at something more carnal going on has its own strength as it is a rare moment where it has a true sense of eroticism to it. From there the book goes to a sort of second prologue, detailing what happened between Irena's and Paul's parents, which is entirely missing from the movie and only hinted at via dialogue there. This probably got cut for both giving away too much too early on as well as to help with pacing.
The characters in the book are a lot less likeable than in the movie, especially Oliver suffers on top of wooden dialogue from giving such 'wisdoms' as "She's just behaving like a woman" (said to Irena in regard to his sometimes lover Alice). Then there's how Brandner handles Irena herself, painting her as a childlike naïve and having Oliver treat her that way as well, which makes the scene when they finally have sex appear extra creepy (in addition to the fact that Brandner was a bad choice to begin with as he's not been good at writing sex, or women). Here the movie is again clearly stronger as movie Irena is more in control of her life and relationship with Oliver.
A fair warning up front:
The book contains a graphic near rape scene which is not in the movie!
All in all the movie, while less comprehensible storywise, holds up better than Brandner's novelization. Still both fail the promise of being "an erotic fantasy", IMO, by being more concerned with sex and nudity, but the movie at least offers some fine aestethics.
Brandners novelization differs from the movie in several points, and rarely for the better.
It does offer more storybackground, which is a plus, and the scene in which Oliver has to sedate Paul in his leopard form holds more suspense. The book also contains a different scene taken from the original; in the remake we get the "My sister" scene not included in the novel, in the novel we get the scene in which Irena scares a bird to death with a subsequent visit to a pet store, not included in the movie (we do however get to see an empty birdcage in Oliver's house, why I assume that Brandner wrote his novelization from an early script version which later got changed and shortened down).
The opening differs slightly from the movie as well, starting with a different scarifice scene we do not get to see as such in the movie, only have it told by Paul to Irena in a dream sequence. In a ways the books opening scene is more interesting, but having the people in the scene refer to their "Dark Gods" feels disingenous, however the movie's dialogue free opening which hints at something more carnal going on has its own strength as it is a rare moment where it has a true sense of eroticism to it. From there the book goes to a sort of second prologue, detailing what happened between Irena's and Paul's parents, which is entirely missing from the movie and only hinted at via dialogue there. This probably got cut for both giving away too much too early on as well as to help with pacing.
The characters in the book are a lot less likeable than in the movie, especially Oliver suffers on top of wooden dialogue from giving such 'wisdoms' as "She's just behaving like a woman" (said to Irena in regard to his sometimes lover Alice). Then there's how Brandner handles Irena herself, painting her as a childlike naïve and having Oliver treat her that way as well, which makes the scene when they finally have sex appear extra creepy (in addition to the fact that Brandner was a bad choice to begin with as he's not been good at writing sex, or women). Here the movie is again clearly stronger as movie Irena is more in control of her life and relationship with Oliver.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
acrasie's review
2.0
A far more coherent story than the movie, along with being shorter, this book lacks the visual impact or sheer joy that comes from watching a bad B-flick. Instead, it's just a bad book.
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