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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Original title: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari · Turkish title: Doktor Caligari'nin Muayenehanesi

“You must become Caligari!”

1920 · 1 h 7 min
Directed by Robert Wiene
HorrorMysteryThriller

Cast

Werner Krauss Conrad Veidt Friedrich Fehér Lil Dagover

Plot

A man tells the story of a strange showman, Dr. Caligari, who arrives at a country fair with a sleepwalking fortune-teller, Cesare. After a series of murders in the town, the narrator comes to suspect Caligari of sending the sleepwalker out at night to kill. The film is shot on painted, distorted sets of crooked streets and sharp angles that express the characters' minds. A twist ending recasts everything as the narrator's delusion. Robert Wiene's 1920 film is a founding work of German Expressionism and of the horror film.

Sinekatalog’s take

A German Expressionist horror silent with painted, crooked sets and a twist ending. Its sleepwalker and distorted world made it a landmark of cinema and a model for horror aesthetics.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 8.0 / 10 (77,204 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset; Rotten Tomatoes snapshot from October 2026. Scores change over time.

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