Through suspenseful horror, Jacques Tourneur's Cat People grapples with mysogyny (and xenophobia, although I'm not really addressing that here). Cat People an alluring movie, not just because of the subject matter, but thanks to the memorable way Tourneur and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca drape each frame in dense, impenetrable shadows. It is an absolutely stunning movie to look at. Amazingly, especially by today's standards, you really never even see the titular cat; its presence is merely implied by editing, reactions, and shadow. This decision (whether budget-influenced or not) lends a psychological, nightmarish quality to the film, making it unclear whether the cat truly exists, or whether it is just a projection of the subconscious, of the escalating fears of the characters.
