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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1980s
    Movies - 1980s Movies - D 3 Mins Read

    Dr Caligari (1989)

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    Without doubt one of the strangest films of all time, Dr Caligari is akin to an acid trip through the darkest recesses of your brain – but weirder. It’s so strange, it defies description.

    Dr Caligari (Madeleine Reynal) – who dresses like a dominatrix Cleopatra and speaks like Marlene Dietrich – is performing psycho-sexual experiments on the mentally ill and sexually maladjusted in the extremely colourful “Caligari’s Insane Asylum” (CIA).

    The asylum – whose slogan is “Better Living Thru Chemistry” – is full of bright pinks and neon yellows and looks more like a nightclub-cum-funhouse.

    Mrs Van Houten (Laura Albert) suffers from extreme nymphomania and her husband, Les (Gene Zerna), seeks possible treatment at the hands of Dr Caligari.

    The “treatment” involves her having vigorous sex with cannibalistic serial killer Gus Pratt (John Durbin) in front of the other patients, while he’s wearing a baby head mask, yellow marigolds and a green jumpsuit.

    Mrs VH and Pratt share more than just bodily fluids – they actually share brain fluid as a result of one of the Doctor’s experiments.

    Elsewhere, Mrs Van Houten opens a doorway and faces a large pulsing wall of flesh with scars and wounds and orifices that ooze candy and paint.

    A mouth with a waggling tongue appears on the wall of meat, growing until it is larger than her head – at which point she writhes against it while the giant tongue licks her face . . .

    Dr Lodger (David Parry) and his wife Ramona (Jennifer Balgobin) become concerned with Caligari’s experiments and turn to Ramona’s father and Caligari’s partner, Dr Avol (Fox Harris) for help. Avol confronts Caligari but receives an injection of Mrs Van Houten’s brain fluid, which turns him into a transvestite nymphomaniac.

    Ultimately, Mrs VH injects Dr Caligari with her own nymphomaniacal brain fluid and herself with that of Caligari’s ancestor – the original Dr Caligari from The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) – and so the doctor becomes the patient and Mrs VH and the inmates are left to run the asylum.

    All of this takes place in Dayglo costumes amidst inky black sets with slanted doorways and odd geometric backgrounds – all with a smattering of German Expressionism thrown in for good measure.

    If none of this makes any sense, just be aware that it doesn’t make any more sense if you watch it!

    “Chinchilla!”

    Dr Caligari
    Madeleine Reynal
    Dr Avol
    Fox Harris
    Mrs Van Houten
    Laura Albert
    Ramona Lodger
    Jennifer Balgobin
    Gus Pratt
    John Durbin
    Les Van Houten
    Gene Zerna
    Dr Lodger
    David Parry
    Cesare
    Barry Phillips
    Patient in Straitjacket
    Magie Song
    Miss Koonce
    Jennifer Miro
    Scarecrow
    Stephen Quadros
    Screaming Patient
    Carol Albright
    Patient with Extra Hormones
    Catherine Case
    Grace Butler
    Debra De Liso
    Human Lamp
    Vera Butler
    Spanish Patient/Baby Man
    Salvador Espinoza
    Shoe Salesman
    Joseph Baratelli
    Shoe Customer
    April Hartz
    Patient in Doorway
    Anthony Robertson
    Door Tongue
    Tequila Mockingbird
    Other patients
    Lori Chacko
    Marjean Holden

    Director
    Stephen Sayadian

    Video

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