The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

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Justin T Dec 10 I was a little bored really. The plot was amazingly simple but I guess that a silent film will generally have a simple plot otherwise you’d have too many intertitles. The style looked very theatrical and this was interesting because I liked looking at the sets but overall I would say that films shouldn’t be a particularly theatrical medium. Anyway it was the early days of films. I didn’t find it creepy or scary or anything. I just liked the style and the sets were interesting. Entertainment has moved on from this. See more Sebas B Nov 20 Tiene muy buena historia y pese a ser cine mudo es increíble. Lo mejor es el final. See more Jake G Nov 19 This is such a surreal and inspiring movie. One of the great pioneers of horror film and one of the most influential silent movies of all time. See more Kevin P Oct 25 An insanely influential silent film and a pioneer of film history. Arguably the grandfather of all horror films. While it might be obscure in modern times, it's legacy has inspired so many well-known classics, such as the 1931 Frankenstein or the majority of Tim Burton's film catalogue. The film has an incredibly lucid and mesmerizing Gothic design that's very dream-like. It feels like a sleep paralysis nightmare, where you're being put into a hypnotic trance. The movie is genuinely creepy and unsettling with its striking surreal imagery and off-putting soundtrack. The movie legitimately caught me off guard when there was a jump scare from soundtrack during one of the night stalker scenes, where the music suddenly becomes incredibly loud and distorted. The art design of the movie is also top notch. The houses are heavily inspired by German expressionist artwork of the early 20th century, with elevated angular windows and slanted buildings everywhere. I love the creepy costumes and makeup for the titular Dr Caligari and his puppet Cesare. They're very mysterious and played with so much personality with their unsettling maniacal body language from their silent film actors. The film ends with a surprisingly good twist ending, with just enough room for interpretation to make you want to rewatch it. Despite its age (over a century old now!), the movie is very well paced. I was never bored and it's always moving along thanks to its 6-act structure and colorful artistic speech & title cards. It's a very intriguing horror fantasy film and easily one of the best silent films ever made. See more DanTheMan 2 @DanTheMan2150AD Sep 30 Often cited as the quintessential work of German Expressionism and the progenitor of so many horror iconography and archetypes, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari constructs a mental landscape — a personal psychological fantasy — within which unspeakable horror becomes a terrifying reality. Presenting lunatics, murderers and possessed somnambulists in its eerie shadows, the jagged angles and sharp white lights of masses and lines create a psychic individuality to the enveloping atmosphere. It illustrates something more eternal: about great manipulators, and the underlying anxiety that either society has gone mad, or we have. An eerie sense that this hellish scene is actually the real world, and that our everyday lives are the delusional Technicolour dream of a madman. It's a story told and seen by a discombobulated mind, with all the scenery jumbled into fantastic shapes and the features of the players weirdly angular and wildly staring. Director Robert Wiene creates a film that's beautifully warped in all senses, creating something truly fascinating and utterly bizarre. A stylised representation of an off-kilter world, where the exaggerated performances only add to the film's unnatural vibe. The influence of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari knows no bounds, a crazy black mass all on its own, a mute opera of fear. See more Stephen C @bob25009 Jul 4 1 hour and 9 minutes is too short!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In German and American English audio versions with American English subtitles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Read all reviews

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

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