Well this one is certainly going to be a blast from the past, assuming anyone from that time is even alive o even lectura this article. In 1920, when cine were still silent films with only a line of text appearing afterward, not much was thought about being done in the horror genre. But low and behold, here comes Germany with one of the most influential horror films ever made, 1920’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. What makes this film such a standout from almost a hundred years ago? Let’s find out.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is told from the perspective of an interesting person por the name of Francis, telling the story of what happened to him and his fiancee in the town of Holstenwall, a strange town where buildings are bent and tilted, windows are stretched and in bizarre shapes and shadows spill out across the streets. In this town, a mad doctor por the name of Dr. Caligari brings a monster in a cabinet named Cesare, who he controls and orders to murder those that have wronged him in his life. Eventually, the creature falls for Jane, and results in the classic Beauty and Beast trope of all classic horror films. Creature from the Black Lagoon, King Kong, Phantom of the Opera, all of them did it, but Dr. Caligari did it first.
Now this is a very slow and very hard to understand movie. Even if tu watch it once, tu will más than likely still be a little confused as to what tu saw. This is a movie that doesn’t explain much, doesn’t mostrar a whole lot of consistent things, and most of it could be up to interpretation of what happened. I will say, for a silent film from the 1920s, it’s definitely an interesting way of going about the horror and it really does make tu interested. If not for the way it tells its story, than perhaps the backgrounds will be enough to interest you. This is a film all about German expressionism, a style tu may have seen in some artworks and some illustrations, but Dr. Caligari was one of the first to implement it into film, and it looks amazing. It all looks like a combination of a Salvidor Dali painting, a blind drawing of Alice’s Wonderland and a scene from The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine all at once, mixed with the black and white camera reel of that time period. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before, but I want más of this in cinema. It’s actually fascinating how it looks.
I would like to talk más about this film, but there isn’t much to talk about. Hell, depending on who tu are, tu may watch this movie but think tu dreamed it all up. The music, the visuals, the way it tells its story, it all feels like a crazy dream that tu have, and that may have been what the film was going for. It’s definitely one of the más interesting and unique films I’ve talked about so far on Cultober. I recommend giving it a watch. It’s very short and can be found online. Give it a watch.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is told from the perspective of an interesting person por the name of Francis, telling the story of what happened to him and his fiancee in the town of Holstenwall, a strange town where buildings are bent and tilted, windows are stretched and in bizarre shapes and shadows spill out across the streets. In this town, a mad doctor por the name of Dr. Caligari brings a monster in a cabinet named Cesare, who he controls and orders to murder those that have wronged him in his life. Eventually, the creature falls for Jane, and results in the classic Beauty and Beast trope of all classic horror films. Creature from the Black Lagoon, King Kong, Phantom of the Opera, all of them did it, but Dr. Caligari did it first.
Now this is a very slow and very hard to understand movie. Even if tu watch it once, tu will más than likely still be a little confused as to what tu saw. This is a movie that doesn’t explain much, doesn’t mostrar a whole lot of consistent things, and most of it could be up to interpretation of what happened. I will say, for a silent film from the 1920s, it’s definitely an interesting way of going about the horror and it really does make tu interested. If not for the way it tells its story, than perhaps the backgrounds will be enough to interest you. This is a film all about German expressionism, a style tu may have seen in some artworks and some illustrations, but Dr. Caligari was one of the first to implement it into film, and it looks amazing. It all looks like a combination of a Salvidor Dali painting, a blind drawing of Alice’s Wonderland and a scene from The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine all at once, mixed with the black and white camera reel of that time period. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before, but I want más of this in cinema. It’s actually fascinating how it looks.
I would like to talk más about this film, but there isn’t much to talk about. Hell, depending on who tu are, tu may watch this movie but think tu dreamed it all up. The music, the visuals, the way it tells its story, it all feels like a crazy dream that tu have, and that may have been what the film was going for. It’s definitely one of the más interesting and unique films I’ve talked about so far on Cultober. I recommend giving it a watch. It’s very short and can be found online. Give it a watch.