HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 13: THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI

Next up on my horror list I went WAY way back to the silent film era for one of my favorite and truly classic films, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919).

It's about a traveling carnival act in which a somnambulist named Cesare predicts people's futures. When Cesare predicts the death of someone in the crowd it causes quite a stir amongst the people. The man destined to die scoffs and regards it as just a cheap scare. The next morning he is found dead in his bedroom. This draws more attention to the soothsayer's act. More predictions of death follow and more people start turning up dead in town. The police suspect the sleepwalker Cesare of committing the murders and indeed chase him down in the middle of attempting murder! But Cesare was asleep the whole time. And the man in control, Dr. Caligari disappears...

The film is an amazing piece of art. A silent German impressionistic horror film starring the great Conrad Veidt as the terrifying Cesare. The imagery of this film is just as frightening as that of Nosferatu. The story itself introduces plot twists the likes M. Night Shyamalan would be impressed by as well as graphic violence to the screen.

I love seeing the early horror films and learning what started it all and where the great horror cinema came from. Horror cinema history is something I find extremely interesting and it is because of this that I found this film. If you're like me than this is a film you must see if you haven't already. There's something about the authenticity and raw feeling one gets from a silent film that enhances the effect for me. I'm trying to build my own horror soundtrack too to play along with these silent horror classics to enhance the scary experience.

My favorite part about this film is the somnambulist Cesare, the original horror icon and inspiration for so many more and so many others to come. One of the reasons I like horror films is for the monsters and anti-heroes. Characters like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, they all owe their creations to Cesare and none more so than Michael Myers. Conrad Veidt's performance is terrifying and skin crawling. He transforms a simple sleepwalker into a horrifying monster. I like monsters, I don't know why. I just do. He truly is the granddaddy of horror monsters.

Overall Ranking: 8 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10