10 Czech Fantastique Films You Must See

The Cat Who Wore Sunglasses - A charming, innocent fantasy film about a small town, particularly the elementary school of the town, that is disrupted by the appearance of a traveling circus and a cat wearing sunglasses. When the cat's sunglasses are removed, everyone's true colours are revealed (literally); moreover, everyone ends up in a ballet-like trance. Consequently, some of the towns morally dubious folks conspire to do the cat in.

Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians - An adaptation of a Jules Verne novel, it begins with hints it might be a ghost story, but it quickly transpires that it is an over-the-top comic (in the Mel Brooks fashion) mad scientist film. An opera singer has tracked his kidnapped bride to a castle in the Carpathian mountains--a MYSTERIOUS castle. This castle is owned by an insane technological genius who uses his various contraptions to thwart the opera singer.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders - Whenever someone asks about the greatest vampire movies ever made, the more pretentious lot on the board (like me) will mention Valerie. A young girl begins menstruating. At just that time, a procession of friars comes into town. In the lead is the Constable, a Nosferatu-style vampire in black cloak and carrying a distinctive handfan. The Constable is trying to get Valerie's magic earing by seducing her grandmother. Meanwhile a lot of strange *beep* happens.

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? - An engineer trying to solve a lifting problem at his factory gleans inspiration from a comic book he finds involving superheroine Jessie and her antigravity glove. Meanwhile his genius (but shrewish) wife has invented a machine that can read dreams; only it malfunctions and turns dreams into reality. Just so happens, the engineer has been dreaming of Jessie, her antigravity glove, and the supervillains who want it. All come pouring into the real world, complete with speech bubbles.

The Cremator - An eccentric crematorium operator, under the pressures of concerns for physical and spiritual purity, turns to the Nazi side in German-occupied Prague. Known for its abstract and psychologically deep approach to horror, it's also a black-as-night comedy.

The Vampire of Ferat - From the same filmmaker who brought you The Cremator, the Vampire of Ferat concerns a futuristic car that runs on HUMAN BLOOD! A doctor and a vampire hunter team up to investigate.

Svankmajer's Faust - Ostensibly a telling of Goethe's Faust, it's really quite different. A man receives a mysterious message (from a huge egg, if I recall) leading him to a theater where puppets perform. Here he's made one of the puppets temporarily and is participating in a performance of Faust. Behind stage more Faustian goings-on are occurring, as well as some surrealistic shenanigans that I won't even try to explain.

A Case for a Young Hangman - Part Alice in Wonderland, part Kafka, part Gulliver's Travels, the film is about a man, Gulliver, searching for his lost love in the land of Balnibard. Balnibard is a surreal, nightmarish world, in which Gulliver finds goals frustrated.

The End of August at the Hotel Ozone - Yay! It's a post-apocalyptic sci-fi and Amazon warrior movie all in one. After a nuclear war, a band of women rove the land and commit some acts of animal cruelty. Eventually they come across an old man. Do they want to be impregnated or have they lost all concern for life?

The Damned House of Hajn - An odd psychodrama wrapped in an old dark house film with surrealistic touches, Damned House concerns a young married couple travel to her family house and he discovers how odd they are, particularly her invisible and horny Uncle Cyril.

Most of these films are available with English subtitles.