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Halloween Horrors: 'Cat People' spotlights a resourceful tandem of terror

Halloween season seems as a good a time as any to bang the drum for Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur, and to celebrate the run of superb low-budget horror movies they cranked out for RKO in the early '40s.

Halloween season seems a good a time to bang the drum for Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur, and to celebrate the run of superb low-budget horror movies they cranked out for RKO in the early '40s. Cineastes know all about gems like Cat People, The Leopard Man and The Ghost Ship, all of which just arrived on DVD in time for candy day. If you're not familiar, listen up.

In the early '40s, RKO Pictures, looking to retrench after the glorious excess of Citizen Kane, started a low-budget horror division. The idea was to compete with the Universal horror machine without spending Universal dollars. They handed the keys to Lewton, a visionary producer who cut his teeth at the side of David O. Selznick. Lewton's chief collaborator was the French director Jacques Tourneur, who would also go on to direct one of the classic film noirs, Out of the Past.

The Lewton/Tourneur films probe the uncanny with a poetic steadfastness that suggest they believe - if not in supernatural occurrences, than certainly in the spooky power of cinema. Their first film, Cat People (1942), is probably their best. New to the Criterion Collection, it's among the most resourceful films ever made.

(Courtesy of The Criterion Collection)

In telling the tale of a sexually repressed young woman (Simone Simon) terrified of an ancient feline curse, the film keeps the overt terror just off screen. Suspenseful cutting, masterful sound and pools of shadow are more than enough to cast a spell. The less-is-more approach enhances the mystery; it also helped Cat People turn a tidy profit on a shoestring.

The Warner Archive Collection, which churns out no-frills DVDs of overlooked classics, has joined the Lewton/Tourneur Halloween party. On one disc you can get The Leopard Man and The Ghost Ship (both 1943). These, too, are minimalist horrors that look within the dark heart of man, picking at the skin to release the malice just beneath the surface.

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The Ghost Ship, about a captain (Richard Dix) losing his mind at sea, was actually directed by Mark Robson; RKO split up the Lewton/Tourneur team after The Leopard Man. But it still has that eerie Lewton touch, and a deep appreciation for that which can't readily be explained. Lewton, and Tourneur, remain an inspiration for young filmmakers trying to do a lot with a little.