‘The Genius of Doktor Caligari.’
If you thought that Horror movies were a modern idea, then you most definitely need to think again. They have actually been in existence for a whole lot longer than you would have imagined; right from the earliest days of cinema in fact!
‘Okay, but surely any vintage Horror flicks are not going to be any good….' Wrong again! Of course, there are some really crappy ones to avoid (much as there are some really crappy modern ones), but there are also plenty of absolute doozies. And one of the finest examples of all is the silent German classic, ‘Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari‘ from 1920.
There is something undeniably eerie about this movie, even by today’s standards. It tells the story of a mad doctor (Caligari) who controls a sleepwalking man to carry out a series of murders. A creepy idea you may agree, although it may not sound super-scary up to now. Well that is because you have yet to see the imagery of the film…
To describe the black and white sets of ‘The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari'as being ‘a wee bit unsettling'would be a gross understatement. The stark, elongated shadows and sharp, exaggerated angles really are the stuff of nightmares. German Expressionist cinema was always striking and this movie encapsulated it all better than any other. It really is a case of ‘you have to see it to believe it’!
Unsurprisingly, ‘The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari'has had a huge impact on cinema since the 1920’s and it is one of the cobweb-covered ‘granddaddies'in the world of Horror. It does not need to concern itself with CGIs, big budgets and sexy stars who advertise beer or bikini hair removal in their spare time. ‘Caligari'deals with the fundamentals of Horror and it is a movie that should be in any connoisseurs DVD collection!
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