Though it never had a wide rollout, horror fans probably know the name of Karen Arthur's shuddery The Mafu Cage as one of the rare female-directed horror films of the 20th century. If the material was released today, it would likely inspire protests over the seeming equating of African culture/flora/fauna with murderous savagery and madness—though a verdict from those same knowledgeable horror fans might relate the feature more closely to Roman Polanski's Repulsion.
Astronomer Ellen (Lee Grant) is the daughter of a now-deceased primate anthropologist, who left behind a home crammed with African tribal idols, animal skins, fetishes, plants, and a large animal cage. The dead man also produced another daughter, Cissy (Carol Kane), childish and captivating at times but quite crazy. Both girls had been to Africa with their dad in the field.
Now, while Ellen looks to the cosmos at work, Cissy never leaves the estate. She wears ceremonial paint and costumes, dances to recorded "pygmy" music, and habitually keeps a series of simians captive in the giant central cage. Cissy studies and sketches her beasts—before, invariably killing them in fits of psycho-sexual rage. Ellen tries to fulfill a vow to take care of Cissy, but their closeness has grown increasingly pathological. In time, the subjects of Cissy's manias evolve from apes to humans.
The material was based on an obscure play You and Your Clouds by Eric Westphal, but despite the small scale and a minuscule cast, the film is fluid and transfixing, not at all stagebound, as filmmaker Arthur makes the most of the borrowed Hollywood mansion she filled with her stunning artifacts and equally impressive actresses (admittedly, Kane and Grant have scant sisterly resemblance).
Even though the viewer has much foreshadowing of the dark path this plot will take, Arthur springs a few surprises along the way. That the obsessive relationship between Cissy and Ellen has turned incestuous is suggested tastefully; scenes of shocking animal cruelty are non-graphic but leave no doubt about what is going on.
Ironically, for a breakthrough horror film done largely by women, The Mafu Cage would lose ground in the marketplace to an onslaught of infamously misogynistic, knife-kill shock-schlockers inspired by Halloween. Scorpion Releasing's 2K restoration Blu-ray of The Mafu Cage gets a treatment worthy of an overlooked landmark.
It features a commentary track by Arthur—who says she checked herself into Bellvue Hospital, a la Shock Corridor, to observe and understand mental illness—plus a filmed interview in which Arthur invokes a 1970s era of groundbreaking independent female filmmakers, and how she found herself at Cannes hoisted atop the shoulders of Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard after this film's premiere.
In other extras, Carol Kane sweetly recalls her orang-utan co-star Budar and regrets any emotional distress the animal underwent shooting the more intense scenes (and she speaks compassionately about what psychological healthcare might have been available to the Cissy character). Further interviews include Lee Grant, composer Roger Kellaway, cinematographer John Bailey, and editor Carol Littleton (Bailey and Littleton, husband and wife, also contribute their own commentary track). A strongly recommended rediscovery for classic film collections in public libraries.
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