Defying any kind of logical description, the animated German sci-fi fever dream The Cathedral of New Emotions can proudly stand as the trippiest title released to date by Deaf Crocodile -- and that's saying something! Animated in a vivid manner that looks like a high school Magic Marker experiment gone haywire, this final feature from Dada artist and filmmaker Helmut Herbst crams a lot into its one-hour running time. The Blu-ray packaging compares this to Fantastic Planet, which makes sense as long as you bear in mind this makes that René Laloux classic look like a grounded, textbook example of linear plotting by comparison.

The plot... er, experience here is centered around a Berlin-based spaceship shaped like a gigantic hand, with the passengers consisting of a bunch of oddball stoners and philosophers stuck inside a big box within it. The inhabitants, including doctor Quistard and security honcho Dierksen, drone out non sequitur dialogue in a computerized voice while trippy electronic music swirls on the soundtrack and sexually ambiguous, topless twins occasionally jump in for commentary. Their path is destined to cross with a shaggy-haired feral guy named Matthew Madson, who can shed some light of the very nature of their existence.

Chances are you've never heard of this one outside of the Blu-ray release since it barely got shown outside of Germany and hadn't had a physical media edition anywhere until now. Brace yourself, as this is a space quest production that goes way beyond the already shaggy nature of Raumpatrouille or Dark Star. According to the extras this took around ten years to complete in 2006, with Herbst extrapolating it from his 2001 short film, Container Interstellar (7m20s), included here in a new scan among the welcome bonus features. The processed, halting vocals take some adjustment here, but that's made easier by the wild music score that gives it an appealing space opera vibe more akin to something made decades earlier. It should be noted that this is definitely mature fare as there's a large amount of animated nudity that eventually segues into the real thing with live actors briefly near the end.

The packaging for Deaf Crocodile's Blu-ray, available in standard or deluxe limited editions, cites a new restoration from the original camera negative and sound elements by the company with the cooperation of Herbst’s wife, Renate Merck. It certainly does look impressive, retaining the tactile quality of the original animation with that marker quality to the colors giving it a distinctive flavor. The DTS-HD MA German 2.0 stereo audio (with optional English subtitles) is also in great condition with the music sounding especially strong. The film can also be played with a new audio commentary by film historian Rolf Giesen, who does a fine job of filling the hour with plenty about his own professional and creative brushes with the director, the history of Dada and its influence here, the relevant state of German animation, and plenty more. Obviously this isn't a scene specific track in any way, something he makes clear right from the outset. "Werkinterview Filmkunst: Helmut Herbst" (26m7s) from 2013 is a short documentary by Anja Ellenberger, featuring some great interviews with the man himself, clips from his extensive work, and coverage of his Dadaist involvement with an arts collective called The Coop who tried to push into new forms of cinema. Finally, "Downcast Eyes" (18m12s) is a video essay by experimental filmmaker and film scholar Stephen Broomer about the German Dadaist movement and its influence for decades on popular culture and resistance to fascism which led up to this feature. The deluxe edition comes in the usual ornate slipcase packaging (with a design by Beth Morris) including a 60-page book, heavily illustrated and featuring essays by Alexander McDonald and Walter Chaw about this once very obscure film's place in experimental animation, German cinema, and the treatment of outer space as a delirious mode of artistic expression.

Reviewed on March 3, 2025