Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

EVOL666 In Svankmajer's opening comments before the film-he describes LUNACY as an homage to Edgar Allen Poe and the Marquis de Sade, tackling the idea of the breakdown of a mental-health facility. Specifically-the concepts of corporal punishment in such a setting, versus allowing total freedom amongst the inhabitants. An interesting concept that the director handles in a surreal, yet surprisingly straight-forward manner. Jean is a mentally disturbed young man, who during his travels back from the funeral of his mother who died in an insane asylum-is befriended (so to speak...) by an older eccentric gentleman who is identified as 'The Marquis'. The Marquis invites Jean back to his home-an invitation that Jean accepts. As the two get to know each other a little better-the Marquis seemingly takes an interest in Jean's mental-plight, and offers him the opportunity to voluntarily spend some time at an institution run by his pal. Again, Jean accepts-but very quickly learns that this particular asylum is not a 'norma'l mental health facility...it turns out that the patients have taken over and locked the doctors and caretakers in the basement. That is until Jean and his gal-pal Charlotte find a way to free them. The 'action' of the film is interspersed with Svankmajer's signature 'meat animations'-anyone familiar with his work knows what I'm talking about.First off-LUNACY is not a 'horror-film' in any traditional sense. There's no gore, no masked or deformed killer hacking people with axes or chainsaws. The 'horror' in LUNACY is much more subtle. On the surface is the theme that Svankmajer himself spoke of-the extreme differences in treatments and 'therapy' techniques within a mental institution. But beneath the surface-there are subtexts regarding the relative sanity of all people, and the ability for people to be completely manipulated by others. Pretty heady stuff-but in this film, Svankmajer handles the material deftly and the ideas conveyed never feel forced. I have to say that I've seen several of Svankmajer's films-and although I've enjoyed them all to one degree or another-LUNACY is the sharpest of his works in my opinion. There's definitely a bit of 'art-film' aesthetic to this work (as is the case with all of his films...)-but I don't feel that those aspects are too heavy-handed as to alienate potential viewers. I would suggest though that anyone who hasn't seen any of Svankmajer's works maybe start with LITTLE OTIK-a quirky and interesting film that should make a nice introduction into Svankmajer's 'world'. 8.5/10

Gordon-11 This film is about the sadistic adventures of Marquis de Sade, and also the lunacy of two extreme ways of running a psychiatric asylum.I have seen Jan Svankmajer's films before, so I knew that this film would be bizarre and disturbing. Still, this film gravely shocked me. From the moving tongues to enucleation, this film was full of revolting and gory scenes. I almost felt sick during the film. I was also surprised to see a blasphemous scene involving a statue of crucifixion, which was shocking especially considering that the Czech Republic is a religious country.Fortunately, the story was gripping and engaging. It really kept me longing for more to unfold. Marquis' monologue questioning the existence of God was well composed, and gave new arguments (for me anyway) to the never ending debate of His existence. This film is not for the uptight or the light hearted.

schism101 Jan Svankmajer is one director to imaginatively combine real life images with the inventive use of stop motion animation that produces grotesque and nightmarish images that unnerve the viewer. LUNACY is further proof of this and its influence of Edgar Allen Poe and Marquis De Sade is perfect for the vision of Svankmajer. Its story concerns an innocent young man, travelling home from his mothers funeral who spends some time with a wealthy man, known only as the Marquis (possibly the Marquis De Sade). The young man bears witness to the Marquis' debauched and blasphemous rituals and after some philosophical discussion over the rights and wrongs of man and religion, the young man under the request of the Marquis goes undercover into an insane asylum and falls under the spell of a women who insists that he helps her release the actual warders and doctors who are locked away, as the inmates are running the asylum. The film is a bizarre yet brilliant look at a world gone insane, where fear, punishment and madness is ruling and no one is in charge and whoever is in charge is corrupted by there own absolute power and twisted morality. The stop motion animation interludes add to the grotesque and surreal nature of the film and even offers it to comparisons with the body horror films of David Cronenberg. Overall its an art house horror that provides the viewer an uneasy yet unforgettable journey into insanity.

stratonick I recently saw this film at the Jeonju film festival in Korea. It was by far the best film I saw all weekend. Selini is like a combination of Godard, Herzog and classic Czech animation- the kind of committed and convincing political film making that is increasingly rare these days. In his introduction Svankmajer compares the excesses of extreme reactionary and liberal regimes and argues that we currentlycombine the worst of both worlds in encouraging people to do whatever they want whilst relying on punishment and fear to keep them under control. The plot (based on an Edgar Allen Poe short story) is simple- an innocent traveller bears witness to the lunatics taking over the asylum. But the nightmarish atmosphere of confusion and fear, enhanced by gruesome stop motion animation between scenes, is both compelling, disturbing and extremely effective in communicating the directors ideas. The acting is committed and convincing and the story has, like the decline into madness, a chilling inevitability about it. The film uses this simple story to explore more challenging philosophical concepts. You don't have to be a fan of art-house cinema to understand and enjoy this exciting movie. 9/10