Doctor Caligari is a 1989 American comedic sci-fi horror film in which the granddaughter of an infamous doctor experiments with hormone and shock therapies at her asylum for the insane. It was intended as a bizarre semi-sequel to the German Expressionist silent classic The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920).
Directed by Stephen Sayadian (Night Dreams) from a screenplay co-written with Jerry Stahl.
The Steiner production stars Madeleine Reynal, Laura Albert, Gene Zerna, David Parry and Jennifer Balgobin.
The film details a disturbed doctor (the granddaughter of the original Doctor Caligari) and her illegal experiments on her patients.
Doctor Caligari (Madeleine Reynal) is conducting experiments with her patients at the C.I.A (Caligari Insane Asylum) where she transfers glandular brain fluids from one patient to another.
Two of her main patients, Mr Pratt, a flesh-eating serial killer, and Mrs Van Houten, a nymphomaniac housewife who suffers from weird hallucinations, are the primary subjects of her mind-swapping. Mrs. Van Houten becomes the anthropophagous and Mr. Pratt the slave to his raving libido; although, they seem to still retain some elements of themselves as well. Apparently Caligari’s unconventional idea is to cure people by introducing equally opposite traits to balance out disturbed minds, but this is never implicitly stated…
Reviews:
“Ultimately, Doctor Caligari is a flighty little movie that never takes itself the slightest bit seriously. Its overarching message seems to be “never seek psychiatric advice from a doctor who dresses in a vinyl minidress with metal cones covering her breasts.” It’s well worth a watch if you’re looking for something sexy, surreal and silly…” 366 Weird Movies
” …the eye-catching colours, the surreal art direction, the Mitchell Froom score, and the exaggerated dialogue all seemed to join forces for the sole purpose of making my damp places even damper. Seriously, the film is bursting with creativity.” House of Self Indulgence
“The sets are low-budget German expressionism with garish colors, making the movie look like a cheap cartoon, the actors are mostly deadpan (with notable exceptions) and perform with their body movements, the insane dialog includes phrases like “My feelings are like filthy prayers. I want to scream in your face”, the camp is over-the-top, there is black-comedy with nudity and nastiness, and the whole effect is surreal.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre
YouTube reviews:
Trailer:
Clip 1:
Clip 2:
Choice dialogue:
Gus Pratt: “Juice me, I’m a shiver boy.”
