Why So Blu?

The Cathedral of New Emotions (Blu-ray Review)

Welcome to a dream made of static and sculpture, where logic is left at the door and emotion drives every frame. The Cathedral of New Emotions arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Deaf Crocodile Films, who continue to champion the visually bold and narratively unconventional. Directed by Helmut Herbst and originally released in 2006, this experimental animated feature embraces the chaos and collage of the Dada art movement. It plays more like a manifesto than a narrative — part digital tapestry, part audiovisual riddle. Viewers are thrust into a world where architecture speaks, abstraction reigns, and coherence is optional. Whether that experience resonates or overwhelms will depend on your taste for cinematic anarchy, but one thing is certain: it’s unlike anything else on your shelf.

Film 

The Cathedral of New Emotions is all form, no foothold. Helmut Herbst’s Dada-inspired experiment drowns itself in visual splendor but forgets to offer the viewer anything resembling a tether. It’s like flipping through a brilliant artist’s sketchbook while they read you their diary in a language they’ve made up. You can admire the effort — maybe even be wowed by a frame or two — but you’re still left squinting through a fog of meaninglessness.

Watching The Cathedral of New Emotions Blu-ray is like stepping into a philosophy lecture where the projector is glitching and no one’s translating. The animation is undeniably impressive. Herbst leans hard into dense collage, flickering transitions, architectural cutaways, and layers of distorted faces that seem to both observe and accuse. If this film were playing silently in the corner of a museum, it would stop you in your tracks. As a narrative feature, though? It grinds. Long stretches pass where image and voice clash rather than complement, and instead of building momentum, the film feels like it’s looping through itself — repeating mantras without clarity or consequence.

There’s a rhythm to the chaos, sure, but not one that invites participation. Emotions are abstracted to the point of detachment, and any commentary on politics, technology, or identity gets buried beneath a flood of cryptic narration and visual noise. It feels less like a film and more like an academic provocation. That might excite viewers well-versed in Dadaism or avant-garde cinema, but for most, it’s an exhausting sit.

At its core, The Cathedral of New Emotions mistakes confusion for depth. It’s all surface — stunning, surreal, relentless surface — with little room for connection, character, or even curiosity. A hypnotic mess, perhaps, but a mess all the same.

 

Video 

NOTE: Stills are provided for promotional use only and are not from the Blu-ray.

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution:1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Region: A

HDR: N/A

Layers: BD-50

Clarity and Detail: The Cathedral of New Emotions leans into dense, textured visual layering, and Deaf Crocodile’s transfer preserves every deliberate smear, jagged overlay, and flickering transition with crisp definition. Linework and mixed-media elements hold up surprisingly well under scrutiny, especially in moments where graphic text and illustrated architecture collide.

Depth: There’s limited spatial depth by design — Herbst’s imagery operates more like a moving collage than a dimensional world — but the transfer respects that aesthetic. Flatness is intentional, and this presentation retains the film’s stratified look without muddying the layering.

Black Levels: Blacks are deep and consistent, rarely crushing out detail even when the screen descends into visual chaos. In darker sequences, such as the monochrome data tunnels and static-filled overlays, the contrast remains balanced.

Color: Color timing is strong, though the palette itself veers toward muted tones—burnt oranges, newspaper greys, medical greens. Bursts of saturation are rare but impactful, and the Blu-ray renders them without oversaturation or banding.

Flesh Tones: N/A

Noise and Artifacts: Source noise is baked into the visual design — film grain, digital grit, and hand-drawn imperfections are all part of the texture. No unwanted compression artifacts or edge enhancement were observed. This is a faithful, clean presentation of a deliberately chaotic aesthetic.

Audio 

Audio Format(s): German DTS HD-MA 5.1

Subtitles: English

Dynamics: The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track delivers more nuance than you might expect from such an experimental film. While dialogue often feels fragmented or whispered from the far end of a thought, there are bursts of sonic clarity that hit with surprising power. One standout sequence feature two topless women chanting “oh, ah” repeatedly. It sounds absurd on paper, but the mix in that scene is jaw-dropping — channel separation is so precise and active, it felt like my surround system was being recalibrated in real-time!

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: Don’t let the artsy packaging fool you — when the music kicks in, the bass bumps! The score and sound design are laced with thick, pulsing low-end that fills out the mix beautifully. Synth-driven stingers and rhythmic undercurrents hit with real impact, giving the film’s abstract visuals a tangible weight. It’s the kind of subwoofer workout you don’t expect from a surrealist animated feature, but it’s absolutely there — and it slaps.

Surround Sound: Rear channels are used to reinforce the film’s disorientation. You’ll hear voices echo behind you, environmental textures crawling across the soundstage, and abstract effects that swirl rather than settle. It’s immersive in a way that aligns with the film’s chaotic spirit.

Dialogue: Dialogue is intentionally oblique, often distorted or layered beneath other sounds. It’s not always easy to understand — by design — but levels are consistent, and the English subtitles are accurate and cleanly placed.

Extras 

Deaf Crocodile has outfitted The Cathedral of New Emotions with a solid batch of extras that dig into both the film’s roots and Helmut Herbst’s broader body of work. The standout is Container Interstellar, a seven-minute animated short from 2001 that introduces characters and ideas later expanded in Cathedral, newly scanned for this release. There’s also a 25-minute documentary, Werkinterview Filmkunst: Helmut Herbst, featuring interviews and rare clips that provide welcome context to Herbst’s experimental leanings. Rounding out the package are a scholarly commentary by Rolf Giesen, a new video essay from filmmaker and academic Stephen Broomer, striking new cover art by Beth Morris, and high-quality Blu-ray authoring from Fidelity in Motion’s David Mackenzie. Looking for more animated curiosities from Deaf Crocodile? Don’t miss our review of the Tamala 2010 Blu-ray, another genre-defying oddball with style to spare.

 

Special Features

• “Container Interstellar” (2001, 7 min.) – director Helmut Herbst’s animated sci-fi short with characters that would be more fully explored in CATHEDRAL OF NEW EMOTIONS, newly scanned for this release
• “Werkinterview Filmkunst: Helmut Herbst” (2013, 25 min., dir. Anja Ellenberger) – fascinating short documentary featuring interviews with Herbst and clips from his acclaimed experimental films, made for nonprofit German arts TV and newly translated for this release. (Courtesy of TIDE TV)
• New commentary by film historian Rolf Giesen
• New video essay by experimental filmmaker and film scholar Stephen Broomer
• Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion
• New art by Beth Morris

Summary 

While The Cathedral of New Emotions Blu-ray may frustrate more than it enlightens, Deaf Crocodile’s disc offers enough value for collectors of avant-garde animation. For everyone else, it’s a visually striking but emotionally distant oddity — easier to admire than to enjoy. That said, Deaf Crocodile’s Blu-ray treatment is undeniably impressive, packed with thoughtful extras and a top-notch presentation that honors the film’s bold visual design. If you’re building out a shelf of animation deep cuts or experimental cinema, this release earns its place as a conversation starter. Just be ready for a ride that’s more sensory assault than story. Curious? Step inside the cathedral — and brace yourself.

 

 

The Cathedral of New Emotions is available on Blu-ray!

 

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