In a Glass Cage (1987, Blu-ray Review)
aka Tras El Cristal
Director: Agustí Villaronga
Cast: Günter Meisner, David Sust, Marisa Paredes, Gisèle Echevarría
Cult Epics / Region A / Unrated / 1.85:1 Widescreen / DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 / Spanish with English subtitles / 112 minutes / BUY FROM TLACULT
Disk Extras: Featurette: Agusti Villaronga / Interview(s): With Agusti Villaronga / Short film: Anta Mujer (1976) / Short film: Laberint (1980) / Short film: Al Mayurca (1980)
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Gilles de Montmorency-Laval aka “Baron de Rais” was a leader in the French Army during the 100 Years’ War against the English in the early to mid 15th century. He fought alongside Joan of Arc who was later captured and burned at the stake by the Brits. The Baron is not well-known as a war hero, but a pedophiliac serial killer who is believed to have sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered hundreds of children. Spanish writer/director Agustí Villaronga was intrigued by the story of Baron de Rais and decided to develop a screenplay based on the horrific events. Instead of setting the story in medieval Europe, he decided to update the period to a more relatable time; post-WWII Spain, and made the Baron an ex-Nazi doctor who would experiment on kids in concentration camps which lead to sexual torture and death of many young boys.
Soon after the good doctor Klaus went into hiding in Spain after the Second Great War, he gave into his perverted sickness and began to prey on elementary aged boys again. During his disgusting deeds, he would take pictures of his victims in the various stages of torture as keepsakes. Overcome with guilt and depression he kidnaps one last boy and after killing him, jumps from his window in an attempted suicide but succeeds in only paralyzing himself from the neck down which eventually leaves him in an iron lung. This whole episode is watched closely by a boy lurking in the shadows and he steals Klaus’ folder containing his grotesque pictures and detailed journal of his sickness. Klaus now lives in a palatial home with his wife Griselda, who is his primary caretaker, and loving daughter Rena.
They hire Angelo, a young man who dupes the family by lying to them about his medical qualifications because he wants to take care of Klaus. Angelo is quickly at odds with Griselda who doesn’t trust him, makes friends with Rena and begins playing disturbing sexual games with the incapacitated Klaus. His deranged plan is to become Klaus and pick up where he left off with his reign of terror. Therefore he has to get rid of his wife, brainwash Klaus into telling him everything about his insidious passion and keep Rena on his side. Things begin to fall apart as Angelo’s decent into madness starts to unsettle even little Rena and he redecorates the giant home into a replica of a concentration camp. I won’t go into much more detail as to give away any of the complete insanity that ensues.
This stark, horrifying psychological nightmare from Agustí Villaronga is a horror thriller with art-house sensibilities. Art-house cinema is the only place where you will see such subject matter as pedophilia and child murder handled so fearlessly. Villaronga took an unconscionable historical account and formed it into an uncomfortable, uncompromising thing of beauty. While he never goes into the graphic depths he could have, enough is implied and shown to make even the most jaded squirm in the seats. The horribly inappropriate relationships between Klaus and Angelo as well as Angelo and Rena really drive the mood into very dark recesses. The ice-cold portrayal of “Angelo” by David Sust with his soul piercing black eyes turns every scene into insanity incarnate. Speaking of “ice-cold”, the whole movie is shot with every scene drenched in shades of blue and gray with the occasional piercing red for effect. This high-definition release from Cult Epics really shows off that color scheme for maximum effect.
The brand new Blu-ray transfer blows away Cult Epics’ earlier DVD release in every way possible; richer colors, sharper contrasts and deeper blacks. Both the DTS-HD 5.1 and original 2.0 soundtracks sound great and the near constant sound of the iron lung comes through crystal clear. The disk is also loaded with approximately 2 hours of worthwhile extra features including three early short films by, a Q&A with and an interview with Villaronga, all of which are worth the price of admission. Having never really heard of him before now, I will definitely seek out his other works like Black Bread and The Sea, both of which he discusses and shows clips from in the featurettes. This movie and subsequent Blu-ray release is for the artsy-horror crowd who like their narratives understandable but no less poetic, beautiful and shocking. Highly recommended Blu-ray out November 8th.
