Part of Midnight Movies
The deranged granddaughter of the infamous Robert Wiene creation from his silent classic THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI performs outrageous experiments on her mentally disturbed patients at the C.I.A. (Caligari Insane Asylum). Her radical treatment method is to transfer glandular brain fluids between two patients with complementary psychoses until something goes terribly wrong. Filmed entirely on a soundstage with highly stylized set pieces, this outrageous, erotic cult classic from the demented mind of exploitation director Stephen Sayadian (aka Rinse Dream) is the wittier, sexier, more surreal younger sibling of the gender-bending boundary-pushing THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.
With eye-popping set design, a luscious synth score courtesy of Mitchell Froom, and highly quotable, acid-tongued dialogue written by Jerry Stahl (PERMANENT MIDNIGHT), DR. CALIGARI drops a dirty bomb on Reagan era family values. As sexually deranged as it is stylistically unhinged, this psychedelic surrealist neo-noir reworking of the 1920 German expressionist classic mines high art in bad taste, parodying both mass media and pop culture. A truly original, aesthetically inventive and endlessly entertaining cult phenomenon just waiting for its turn back in the spotlight.
“Consistently outrageous and imaginative…. A darkly hilarious satire of contemporary aberrations and the gobbledygook we use to describe them. As a spoof, DR. CALIGARI is remarkably well-sustained, and laced with amusing lines and observations. Says Dr. Caligari, in a reflective mood: ‘Funny thing about desire. If it’s not crude it’s not pure.’” —Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
