Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

An asylum inmate reveals the story of Dr. Caligari, who has a sleeping walking slave called Cesare who is murdering the townsfolk of Holstenwell. Is the tale a product of one mans twisted imagination or the grisly truth...

A vital entry both in the history of horror cinema and film as a whole. Made in Germany in the 1920s, the film is a surreal masterpiece. Cabinet... is an expressionistic fantasy set in a magical, theatrical world of wildly painted, skewed sets that create a dreamy/nightmarish effect on the viewer. Everything is stylised, the shadows are painted onto the walls, the performances are set at hysteria pitch a lot of the time and most of the backdrops consist of unrealistic cut-out shapes.