The Filmgoer’s Companion comments:

‘Classic horror film, valued not only for its expressionist sets and clever story… but for its unmistakable influence on German filmmaking of the twenties.’

This remarkable psychological silent is told in flashback, with the narrator describing how a fairground showman, Dr. Caligari, uses the somnambulist (sleepwalker) Cesare to carry out a series of murders. The film is characterised by its stylistic photography and crooked, artificial sets – the presence of which is made clear by the film’s twist-in-the-tail ending.

‘Allowing for certain primitive aspects, it still has power to thrill; certainly more so than the inferior American remake of 1962, which used the gimmicks but little else.’