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In a Glass Cage

Play trailer Poster for In a Glass Cage 1987 1h 52m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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67% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 74% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Years after committing atrocities as a torturer of interned children during the Holocaust, Nazi doctor and certified pedophile Klaus (Günter Meisner) continues to murder little boys. After a gruesomely botched suicide attempt leaves Klaus imprisoned in an iron lung, he gives up his sickening pastime. But when a mysterious teenager named Angelo (David Sust) arrives at his home claiming to be a nurse, Klaus happily hires the boy as his new attendant -- a decision he soon regrets.

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In a Glass Cage

Critics Reviews

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Sam Adams Los Angeles Times 07/10/2011
B+
As creepy as they come, leaving a lingering chill that only time can warm Go to Full Review
Elliott Stein Village Voice 02/07/2006
Villaronga's unsettling lyrical nightmare hasn't aged a bit; it stays in the mind long after more bloodthirsty recent horror flicks have faded away. Go to Full Review
Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader 10/16/2001
May not be for everyone, but it is certainly disturbing, powerful, and accomplished in what it sets out to do. Go to Full Review
Joe Lipsett Bloody Disgusting 05/24/2020
In A Glass Cage is distinctly uninterested in offering easy or comforting answers...the ambiguity is part of its strength Go to Full Review
Adam Lippe Examiner.com 07/01/2011
It's actually worse that Villaronga is such a terrific filmmaker, as he's able to hold our throats that much tighter, not allowing us to even sip from our inner iron lungs. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 07/31/2005
2/5
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Audience Reviews

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john b Jan 24 A victim of child abuse grows up and manages to get revenge on his abuser.The now grown Angelo descends into total madness.This is hard core horror.I got the meaning of the film, but felt I needed a shower after. See more Alfred K 04/24/2023 This is a dark creepy movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The acting by everyone is excellent & the plot is suspenseful. The movie is a reminder that the evil of one person is far reaching & not easy to extinguish. See more 04/17/2021 A boy hanging, beaten and bloody. A man jumps off a roof. Somebody else is there - we follow the camera's eye, feel his breathing. It's a pretty intense start. Horrible things revealed about the man's past -now confined to an iron lung. Disturbing imagery - twisted eroticism; a bleak, dark game. Music supports the eerie feel, accompanied by the heavy breathing that dominates the soundtrack. There is no let up, no redemption. See more Courtney K @c0urtn3y 10/05/2020 idk; i get it. the subject matter is incredibly disturbing & you knew that it was going to be right out of the gate. that very first scene definitely set a precedent. however, i'm not sure i'd put this on the same list as other disturbing titles, which i'll choose to not name. they never show anything, they only talk about it. so, yes - still disturbing subject matter & depending on how active your imagination is, could really get to you. but IMO this wasn't that good/bad (however you want to look at it). See more Nikolai H 08/03/2017 Deeply unsettling... a thought-provoking portrayal of obsession and cycles of abuse. It's a moody slow burn that gets under your skin. Very well done and featuring some truly chilling performances. Although I really wish we saw a bit more backstory for Angelo... his behavior isn't terribly well explained and he feels slightly flat as a result. It also feels longer than necessary, and combined with the constant overbearing grim mood it's a bit challenging to get through in one sitting. I've heard this described as "extreme horror" and I don't think it is exactly, but it is incredibly disturbing and its portrayal of child abuse can make this hard to watch. The horror feels very real even when the show descends into an almost dream-like state. Ultimately a pretty depressing watch. See more 06/11/2016 The cruel and compelling images of In a Glass Cage will affect viewers differently. I was constantly reminded of the sadistic and depraved behavior of Nazi doctors, their twisted compulsion to document their actions, and the cancerous legacy they left to a world forced to grapple with them. In A Glass Cage imagines a scenario where a boy victimized by such a Nazi doctor suffers some sort of PTSD and becomes a monster himself. Presented in the style of a grim thriller, the film ultimately crumbles under the weight of the subject matter it depicts. Theses kinds of films are valuable mainly as a way to remind society of man's capacity for evil. See more Read all reviews
In a Glass Cage

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Movie Info

Synopsis Years after committing atrocities as a torturer of interned children during the Holocaust, Nazi doctor and certified pedophile Klaus (Günter Meisner) continues to murder little boys. After a gruesomely botched suicide attempt leaves Klaus imprisoned in an iron lung, he gives up his sickening pastime. But when a mysterious teenager named Angelo (David Sust) arrives at his home claiming to be a nurse, Klaus happily hires the boy as his new attendant -- a decision he soon regrets.
Director
Agustí Villaronga
Screenwriter
Agustí Villaronga
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
Spanish
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 26, 2020
Runtime
1h 52m
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