It tells a story about a young girl who befriends the ghost of her father's deceased first wife, a Serbian fashion designer who descended from a race of people who could transform into cats.

The film, which marks Wise's first directing credit, is a sequel to Cat People (1942) and has many of the same central characters, but the plot is only tangentially related to its predecessor.

Following the death of his wife, Irena Dubrovna, engineer Oliver Reed has remarried to his former co-worker, Alice Moore.

Oliver worries about Amy's extreme introversion and predilection to fantasy, as the behavior reminds him of Irena, whose madness drove her to death.

While walking through the neighborhood, Amy pauses in front of a large house, which the other children claim is inhabited by a witch.

Amy takes it, though the hankie is promptly snatched from her by Barbara Farren, the elderly woman's rejected daughter.

On Christmas Eve, Amy quietly slips outside during a family gathering to give Irena a gift in the garden.

The film, which began production at the RKO Gower Street studios in Hollywood on August 26, 1943, and wrapped on October 4, with additional shooting the week of November 21,[1] marked two directorial debuts.

RKO studio executives wanted to cash in on the success of the first film and insisted on the title, despite producer Val Lewton's desire to change it to Amy and Her Friend.

[1] Lewton incorporated elements of his own life into the film, integrating autobiographical details from his childhood, such as the party invitations that are "mailed" by putting them into a hollow tree.

[8] Director Joe Dante said the film's "disturbingly Disneyesque fairy tale qualities have perplexed horror fans for decades", and that it has been utilized in college psychology courses.

[9] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 34 reviews, with an average score of 7.3/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Foregoing the horror thrills of its predecessor in favor of childhood fantasy, Curse of the Cat People is a touching and psychologically complex family film couched in a ghost story".