Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The films of Jan Svankmajer are NOT for everyone, that's for sure. His stop-motion films are ultra-bizarre and have a strange sensibility that set them apart. Calling them extremely disturbing is not at all an understatement--and "Lunacy" is often very disturbing and really weird.The film is based on the Poe story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" and is unusual because most of the film is NOT stop-motion. The plot is essentially about a mental hospital in the 19th century where the patients have taken over and locked their tormentors in the basement. However, it takes a VERY long time to get to this plot and has a lot of strange stuff that Poe never intended--such as an overabundance of animated meat...yes, MEAT. Throughout the film, tongues and hunks of meat appear and move about using stop-motion for no discernible reason other than to make the film weird. Additionally, there is a lot of nudity and adult content that clearly make this a film you might not want to show your children, your mother or dead old Father O'Malley (especially because of the very blasphemous scene that takes place in a church-- it would give the old guy a heart attack).I do not recommend this film unless you like Svankmajer and know what you're getting into by selecting it. Instead, try seeing the recent version "Stonehearst Asylum"--a very intelligently made and satisfying incarnation of the Poe tale.

Another slice of demented surrealism from the Czech king of stop motion, Jan Svankmajer. This one's not up there with CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE, my favourite of the director's work so far, but it contains plenty of material of interest for fans of the unique and downright bizarre.The general emphasis of the narrative is to explore the writings of the Marquis de Sade and his ilk, by exploring the treatment of the insane who are locked up in mental institutes. This typically turns out to be a study of crazy people: the inmates have literally taken over the asylum in this case, so there's lots of bizarre behaviour, blasphemy, S&M, and plenty of the outlandish sequences that anyone exposed to the director's output will expect.LUNACY is no favourite of mine, as it feels that the premise is a little dragged out and repetitive, particularly in the first half of the production. It certainly picks up for the second half, but the viewer must put up with some terrible overacting and a general lack of resolution in order to enjoy the film fully. I admit I found it all a little histrionic and difficult to sit through, although my favourite moments were the inserts featuring the stop motion 'living' meat, the bizarre highlight of an incredibly quirky film.

It starts quite good, but after a while you start to expect more from this film than you are actually getting. Everything becomes unclear and unclear it stays. Czech filmmakers were good 20 or more years ago. But after they transfered to Capitalistic country, here it is, Czech unofficial but well known mentality ... COPYING ... COPYING ... COPYING of everything they consider good, when they see it in another movies or countries or elsewhere. I think that this is a good example of making "art" and "politics" and "horror" and "humor" and "film" and money. And it remains me of the /One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest/, which can not be compared to this film in the way of ART and ACTORS and STORY and POLITICS. I think this film is boring. It could be done better. At least, they tried. Sorry guys. :-( CANOT NOT Recommend

I just saw this film at the Montreal fantasia film festival. And this being Svankmajer's most recent film, I jumped for tickets. Absolutely amazing. Something of a political comment, the film show's us to ways of running an insane asylum. I have always loved Jan Svankmajer for his use of macabre animation (using raw meat, bones and eye balls). And it's use in context with 'Lunacy' is chilling. Truly one of the best horror films I've see all year. It's not the sort of horror that is entertaining to watch or bring your girlfriend. But if you love films and your looking for a horror film that will keep you thinking...then find a way to see this film.