The Mafu Cage

I dunno, man. This movie's got weird vibes. Early on all I could think of was that famous Tumblr post about an H. P. Lovecraft convention and "WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE ORANGUTAN" -- but there's more going on here and it's still uncomfortable for a different reason.

Carol Kane plays a mentally detached woman named Cissy who comes back from Africa after her parents die. She and her sister inherit their parents gigantic mansion, including a room for "Mafu" -- a cage where Cissy keeps a pet monkey, her artistic muse. Unfortunately, Cissy is prone to fits of rage, and this is not the first "Mafu" she's had.

What a strangely unsettling movie. Carol Kane is kind of terrific. Unlike most of her comedies, where she's this sweetly unhinged force of chaos, here that tendency is flipped around into something legitimately scary. You're never quite sure which way she's going to turn. Same basic performance, but the tone is completely different.

But it's also a movie where, if you took Carol Kane out of it, there wouldn't be much to it. She's the movie. The director knows enough that the spotlight stays fixed on her.

Weird time. Did not expect the strange psycho-sexual stuff either. But I suppose that's common in horror.

"The Mafu Cage" follows two sisters (played by Lee Grant and Carol Kane) who reside in a dilapidating mansion in the Hollywood Hills, built by their renowned anthropologist father. The younger sister (Kane) is mentally imbalanced, spending her days in the company of various monkeys, while the elder (Grant) attempts to live a somewhat normal life. Naturally, conflicts begin to arise.

While marketed as a horror film, "The Mafu Cage" is more of a psychological thriller with shades of horror--in truth, it is a character study, and a rife exploration of a strange, insular world crashing against "normal" society. The central plot here is a power struggle between two sisters who grew up in highly unusual circumstances, and who are unable to reconcile their circumstances with the everyday world--one of them, because she simply does not want to, and the other, because her sister is holding her back.

The film plays out with all the trappings of a Greek tragedy, and even when it goes a more salacious route, it is remarkably well-acted. Lee Grant is fantastic as the elder sister stuck between two worlds, while Carol Kane is riveting as the disturbed younger sister who cannot function outside of her deceased anthropologist father's lair of artifacts and primates. The crumbling Los Angeles mansion in which most of the film unfolds has a stark California gothic look, obviously inspired by "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?".

Overall, "The Mafu Cage" is a potent, unusual film. It excels as a psychological thriller, largely because its lead performers are completely keyed into the material. Though not particularly pleasant, "The Mafu Cage" is disturbing and thought-provoking. 8/10.

"The Mafu Cage" is a boring and pointless trudge through god knows what. It was mislabeled a horror movie, which is okay by me - I'm fine with drama, especially those adapted from plays - but lord. What was the point of it?

The 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.

The elder sister is an astronomer.

One 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.

I can hardly even bring myself to explain any more about this movie.

Here'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 it's not a horror movie, since I don't know if she's work in that role, but she was obviously born to play quirky, eccentric, and even mentally ill women - if not really violent ones.

So why doesn't it work? The fact that none of the other actors work at all? They're not bad actors, just not very watchable. The fact that the movie doesn't get into the heads of any of the characters? The fact that you can't believe the situation - what was the point of the cell, exactly? That was just a bizarre contrivance coming between you and the movie.

I just couldn't wait for this movie to be over. With any luck, I'll forget about it soon.

This adaptation of a play by Eric Wesphal stars Lee Grant and Carol Kane. They're cast as sisters who live in an old mansion; Kane is clearly very disturbed and is also very childlike. She pitches fits when she doesn't get her way and also resorts to emotional blackmail. Grant has a very tough time playing nursemaid to her younger sibling, but had made a promise to their dying father that she always would take care of her. When Grants' co-worker (James Olson) expresses a romantic interest in her, the thought of a man coming between them drives Kane even further into insanity.

Kane always has been a unique and remarkable performer; "eccentric" would be a kind way to put it. This independent, now somewhat obscure feature showcases her to great effect. In fact, she's all too convincing, in a role that was improvised to an extent, and which requires her to work extensively with an orangutan named Budar. Grant is no less impressive, as the kind of character that naturally earns some sympathy. It can't be easy looking after someone like Kanes' character. (Although it must be said that leaving Kane to her devices at a crucial point was a disaster waiting to happen. This viewer realizes that it's an essential part of the plot, but still doesn't exactly ring true.)

A highly engaging Will Geer, as a character named Zom, and Olson provide fine support, but "The Mafu Cage" is first and foremost a vehicle for the two talented ladies at the centre. It's also decidedly unpleasant in its psychological approach (characters take turns being victimized in the title location), and it must be said that people who take exception to animals being mistreated on film (even if the scenes had to have been simulated somehow) will want to give this film a pass.

Notable assets are the production design / set decoration (the main room of the abode has an African jungle theme), and the striking, atmospheric score composed by Roger Kellaway. This was an interesting venture for the director, Karen Arthur, who made only a few feature films over the course of her career. It even touches upon such taboo subjects as incest. Overall, it's something unusual for seekers of cinematic curiosities.

Six out of 10.

Certainly seems there was a golden age of psychological thriller-- and this one is more of a chair-gripper.

Some say uncomfortable, some say "what was the point?", some say, "The quality of the picture was lousy." I watched it as presented on New Castle After Dark, and they found a good copy of it, because the colors were lush and the scenes--meaning each room of a mansion--was very deep and ornate. An undertone of Edward Gorey on safari here, especially with the gloomy etchings one is treated to. Always cool when vintage movies have lots of art that someone had to actually create.

It is hard to escape the Baby Jane vibe, or for me the Grey Garden vibe... there was a lot to capitalize on there at that time. Rich people unfettered by a life of necessary routine and budget constraints: Think of how crazy you could go.

The cast is stellar - I would say no one underperforms, but that Carol Kane absolutely blows this thing up and out of this world with her portrayal of an utterly self-indulged psychopath with a preternatural understanding of African anthropology.

Others ask, how could they be doing this in an American neighborhood? But I think this might have been set below the border, because the old man says "Why don't you go up to Arizona for a week?" It would explain the brief flashes of a hilly, lush outdoor world - the old-timey looking convertibles - the tropical contents of the mansion.