Time for something completely different. This will be the first part of a history of horror films from the 1890s to the present day. These will not be reviews as such, though I will be giving my opinions on each. It will examine some of the key horror movies and franchises from the good ones to the....not-so-good ones. There may even be some fantasy and sci-fi included as well. Whilst I will try to keep them spoiler-free, I cannot guarantee it. With that being said, let's move onto some somnambulism...
We start our journey in the silent era in 1920 with the release of the German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene and based on a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer.
Plot
The film starts with Francis (played by Friedrich Fehér) telling a story about himself and his fiancé Jane (played by Lil Dagover). Within this story, Francis, Jane and their friend Alan (played by Hans von Twardowski) visit a carnival. There they encounter the mysterious Dr. Caligari (played by Werner Krause) and quiet sleepwalker Cesare (played by Conrad Weidt) who can predict the future. Alan, who thinks it's all a bunch of hoohah, asks Cesare when he will die. Cesare answers tomorrow. Francis and Jane get creeped out by this and want to go back home but Alan, being the blithering idiot that he is, still thinks it's all one big joke...until his dead body is found the following morning. Francis and Jane are convinced Caligari and Cesare are involved and decide to investigate, where they discover that all is not what it seems...
Although this wasn't the earliest horror film, it is often regarded as being the first true, serious horror movie. Horror up to this point wasn't taken very seriously and treated like a pantomime - more to entertain and make people laugh than to scare them. It also introduced the idea of a twist ending to cinema, although this came about by mistake. The producers ordered the filmmakers to change the original ending to make it less scary. The visual style is very expressionist and surreal, with slanted and pointed angles and clever use of shadows and contrasts. The movie is in the public domain meaning anyone can watch it for free, just type it into youtube.
My thoughts: Good film. I like the sinister atmosphere it creates and Werner Krause is brilliant as Caligari.
An apparent sequel was made in 1989 Dr. Caligari but I haven't seen it yet so I won't comment on it. Instead we will fast forward 85 years to...
My thoughts: Good film. I like the sinister atmosphere it creates and Werner Krause is brilliant as Caligari.
An apparent sequel was made in 1989 Dr. Caligari but I haven't seen it yet so I won't comment on it. Instead we will fast forward 85 years to...
2005's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a sound remake of the original directed by David Lee Fisher.
Plot
The film follows the same story as the original with no major changes except with the addition of dialogue and different actors: Judson Pearce Morgan as Francis, Daamen J. Krall as Caligari, Doug Jones as Cesare, Lauren Birkell as Jane and Neil Hopkins as Allen.
It was initially shown at the Screamfest Film Festival in October 2005 where it won some awards, notably one for special effects because they greenscreened the background from the original behind the actors (personally I don't think that was particularly award-worthy - if anything, I think it's lazy).
My thoughts: I didn't really like this one. It felt empty compared to the original with little emotion being shown by the actors, dialogue taken word-for-word from the original which doesn't work in a talkie, and annoying facial shots. It was too "arty" for me.
Next time we will look at the first Dracula movie...well, sort of...
See also:
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