The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Directed by Robert Wiene.  Written by Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz.  Starring Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover and Friedrich Feher.

Plot: easy answer – it’s about somnambulism, or sleepwalking

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This silent German movie is hailed as one of the greatest thrillers of all time.  It centers around a crazed doctor who is controlling a sleepwalker and making him commit murder.  The story is good and all, but it’s really the lack of structure that is beautiful.  All the paper sets that DJ wasn’t too keen on were very attractive to me.  There were no real need for rules either because, as it turns out, this is one of the first and most trippy twist endings in movie history.

It is over-the-top melodrama and it isn’t for everyone.  Even we were stuck between considering it a crafty masterpiece or a boring and over-hyped work of art.  In the end, we recommend it because no matter the outcome, it is one of the most important movies in the horror genre.

Our score: 49.  You can yell at us if you need to.

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