Who knew that the big Dr. C had a sexy crazy granddaughter? C&C is continuing it’s horror-thon with Stephen Sayadian’s Dr. Caligari (1989), a fast and loose sequel to the German Expressionist 1920 classic, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Get ready for one weird and wild ride!
The Quick Gist
Controversial psychiatrist Dr. Caligari, head of the CIA (Caligari Insane Asylum), runs a deranged program where she cures patients by having their brains swapped.
Dr. Caligari
When meek old Lester finds himself unable to handle his wife’s, Mrs. Van Houten’s, increasing appetite for sex — which grows more acute with each passing sex-less second — he sends her off to be cured by Caligari. In fact, it’s not her first rodeo with the mad doctor. But her unquenchable sexual thirst and loosening grip with reality leaves him no choice. He can’t have her fulfilling herself every night in front of the TV can he???
What follows is a bizarre, surreal, and super theatrical nightmarish fever dream of gender swapping gone wrong, serial killer cannibals with electro shock kinks, and nymphos with a need for some serious tongue action. Even if that action comes from some monstrously hideous gigantic mound of flesh.
Set against what seems like the black empty void of space, Caligari pushes the boundaries of her granddaddy’s controversial somnambulist experiments, delving into the territory of mind swapping, causing the other doctors to try to stop her. But can they? Who can really stop Caligari?
A bit erotic with a healthy dose of nasty body horror — complete with puss oozing sores and breast implants gone outrageously wrong — this 80s cult classic is gauche, gross, over the top, and totally unique. And let’s not forget the pretty impressive set designs and endless quotable lines:
“Describe your life in three words or less”
“Unending torment… I can’t love.”
“And sex?”
“A sideshow trip to the abyss.”
Ain’t that the truth.
Hyper stylised down to the dialogue, with absurd surreal sets and provocative subject matter, this kind of style might not be for everyone. But if you lean into it, there’s a good chance you’ll have fun. Even if you have a hard time making sense of it all.
This was my first foray into the wild mind of Stephen Sayadian, aka Rinse Dream aka king of crazy art-porn, who kicked off his cult career as the creative director of Hustler and was the poster art director for films like De Palma’s Dressed to Kill, Carpenter’s The Fog, and Tobe Hooper’s Fun House. Which only makes me even more interested in checking out his other flicks, hardcore as they may be…
And one last bizarre factoid: this film was co-written by Jerry Stahl, the guy who went on to write Michael Bay’s Bad Boys II. If you’re not hooked now, I don’t know what could do it for you!
With that, juice me up, and take this shiver boy to the thrill machine!
Password to watch on the site: drcaligari
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Supplements:
Etrange 2013 Interview: Stephen Sayadian Is 'The Most Interesting Man In The World'
Fantasia 2021 — A Masterclass with the Legendary Stephen Sayadian