MOVIE SUMMARY
As sexually deranged as it is stylistically unhinged, this
psychedelic surrealist neo-noir reworking of the 1920 German
expressionist classic features Laura Albert as Mrs Van Houten, a
woman whose libido is dangerously out of control. There’s only one
place for her: the Caligari Insane Asylum.
Madeleine Reynal plays Dr Caligari, the granddaughter of the
original Doctor, whose own experiments in psychosexual therapy have
led her to the brink of a radical treatment involving hormonal
exchange. Having drugged and imprisoned Mrs Van Houten’s sexually
repressed husband, Caligari sets out to extract the brain fluid of
an incurably nymphomaniac Mrs Van Houten and inject them into the
head of a cannibalistic serial killer (John Durbin) addicted to
electroconvulsive therapy. What could possibly go wrong?
With eye-popping set design from Stephen Sayadian (Night Dreams,
Café Flesh), a luscious synth score courtesy of Mitchell Froom, not
to mention acid-tongued dialogue written by Jerry Stahl (Permanent
Midnight), Dr Caligari drops a dirty bomb on Reagan era family
values. Mining high art in bad taste, it parodies both mass media
and pop culture through a roll call of staged citations and
quotations exquisitely framed and sexually charged.
DISC FEATURES
- Audio commentary with writer, director Stephen
Sayadian.
- Interview with Stephen Sayadian.
- Interview with Madeleine Reynal (Dr Caligari).
- Interview with Laura Albert
- Interview with Jerry Stahl (co-writer).
- Original theatrical trailer.
- Isolated Music and Effects track.
REVIEWS
“One of the kinkiest artifacts ever to come out of Orange County”
Mark Chalon Smith, Los Angeles Times
“I highly recommend you search this film out” Michael Sullivan,
the-unknown-movies.com
“A WILD time in EVERY sense of the word. 1989's 'Dr. Caligari' is
quite literally everything I could want in a movie and more” Daniel
Heaton, Letterboxed
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