by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

Speak of the Devil and she will appear. 

The Mafu Cage has been on my watchlist for sometime. I first heard about it in Kier-La Janisse’s book House of Psychotic Women. Considering it stars Carol Kane (When a Stranger Calls, Office Killer) and Lee Grant (Visiting Hours, Damien: Omen II) it was hard for me to resist. Once I watched it I knew I had to write about it for this series because I cannot stop thinking about it. Which also means this is my first repeat actor for the series. Carol Kane once again gives a literal killer performance as Sissy. While she has played (at least) two killer ladies, the performances are drastically different and fascinating to dissect. 

In The Mafu Cage, you are introduced to Ellen (Lee Grant) who cares for her sister Sissy (Carol Kane). The girls were mostly raised in Africa as their father went on expeditions, while Sissy embraced her fathers research and African culture, Ellen rejected this and tried to grow up more “ladylike”. The two are practically inseparable, partially because of their shared grief over their fathers demise, as well as Ellen’s promise to always take care of her sister. This promise is consistently tested when it comes to Sissy’s violent outbursts. She begs her sister to provide her with a “mafu,” a monkey that she can care for and observe as she tries to continue on with her father’s research. However, Sissy has trouble taking care of her “mafus” and Ellen is always left cleaning up her mess. Their relationship continues to become more strained and things only get worse when Ellen begins to have feelings for one of her coworkers. Things come to a violent end and eventually someone will end up in the “mafu cage.”

Now why does Sissy kill? It is complicated. While the film gives us context clues, we do not find out explicitly what is wrong with Sissy. It is clear she has some emotional issues which are related to her violent outbursts. When we eventually see her kill one of her mafus it is because it touches her and sends her into a panic. The only person or creature she wants to be this close with seems to be Ellen, who she seems to have an incestial relationship with. My perspective is that the two were sexually abused by their father. It seems that Sissy regressed and worshiped her father, pushing away the things he did to her. However the trauma remained, and presented itself in her violent tendencies. She cannot help but kill the things that she cares about, because she was never shown a conventional loving relationship. Does this mean she also kills her father? It is another thing that the film does not make explicitly clear but would make sense when we begin to see her pattern. 

On the other side Ellen rejected the life her father provided and instead of having an interest in animals and nature, she looked to the stars, eventually becoming an astronomer. As the older sister she is very protective of Sissy, often to a fault. She cleans up her messes and buries more than one mafu on the grounds of their home. She lets Sissy get away with almost everything to the point where she lets the lines be blurred between their sisterly relationship, and a romantic one. Her refusal to put Sissy into a home due to a misguided promise she made to her parents puts not only her, but anyone who comes in contact with them, at risk. Zom, an old family friend, is the one person who tries to push Ellen to do the right thing and put Sissy away, although she never gets the chance. 

The sisters find function in the dysfunction. Sissy cannot help but take whatever she can and Ellen gives until the only thing she has left to give is her life. It is hard to say how she is perceived because, besides Zom and Ellen, Sissy does not really interact with anyone. The one person who gets to meet her from the “outside” is David, Ellen’s love interest. His love for Ellen drives him to also care for Sissy to a fault. By the time he realizes how dangerous he is, it is simply too late to save himself. It is clear she is loved and pitied by Zom and Ellen who want to do what is right by her, but are misguided in their attempts to do so. 

The childlike side to her makes you disarmed to her, much like the children of Spider Baby, there is a regression that is also tied to an increase in violent impulses. This regression could be the reason for her need to have some sort of sexually charged relationship with her sister, who seems much less interested in this act than Sissy. The two are irreparably damaged from whatever occurred in their childhood and because of this neither is equipped to love anyone in a healthy way. Their tale is a sad but fascinating one and although the main killer is Sissy, it is clear that Ellen has become her accomplice. The film makes it very clear that Sissy would die without Ellen, and while Ellen has all the trappings of an adjusted adult on the outside, she cannot live without Sissy either. 

The more I watch these films on these damaged women, it is hard not to empathize with them, even when they are so incredibly dangerous. Sissy is a unique entry into this series as I do not think I have seen a female killer quite like her. When she kills it is derived from rage and potentially a fight or flight instinct to protect herself from harm. However misguided it might be, it is clear unwarranted touching can send her spiraling. At the same time she is incredibly smart and talented and if it were not for the incredible undiagnosed trauma she faced she could have been a successful explorer like her father. I think Ellen’s plight is the easiest one to latch on to and empathize with but I find Sissy to be equally sympathetic, she is simply acting based on instincts.  

Sissy and Ellen are ultimately tragic figures and their end is also tragic, but they never leave each other's side and do not let anyone into their own little world. While it is a hard relationship to comprehend it is still one filled with love.