The Cabinet of Dr Caligari *** (2005, Judson Pearce Morgan, Daamen J Krall, Doug Jones, Lauren Birkell) – Classic Movie Review 13,245

David Lee Fisher’s spooky and unsettling 2005 black and white horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is a technically remarkable, weirdly faithful remake of the 1920 silent film, with a similar plot but also extra dialogue scenes.

Writer/ director David Lee Fisher’s 2005 American black and white horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is a technically remarkable, weirdly faithful remake of the 1920 silent film, with a similar plot but also extra dialogue scenes.

The narrator, Francis Geist (Judson Pearce Morgan), tells the story of the deranged Dr Caligari (Daamen J Krall) and his faithful sleepwalking minion Cesare (Doug Jones) and a series of murders in the German mountain village of Holstenwall.

It premiered at the ScreamFest Film Festival on 22 October 2005, and won the Audience Choice Award, the Best Cinematography Award and the Best Special Effects Award.

The cinematography by Christopher Duddy and the special effects are indeed outstanding, awesome even, especially on what must be a low budget, with a brilliant digital re-creation of the 1920 film’s sets, style and artificial backdrops. Duddy floods everyone in blazing lights, often in extreme close-up, shooting his images in disturbing compositions that are ideal for the subject.

Performance-wise, Daamen J Krall (sometimes sounding like Karloff, sometimes sounding like Vincent Price) and Doug Jones (in a heavily made-up mime turn, and moving spookily) are excellent as Dr Caligari and Cesare, one creepy, the other eerie. Judson Pearce Morgan as Francis Geist and Neil Hopkins as his nervy best friend Alan, both covered in impressive quantities of silent-movie style eye-liner, are solidly good in not so showy but key roles.

So, no quarrel with the cinematography, special effects or main performances – or the discordant, unsettling score by Eban Schletter. But here’s the thing.

But what is the point in simply seeking to recreate the original film, other than to show how technically impressive you can make it? David Lee Fisher doesn’t really come up with an answer to this baffling question, but nevertheless the film is quite engaging and entertaining, and doesn’t outstay its welcome at just 76 minutes. It is certainly not scary, but it is spooky and unsettling.

David Lee Fisher, Doug Jones, Christopher Duddy and Eban Schletter return for the long-awaited follow-up, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2023).

By the way, it is worth seeing the films in order of their release.

The cast are Judson Pearce Morgan as Francis Geist, Daamen J Krall as Dr Caligari, Doug Jones as Cesare, Lauren Birkell as Jane Stern, Neil Hopkins as Alan, William Gregory Lee as Joseph Stern, Randy Mulkey as Inspector, Time Winters as Dr Gabriel Stern, Richard Herd as Commissioner Hans Raab, Tim Russ as town clerk, and Brian Farber as Burly Man #2/Cloaked man.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,245

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