The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

It is difficult to imagine precisely what cinema would be without its most influential and memorable titles. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI in particular stands out as one such notable title in the international canon that in its time and forever thereafter has been heralded as a masterpiece of its craft, the singular model for expressionist, black-and-white filmmaking. A landmark of horror filmmaking, its visual style is often copied or paid homage, and its remarkable twist ending has become all but a modern trope. Its long, haunting shadows and canted, dreamlike production design stay with viewers weeks, months, and years following an initial viewing. The film is credited for introducing the "twist" ending and inspired EDWARD SCISSORHANDS by Tim Burton, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS by Terry Gilliam, and Martin Scorsese's SHUTTER ISLAND, all of which share many striking similarities to CALIGARI. "The first thing everyone notices and best remembers about THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) is the film's bizarre look. The actors inhabit a jagged landscape of sharp angles and tilted walls and windows, staircases climbing crazy diagonals, trees with spiky leaves, grass that looks like knives. These radical distortions immediately set the film apart from all earlier ones." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times