VERY Retro Movie Adventures: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Modern horror movies start here.

 Friedrich Feher as Francis in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, staring out as two policemen stare at him.
Dr. Caligari in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. He is shades of orange. The background is concentric white, cyan, and black rings.

There’s a lot they hadn’t learned how to do in movies in 1920, but this movie pushes to do the most it can with the available tools and knowledge. No color? Tint the whole frame! No fades? Use oddly-shaped irises! Continuity between shots in a scene? We’ll do that next time and trust the audience to figure it out!

It’s also pretty amazing to see that so many foundational elements of modern horror movies are in here. Mysterious characters, plot twists, multiple suspects, a surprise ending: they’re all there!

Is this movie good by today’s standards? Not really. Is it a revolutionary movie for its time? Absolutely.

And was it funny for me to watch this for the first time decades after watching Forbidden Zone? Oh, so funny.

This may shock you, but there aren’t great photos available from this movie. But I did manage to pull one that sort-of matched the style of the posters I decided to parody.

A poster for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari sort-of in the style of the posters for the Twilight films, with Cesare standing in for Edward.

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