The first movie was pretty good despite the awful acting. This one, though... I can't express how much I despised this movie. Everything about it was intolerable: the wooden acting, the thin plot, the stilted dialogue, the sappy music. Yecchhh!! The cinematography was fine, but that's about the only good thing I could say about it. What a thoroughly unnecessary film.
shareI just finished it and agree that it's not great. It's definitely one of the weaker Val Lewton films and several steps down from Cat People (which it is barely connected to).
As you say, the plot is thin. The half-baked story just doesn't really seem to go anywhere and doesn't seem well thought-out.
Why is Irena appearing to the girl? What does it have to do with a cat curse (I thought Irena's curse from the first film would pass onto here but never does!)? What is the deal with the old woman's relationship with her daughter? Who knows!
I have recently been going through all of Val Lewton's thrillers. So far I would put Curse of the Cat People near the bottom along with The Seventh Victim.