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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (AKA Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari)

1920

Robert Wiene

Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover ...

8.1

20,889

Horror Caligari appears in the town with his marvel Cesare the Somnambulist, a man who has been asleep for 23 years and is now under Caligari’s hypnotic control. Caligari claims that Cesare can predict the future. The arrogant young Alan rises to accept the challenge and asks how long he will live to which Cesare replies “Until dawn”.

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"I don't know of another film that used its extreme distortions and discordant angles (...) The film today [2009] still casts its spell (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"This strange and fascinating classic of the silent era set the template for today's scary movies, noirs and thrillers (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Clayton Dillard Slant	"Caligari isn’t simply a character or figure, then, but an idea (...) [that] emanates from the screen with a force that queers the very notion of stability and identity (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Anna Smith Empire	"Robert Wiene uses jagged sets, non-naturalistic acting and flashbacks within flashbacks to discombobulate, before delivering a twist so blindsiding it’s ripped off to this day (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Nick Hilditch BBC	"[It] is both visually unique and haunting in its use of the infant medium (...) It is difficult to imagine the film done better with the benefit of sound, colour, or any innovation (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Time Out	"Undoubtedly one of the most exciting and inspired horror movies ever made (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"Groundbreaking (...) The most famous and influential work of the German expressionist cinema (...) A one-of-a-kind masterpiece."	POS
United States	Ciara Wardlow Film School Rejects	"it’s an exemplary study in atmosphere, and its influence in terms of narrative structure can hardly be overstated within the suspense genre."	POS

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