Monday, June 20, 2011

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

directed by: robert wiene
genres: horror, surreal, mindfuck
lists: ebert's great movies, imbd top 250, total film most influential
traces: nosferatu, the testament of dr. mabuse, les diaboliques, orphee, peeping tom, shock corridor, repulsion, brazil, edward scissorhands, suckerpunch, shutter island



staggeringly inventive. this film was the beginning of a lot of things - beautiful, surrealistic tim burtonesque visuals, exploration of sanity/insanity in films, unreliable narration, genuine horror shock moments, and it's credited with having the first twist ending in the history of cinema. it's seriously creepy, and while watching it, you can see how this film rippled outward and inspired so many directors to break free of the verisimilitude of film and branch into purely visual expressionistic storytelling that we see now in directors like tim burton, terry gilliam, guy maddin, and even zack snyder.

it is also the visual inspiration for the red hot chili peppers music video 'otherside:'

No comments:

Post a Comment