Day 25: Don’t Ring the Doorbell

A large part of me wants to see 1978’s Don’t Ring the Doorbell because of its bizarre original name, The Mafu Cage. But another part of me thinks that’s one bad mafu-ing title. (The remaining portion just wants a drink and a lie down.)

Don’t Ring the Doorbell brings together Lee Grant and Carol Kane, who between them have five Oscar nominations and one win. So what they’re doing in a movie about incestuous lesbian sisters living in a monkey-filled mansion, I’m not sure. Neither is a stranger to the horror/slasher genre: Grant is a top final girl (and Anchorwoman In Peril!) in Visiting Hours, while Kane has been in more pseudo-slashers than anyone else I can think of, including the offbeat thriller When a Stranger Calls (and its more satisfying sequel); the previously name-dropped slasher satire Pandemonium; and the gory black comedy Office Killer.

Perhaps the actresses were going for a whole Baby Jane-type vibe. And, if that was the case, please remake it, girls! Thirty years down the line adds all kinds of interesting layers to a project like this. And ageing horror divas are so cool.