The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

The critic calls it one of the most exciting and inspired horror movies ever made, full of expressionist paranoia and gloom from post-WWI Germany. They single out the extraordinary use of painted light and Conrad Veidt’s marvellous performance for praise.

The critic praises the 4K restoration of the 1920 silent classic, highlighting its jagged Expressionist sets, non-naturalistic acting, nested flashbacks, and enduring twist ending as reasons it remains a disorienting masterpiece worth seeing on the big screen.

The film creates a mindscape of subjective psychological fantasy through its jagged, tilted Expressionist sets, making it arguably the first true horror movie. Ebert praises its unsettling visual style and lasting influence on the genre.

The critic celebrates the film as a landmark of silent cinema and one of the first true horror films that helped establish cinema as an art form. They single out its innovative expressionist set design and ambiguous frame story with twist ending for particular praise.

French praises this exceptional restoration of the 1920 expressionist masterpiece as probably the best version anyone alive has seen, accompanied by a strong documentary on its Weimar-era context. He finds the film as arresting and provocative as ever despite past criticisms of it as dated or overrated.

Muir highlights the splendid digital restoration that removes scratches and jump-cuts from old prints, making the German Expressionist classic deserving of fresh viewing. She calls it the mother lode of the horror genre, full of pop-eyed terror, lunatics, murderers and possessed somnambulists in eerie shadows.

The critic praises the film's pioneering Expressionist imagery and enduring status as cinema's preeminent embodiment of dreamlike anguish, while noting its embedded queer narrative. They single out the 4K restoration for its improved sharpness and the way it preserves the film's filmic qualities.

The 1919 film is a true milestone as the first horror movie and the first to use set design symbolically rather than as mere backdrop. Smith highlights its twisted angles, darkened spaces, and deeper meaning as a metaphor for insanity and authoritarian threat.

The German film is a morbid mystery told in the Poe manner that prods interest at a high pace through its direction, cutting, and distinctive settings. The review praises the performances, especially Werner Krauss as Caligari, while noting the story’s twists.

The film confines the audience in the madman’s distorted, angular world of fears and menace through its expressionistic sets. Kael calls it a famous masterpiece and radical advance in technique but cautions that the décor can feel monotonous and the acting limited.

This is cinema's first true horror classic and one of its earliest masterpieces, meticulously crafted with groundbreaking techniques and unmatched striking imagery. The critic singles out the Expressionist sets as a conscious artistic statement that elevated film to high art.

The critic highlights the film's transformative impact on horror and German Expressionism through its innovative visuals and narrative techniques like the twist ending and unreliable narrator, calling it a foundational work that deserves to be seen.

The piece celebrates the 1920 film as the first true horror movie and a pioneering work of German Expressionism whose distorted sets and visuals invented key genre tropes. It singles out the film's groundbreaking painted backdrops and unbalanced perspectives for creating an immersive nightmare world that influenced everything from film noir to modern horror.

The re-release restoration highlights the film's pioneering Expressionist style and its foundational role in psychological thrillers, horror, and noir. The critic praises the striking, geometrically distorted sets and the narrative's exploration of madness and unreliable reality.

The critic praises the film's historical significance, unique presentation, and its role in founding modern horror, while noting a potential criticism of the framing story undermining the anti-authoritarian message. The visuals and story are still enjoyable today.

The retrospective hails Caligari as a wild horror masterpiece that wholly immerses viewers in a subjective psychological fantasy through its cock-eyed, violent set design. It singles out the jaw-dropping art direction by Hermann Warm, Walter Reimann and Walter Röhrig for making every frame scream dread and madness while birthing Expressionist cinema and influencing later filmmakers like Lynch and Burton.