It always impresses me how filmmakers, especially those specializing in horror, can manage to create beauty when dealing with the most deplorable subjects, often making the viewer feel almost guilty of enjoying certain films. This is such a picture; although enjoyable may be too strong a word of it. It tells the story of Angelo (David Sust), a disturbed young man who has taken the post of caretaker for exiled ex nazi-doctor Klaus (Gunter Meisner) who is confined to an iron lung after a failed suicide attempt, done in shame of his penchant for killing and sexually assaulting young boys, a taste he picked up during the war. It soon becomes clear that the doctor's past is what Angelo is really interested in, showing his true psychopathic colors when he announces his intention of re-creating some of his war-time atrocities. The title referring both to Klaus' iron lung and the mansion in which he and his family are isolated in, the feeling of entrapment is consistently felt throughout by the viewer as well, being rarely permitted to step outside. The atmosphere of a glass cage is cleverly conveyed through heavy and prominent use of blue color-filtered lighting. This expressive use of color, coupled with sweeping camera movements and advancing POV shots, sometimes made me think of an Argento movie with more sexual deviance than blood. While I don't want to describe any scenes in too much detail so as not to ruin any shockinlgy surprising moments, I can safely say that this is one of the most intriguing pictures to deal with abnormal psychology; not to mention that it is practically without sympathetic characters, even the little girl inspiring more curiosity than sympathy. As the film becomes more and more oneiric, the growing desire to turn away never completely overcomes human nature's instinctual fascination with the horrors of the mind.
for further reading on the film: www.offscreen.com/index.php/phile/essays/glass_cage/
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