Cat People

Jacques Tourneur directed this Val Lewton production that stars Simone Simon as Irina Dubrovna, a Serbian immigrant working as a fashion artist in New York City who meets Oliver Reed(played by Kent Smith) at the zoo. They fall in love and get married, but run into trouble when she finds herself afraid of intimacy, since she believes the fables and legends of her homeland that indicate she is descended from a cursed line of Cat People, who turn murderous when aroused. He scoffs at this, but when his friend & co-worker Alice(played by Jane Randolph) is stalked by a cat-like creature, he begins to wonder. Meanwhile, Irina sees psychiatrist Dr. Louis Judd(played by Tom Conway) who has designs on Irina himself... Eerie and original film avoids monster movie clichés to create an effective atmosphere of dread. Quite intelligent as well, though requires patience, since it is decidedly different!