Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Halloween. Most people who plan on getting spooked, are going to watch a popular horror movie like Scream, or Halloween, or Nightmare on Elm Street. A minority will watch a classing movie like The Changeling or The Haunting. You’ve all watched these movies, so how can I surprise you in this Halloween-WriteOff? Simple: I pick a movie that very, very few of you will have seen.
“But it’s a silent movie! It can’t be scary, can it?”
Watch and learn…

And in conclusion…

Let me begin this review with my conclusion. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a matchless and breathtaking piece of cinema from 1919 that is head and shoulders above most contemporary horror movies. I’ll add that this was a whole new experience for me; it refreshed my vision and knowledge on filmic expression. This was in part thanks to the creepy backgrounds and costumes by Germany’s expressionist “hotshots” Walter Rohrig, Walter Reimann and Hermann Warm.

The sleepwalker

The story, written by Carl Meyer and Hans Janowitz, is about the poor Cesar (Conrad Veidt, who would later play the German officer in Casablanca), a sleepwalker who is shown as a side show attraction and is controlled by the tyrannical Caligari (a sublime Werner Kraus) and only opens his eyes to tell the future – mostly somebody’s impending death. And he’s accurate.
You guessed it: at night Caligari sends out his trained sleepwalker to enforce his predictions, until the chump falls in love with one of his victims and refuses to kill any more.

So end of story, right?

No, it’s not quite as simple as that. The story is told by a man in an insane asylum who might as well be Cesar’s twin brother. And oddly enough the asylum’s director shares quite a number of traits with the diabolical Caligari… And so the story has many odd twists and turns, creating a mix or reality (in the story), fantasy and delusion. Eventually nobody knows what to believe; even when the camera zooms in on the odd/contemplating/grinning face of Caligari, things are left unspoken and the audience is left with many unanswered questions.

Creepy visuals

Visually, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is unique. It has deceptive transformations from painted to real shadows, perspectives that will fool your eyes, and riveting, almost moving murals. It’s simply stunning. As a side note: they originally wanted to put Fritz Lang behind the (subjective) camera, but he passed up on the honour and made room for director Robert Wiene, who would by magic lose his masterful abilities after making this movie (in my opinion).
One of the things I remember most vividly are the many sharply angled shapes in the movie. It’s as if they try to make the link between these objects and the sharp knife that Cesar uses… Only in Jane’s house (and perhaps the asylum) will you see more rounded shapes.

So what else makes this creepy?

Although some might argue that Caligari (in his double role) gives the most frightening performance, I was freaked out by Cesar. His pale complexion, combined with the dark make-up around his eyes, make him scarier than Frankenstein’s monster. In fact, Cesar’s slow awakening to a wide-eyed look of astonishment into the camera is one of the most unnerving parts of the movie – it’s also one of the only close-ups.

Heil Caligari!

It might be worth mentioning that sometimes a connection is made between The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the then governing feelings of indifference and manipulation in beaten Germany. The link between Cesar and the German people who are craving for leadership and lies, is easily made, just as Caligari fits nicely into the roll of the Prussian grunts or even the upcoming, manipulating Hitler.
If so, the film would become a social warning; to grab the small people, who are tired of fighting, by the googlies and shaking them awake. In any case the theme of anti-authority versus manipulations is undoubtedly present.

Bonus

I just thought I'd add this as a bonus: if you can't find the movie, go to http://thesync.com/features and watch the movie there...

In conclusion, part II

I think you know enough. Film and art lovers all over the world, go and see this movie and find out how many layers you can filter out. Then hold interesting and intellectual discussions about the movie’s vision – or the lack of it, or just talk about how gripping you thought it was. But don’t leave this milestone unwatched. You have been warned!

This review is part of shadow8’s Freestyle Halloween Write-off. If you don’t want to be haunted by ghosts all night, I suggest you read the reviews of these other participants:

“Shadow creature” shadow8 (thanks for letting me participate)
“Mary Shelly” marytara
”Gory Lorin” LorinSilver (hey, you just read that!)
”Shady Amy” AmyLensor
”Dan the Dark” dandj
”Satan Clayton” anderclayton
”Jack-o-Lantern” JackSommersby
”Furious” Furie
”Jailbait Jan” jankp
”Home Killer” ChromeKiller
”Frankenstein” Wokelstein
”Horribulous” Tibullus
”Frenzy” lansky2000
”Hellerad” Elerad
”Killer Potato” dancingpotato
”Barney Harney” matt_harney
”Gore-mancian” Vormancian
”system failure” systemdwn
”It Came from The Wood” The_Wood
”UCLA Slasher” lisaatucla
”Kuul the Ghoul” kuuleimomi
”I’ll shred you to Ribbons – Gibbons” jennifer_gibbons
”Black Sabbath” blackelve
”Psycho Killer” Psychovant
”Hell Mell” mellkinwa
”The Turtle that ate Tokio” DGTurtle2
”Unborn Loren” lorendiac
"Devil Debbie" debbie26

Recommended: Yes