Rating: 
Summary: Argh! Frustration...
Review: I bought this video to show to some high school German students. Unfortunately, the words displayed on the screen are in English, not German. I didn't see any information about that before I ordered -- just assumed since it was a GERMAN movie, the text would be in German.
Rating: 
Summary: An inspiration to film makers alike!
Review: I sent off for this film a few days ago after learning so much about it. I became very intrigued and said to myself. "I gotta get this."The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is over 80 years old but the plot, concept and characters, still work today. I'm looking forward to owning this film, it's an inspiration to me as a budding horror novelist and should be an inspiration to film makers. I ask, could this film ever have a sequel or a remake for 2000? I wonder.
Rating: 
Summary: As artsy-fartsy as yesteryear........and still accessible
Review: To simply say that Weine's film represented a fork in the road of cinema would be as much an understatement as it would be a cop-out to coin here. The latter statement is all-too true, though: 'Das Kabinett von Dr. Caligari' has been so often accredited as being the parent of pre-modern film-making that the cliche can sadly never be defeated without daring to challenge the veracity of the claim. At 52 minutes in length (6 reels), the movie is a veritable carousel ride of thrills, chills and stark surprises, all presented in a chilling set of surreal art, made even more chilling by the early Expressionists' love of shadows. The plot is convoluted but not so much so as to be confusing and a turn-off. A sideshow act comes with a fair to the German town of Holstenwall. The act is a mountebank (later revealed to be the head of the local asylum) and his somnambulist prophet (later revealed to be one of the patients at said institution). No sooner have they begun to work their concession than a string of murders occur. The protagonist's friend's is one of them and soon a detective story unwinds within the parameters of the main story. Behind the killings is none other than the thinly-masked mountebank, Dr. Caligari, proving for scientific purposes that he can make his sleepwalker kill upon suggestion. Director Robert Weine inserts a sharp twist in the story at the end, rendering the plotline as unreal as any of the scenery in the film. Loaded with imagery that challenges the sanity but which delights the soul, 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' is streets ahead of being classifiable just as being a horror movie ancestor. This is high art - the sets being hard evidence of Weine and co.'s ardent desires to make a break with cinematic dogma and go three steps beyond recreating realism for the lens. Here, in a film shot eighty years ago, can be found suspense of such intensity that it makes the picture seem more sinister than it really is. Conrad Veidt's sleepwalker is terrifying and demonic: the viewer knows intuitively that this type of killer cannot and will not listen to reason or mercy pleas. Werner Krauss's portrayal of the bad doctor is splendidly done and is more demonic-looking at times than his zombie-tool. The protagonists - a student, his would-be girlfriend, her father and the police in Holstenwall have to go to great pains to try and smoke Caligari out as the villain. The crags and jagged diagonals of the set augment the fear factor and lend a soporific heaviness to the characters and their doings. Even so, the actors merely lie on the periphery of the film's power. The axis here is formed by the silent, evil lucidity in the movie which serves to remind the viewer that not only do the actors appear to be dead and otherworldly, they would have to be dead and otherworldly by now. If I was allowed to watch but one picture for the rest of my life, this would be it.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Silent Film with Style
Review: I'd seen pictures from this film for years. Whenever people would talk about "German Expressionism" it seems like stills from this film would follow. I took a risk and ordered it and got a great surprise! First of all, this film is crafted incredibly well considering the year (1919 I think ...) it was made. The story telling is great. You can see cinematic tricks that modern filmmakers have aped (*see BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA by Coppolla. It's full of "silent movie" techniques). This DVD features "tinted" scenes. There is a horrible line across the top of the film that the DVD "editors" chose to keep for this edition instead of cropping it out. ** All the more reason for FILM PRESERVATION! There's a great commentary audio track. I think they've done an incredible job with the technical aspects of the presentation.
Rating:
Summary: Still a magnificent work
Review: I waited year for this work to be released on video just so that I could see the classic for myself. I got so much more than I bargained for when I bought this video. It isn't just classic horror; it is a true work of art. I loved the settings, the acting, the story and everything else about the film. And I really loved the ending. I am sure that in its day it was as startling to theater audiences and the ending of "The Sixth Sense" is today. In fact, when I finally realized what had happened at the end, I was so caught off guard that I had to rewind that part of the video to make absolutely sure I had seen what I thought I saw. True fans of horror films and serious students of film history in general, make all haste to add this fine piece of film to your collection. You will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Classic silent horror.
Review: "Mr. Entertainment Lover" appears unable to mask his apparently unconscious recognition of this film as invaluable not only to the evolution of the horror film, but indeed, to the very history of the cinematic art. It seems as though the "awe" which found its way into his initial observations has also influenced his final judgment-- a double negative with which I whole-heartedly agree.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Horror Movies ever
Review: This movie symbolizes great silent horror movies. Unlike the new 'slasher' movies it shows a basic story. it was remade into a music video by Rob Zombies' "Living Dead Girl." It is one of the best movies ever.
Rating: 
Summary: A review from Mr. Entertainment Lover
Review: Yuck! This film is aweful! Why in the world is it still in print? Movies like this are out of there prime. The plot is that a mystical man named Calligari uses his zombie that tells fortunes to go out on a murder spree and kill certain people. I can't think of anything less tasteless.
Rating:
Summary: The Height of German Expressionism
Review: This 1919 silent film is considered to be one of the best examples of expressionism anywhere. The sets, lighting, and even the intertitles, show the twisted states of the characters. Although the plot of the mad scientist is hackneyed now, it is still worth watching over and over. The restoration isn't top notch, occasionally there is a transparent bar at the top of the negative, but it is great to see the movie in its original tints. Definitely a must see for any film lover.
Rating:
Summary: "special" edition? - how so?
Review: I am a very ticked off customer... This is an excellent movie indeed, and I'll let the other reviews speak for themselves in that respect. My question is... how is it that a SPECIAL EDITION of a DVD (and not a cheap one, by the way! It's not like it only costed five bucks or something; I paid 17.39 for it) does not even let you WATCH the original movie??? I just received it, and I haven't opened it yet, because I plan on returning it, since from what the back of the DVD says, I'm pretty sure that's it's in ENGLISH ONLY, even though this is a GERMAN film. I am so sick of Americans being so full of themselves! Would it kill us to be a little cultural for once? My god - how hard is it to have an option to watch it either in the original german, or in English? It's a DVD, for cripes sake! DVDs can easily be dubbed or subtitled in a million languages, so why not the original language of the film? I've seen the film on VHS before, but I wanted to see the original german, so I figured a "special edition" DVD would be the way to go, but apparently not. For all the good (or lack thereof) that this DVD was worth, I might as well have made a copy, for free, from the library VHS!
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