The Mafu Cage (1978)

Fantastic!

Excellent but underrated film

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I recently acquired a Wizard Video VHS copy of The Mafu Cage in a large lot of tapes I received. I instantly knew it looked right up my alley and interesting, so I set it aside to view later. Two nights later I popped it in the VCR...Wow! I was shocked that I had never seen or even heard of this interesting, bizarre, yet original flick. It's hard for me to say anything bad about this movie except for the fact that it seems to be a "lost" or "set aside" piece of cinema that not many have seen. (not sure if it has been released on DVD or not) Everything from the rich colors, the acting, and the story line lead to a film that seems to depress the individual as a previous review stated, haha. I personally enjoy when a movie, music or any piece of art actually makes you "feel" emotions. This is one of those movies that should not be missed or taken lightly. Carol Kane is amazing in her role as Cissy.

The review previous is wrong in every judgment. It was a terrifying movie but a movie of substance. The lighting was dark but terribly effective. There was a seventies look to the color and pacing but I think that is a good thing. And if such things concern you, Carol Kane was phenomenally beautiful and sexy and Lee Grant was also very attractive in a real person sort of way. James Olson was charming and acted well but he is one of those guys so ugly you are amazed there is a place for him in the industry. The acting by all was superb, truly superb. The use of stillness and quite speaking was wonderful... the person above most just not appreciate 70's cinema. This was a film not a movie... It would be terrifying to you if our buddy above had indicated he was a spoiler. This film is on my short list of great movies.

If you're going to make horror picture, you should make sure of the following: 1. It has an understandable plot.2. It is scary.3. It should filmed in enough light for you to know what's going on.This film follows none of the above criteria. In fact, the words "PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER" on the front of the DVD box must be the biggest lie in the English language. So what as it got to offer? Well, no attractive women, Carol Kane and whoever plays her weird sister in this are as ugly as sin. What they wear is quite nice, perhaps because they moved from Africa at the start of the film. Why do I mention this? Because the plot seems to revolve around the younger sister missing her old home to such an extent, she plays tribal music full blast all day long, and walks about in outfits that wouldn't look out of place on a shaman's wife. Eventually she hears voices in her head(?) and decides to kill and torture a few people in a cage they have built into their house. There is a rather grim ending. And that's it. I was seriously freaked out by this surreal movie, which I doubt even made sense to its director. What was she hoping to accomplice? If it was giving me a hernia, her efforts were an unqualified success. 0/10

Nobody going to say a word about Carol Kane's extraordinary performance? She was working with a series of animals, and having to ad-lib her character continuously. An amazing job by this superb and often overlooked actor.Regarding the film itself - boggle. It's been years since I saw it, but it blew me away at the time. Here's hoping some noble figure will step up and put it on DVD soon.