Cat People (1942) w/ Rebecca Rozenberg
“I like the dark. It's friendly.” – Cat People (1942)
This week, we turn the lights low with special guest Rebecca Rozenberg, Publicity Manager at Simon & Schuster, who brings insight honed from working with bestselling authors and deep industry experience. Together, we dive into Jacques Tourneur and Val Lewton’s Cat People, a landmark psychological horror film that uses suggestion, shadow, and sound to terrify far more than it shows.
Rebecca helps us unpack how this low-budget classic redefined horror through restraint, atmosphere, and subtext, and why its themes of transformation, identity, and repression still echo today. Cat People continues to loom large over genre filmmaking and remains revered for its chilling economy.
Episode Notes:Cat People (1942) directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton
Starring: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, and Tom Conway
Notable for:
Introducing the famous “Lewton Bus” jump scare techniqueMasterful use of lighting and sound to build suspense and psychological dreadThemes of sexuality, isolation, and metamorphosis explored with subtletyDiscussion points include:
How Cat People shaped modern psychological horror and inspired filmmakersThe importance of suggestion over explicit imagery in genre storytellingSimone Simon’s haunting performance and the film’s layered subtextThe collaborative vision of Val Lewton and Tourneur in creating minimalist horrorFeaturing special guest: Rebecca Rozenberg, Publicity Manager at Simon & Schuster
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Music by Mike Natale
You're Missing Out: A National Film Registry Podcast
Since 1989, the National Film Registry has selected 25 films each year that are deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". In each episode, Mike Natale (Yahoo!) and Tom Lorenzo (Men's Journal) bring on a special guest to take a look at one of the films from the registry, to get to the heart of why these films matter.
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