Der Mafu-Käfig (1978)

Der Mafu-Käfig: Directed by Karen Arthur. With Lee Grant, Carol Kane, Will Geer, James Olson. Ellen, a successful astronomer, cares for her mentally-ill sister, Cissy, who keeps a variety of primates in the home they inherited from their anthropologist father. When Ellen begins a romance, Cissy’s jealousy proves deadly.

“u0026quot;The Mafu Cageu0026quot; is a boring and pointless trudge through god knows what. It was mislabeled a horror movie, which is okay by me – Iu0026#39;m fine with drama, especially those adapted from plays – but lord. What was the point of it?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe plot is something to do with two sisters whose explorer father dies, and leaves them a house which comes equipped with a jail cell with chains he apparently used to tie up an orangutang (?). The younger sister, played by Carol Kane, is mentally ill, though the hows and whys of her illness are unexplained and unexplored.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe elder sister is an astronomer.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne day, some guy brings an orangutang into the house and they chain it up. The crazy sister kills it, in an unpleasant, if not graphic, scene.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI can hardly even bring myself to explain any more about this movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHereu0026#39;s one thing: Carol Kane, who plays the crazy younger sister, is the only performer in the movie who has any kind of presence, and leaves any kind of impression on the viewer at all. I guess it could count as a positive that itu0026#39;s not a horror movie, since I donu0026#39;t know if sheu0026#39;s work in that role, but she was obviously born to play quirky, eccentric, and even mentally ill women – if not really violent ones.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo why doesnu0026#39;t it work? The fact that none of the other actors work at all? Theyu0026#39;re not bad actors, just not very watchable. The fact that the movie doesnu0026#39;t get into the heads of any of the characters? The fact that you canu0026#39;t believe the situation – what was the point of the cell, exactly? That was just a bizarre contrivance coming between you and the movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI just couldnu0026#39;t wait for this movie to be over. With any luck, Iu0026#39;ll forget about it soon.”