Simone Simon. Nastassja Kinski. Only exotic euros need apply for the lead in Cat People. Schrader takes a 73 minute wonderful B-movie and makes it 118 for no good reason other than to give himself more time to get stoned. Jesus Franco would have had just as many thrills in half that time. Paul Schrader wrote Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer. While I respect those gentlemen, I get a real kick out of The Lightning Filmmakers: Suzuki, Franco, Fassbinder.
Looking back, Schrader has spent a lot of time pulling the erotic fringe into the mainstream. His first major work, Taxi Driver, featured taking a first date to a porno. Hardcore followed George C Scott down the rabbit hole to find his daughter. He has brought to the screen the real-life sexual obsessions of Yukio Mishima and Bob Crane. Oh, and he wrote Obsession (my favorite DePalma) and American Gigolo.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Recommended also: Eugénie de Sade if you want to see Soledad Miranda and Jesus Franco have some fun in the 70s.
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But the scene with the arm! Yeeeagh! When they finally invent memory wipes, that will be at the top of my list.
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