A top subject of silent horror
Some silent films don't age well, in fact some just vanish. Hell let's face it, some modern films(Matrix sequels anyone?) don't age well. However, the classic silent horror film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is one of those films that's still good.
This is a tough film to review because there's so many companies who have restored it, so many soundtracks to cover, and just way too many different versions. So i'm going to give a quick review on the version I saw.
Visually, this film stunned. The tinting used really sets the mood for many of the scenes, which is good since they can't do it verbally. Hues of yellow, blue, black, grey, all of them set the chilling tone for this film.
Set construction may have you checking your pulse to make sure that you're not just on a drug trip, but rest assured the sets really do look like that. Everything is twisted, bent, hunched over, and just jagged and painful looking. It's actually, to me at least, a little funny watching people constantly duck down to enter buildings as to not bang their heads. It's ironic that the insane asylum is one of the only places that's not all jagged and crazy looking, although there's good reasoning behind that(which I won't sit here and be Mr. Spoiler about).
The music in the version I watched sounded similar to if Steve Vai, Kenny G, and Les Claypool all got together and had a mutant love-child. This isn't to say it's bad music, in fact it fits each scene perfectly(which makes it obvious they recorded the music to the film as to get the right note whenever someone takes a step on a flight of stairs), and again sets the mood. It was a little gratting at points when things just went ballistic like John Coltrane on "Giant Steps".
All in all, this film is a spectacular example to silent era German Expressionism. I also suggest seeing "Der Golem", even if it is only about 20 minutes long.