A completely unexpected sequel to producer Val Lewton's hit Cat People, this brings back key cast and characters but tells a very different story. Kent Smith and Jane Randolph, the dull hero and heroine of the first movie, have moved to the country and are raising a lonely misfit daughter Amy (Ann Carter) whose "imaginary playmate" is Simone Simon, the original cat girl reincarnated as a ghostly fairy godmother.
It's less a horror film than a study of child psychology, but is deeply chilling. Carter gives the most affecting and complex child performance in any 40s film, and co-directors Robert Wise (who went on to a major career) and Gunther Von Fritsch (who didn't) manage to evoke the magical and nightmarish world of a clever misfit child.