Pardon my language, but Hole-EE-Shit. You've seen films like The Exorcist, which has been stated as the scariest horror film of all time, but nothing comes close to touching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. So many elements went into this film, a few of which I'll explain in my thoughts.
First, the silence. Silence in this film takes this movie to a level of odd and creep to downright scary. The eerie violins playing in the background while the decrepit Dr. Caligari strolls down the street corner is such a striking visual that it is still resonating with me. The music played such an important part in displaying the emotions of the characters. Cheerful music showed hope, while solemn music showed despair -- obviously eerie, foreboding music portrayed an uneasy feeling that something was going to go wrong.
Second, the acting. I've never seen a film in which I could tell how a person was feeling without them talking so vividly as I could in this film. Such ranges of emotions were brought forth in this picture like fear, happiness, joy, despair, anger, and love. Facially, this was some phenomenal acting. That's the challenge of a silent film: to get emotions across without the use of speaking.
Third, the setting. Wow. What a creepier than hell place. The tightness and oddly shaped street corners made me feel very uneasy... like I'd entered a bizarro world.
Overall a really cool and eerie movie. Thanks for the selection, Darrel.
Glad you liked it. Exorcist was a scary ass movie in its own right in that it went for all out shock value. I don't think anyone up to that point had really seen things being done like that. Let alone by a teenage girl!!! The beauty in Caligari is that it is a slow burn that chooses to get under your skin with atmosphere and pure creepiness. Yeah, they don't make 'em like they used to.
ReplyDeleteYEs it was a good choice, but I didn't feel it was overtly frightening, in a of ways it didn't really seem like a convential horror movie, maybe in it's own strange class.
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