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Horror Film Review: Paranormal Activity 3 (dir. by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When me and my sister first moved into our house last year, I was so excited to see that we had a loft.  In fact, the day we moved in, I told her, “The loft is mine.”  Yes, I had it all worked out.  The loft would be my little office/art studio.  I would sit up there with a little candle going and I’d write my poetry and read my books and compose my thoughts.  Whenever the real world got to be too much for my poor little head, I would go up to the loft and I would find peace and quiet.  That loft would be my sanctuary, my little world of fantasy where everything was fine.

That night, I lowered down the ladder that led up into the loft and I started to climb.  If you know how terrified I am of both heights and ladder then you’ll understand just how difficult that was for me to do.  Seriously, with each step up the ladder, my heart beat just a little faster and I could hear my own breathing growing more and more ragged.  My feet felt so heavy and I had to stop several times so I could rest on the ladder and catch my breath.  At one point, Erin came out of her room and stared at me clinging onto the 7-step ladder.

“Lisa Marie,” she asked, “what the Hell are you doing?”

“The loft will be mine!” I snapped back.

Summoning up all of my courage and determination, I forced myself to move up the remaining two steps of the ladder and popped my head up into the loft.

“YAY!” I declared.

That’s when I saw the world’s biggest, most evil-looking spider hanging about two inches from the tip of my nose.

“AGCK!” I shouted as I fell backward from the ladder and ended up falling flat on my ass on the floor below.

I haven’t been back in the loft since.  Erin’s been up there a few times and she swears to me that she’s sprayed all sorts of sprays and cleaned out all sorts of dust but I don’t care.  I may not be the smartest girl out there but I do know that when you find something really scary in a room, you lock up that and never enter it again.

I found myself thinking about that loft and the spider within earlier today while I was sitting through Paranormal Activity 3.

Paranormal Activity 3 is the latest installment in the franchise of films about dumb men who, once they discover that there’s an evil ghost stalking the women in their lives, respond by not leaving the house but instead sitting up video cameras so they can record their eventual deaths.  This time the action is set up as a prequel to the first film but essentially, it’s the exact same film that you’ve seen twice before (though, this time, the filmmakers rip-off the end of the Last Exorcism as well).

Still, as far as the Paranormal Activity franchise goes, the third is probably the best of the series, if just because Micah’s not in this installment.  Instead, Micah’s role is taken by Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith), who is the somewhat goofy but well-meaning stepfather of Katie and Kristi (who, of course, will eventually grow up to the focus of the first and second Paranormal Activity films).  It turns out that Dennis is something of an aspiring filmmaker and hence, it makes a little bit more sense why he insists on setting up cameras once it becomes apparent that his house is haunted.  Anyway, the movie pretty much recycles all of the shocks and scares that you expect from a Paranormal Activity film.  There’s countless shots of people sleeping, dark shadows appearing in corners, and the whole thing where one person stands perfectly still for 5 hours.  The scares are effective because, quite frankly, mysterious shadows are always going to be scary and at their rare best, the Paranormal Activity films manage to tap into that very primal, basic fear.    Unfortunately, the Paranormal Activity films also have a tendency to drag in-between scares and this third installment is no different.  That said, the film’s finale is well-done, if predictable.

However, in the end, it’s simply impossible to watch Paranormal Activity 3 and not wonder what I’ve wondered during every Paranormal Activity film: why doesn’t anyone ever just leave the damn house?  Seriously, if you think I overreacted to seeing a spider up in the loft, you should see me when I run into a ghost hanging out in the kitchen.

Trailer: Chronicle

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I have to admit that, even though I thought that Apollo 18 was an underrated movie, I’m still skeptical about the whole “found footage” genre of film.  I could explain why but the fact of the matter is that just about everyone is skeptical about it and we’re all skeptical for pretty much the same reasons.  Still, Chronicle looks like it might be interesting.  Still, you have to wonder who all these people are who, in the face of incoming apocalypse, react by standing in place with a camera.  Me, I’d probably drop the camera and run.

Horror Scenes I Love: Suspiria

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I’ve mentioned before, Dario Argento’s Suspiria is one of my favorite horror films and any quick search around the Internet will reveal that I’m hardly alone in that.  There’s a lot of reasons why Suspiria remains so popular: there’s Goblin’s iconic score, Jessica Harper’s performance in the lead role, and Dario Argento at the peak of his powers.

While most critics and fans always cite the film’s infamous “window scene” as its most effective set piece, I happen to think that the scene below is actually a bit more effective.  While it’s certainly more low-key than some of the film’s other death scenes, this scene is the one that still leaves me uneasy no matter how many times I see it.  Maybe it’s the way that Argento isolates the blind pianist in the middle of the square or perhaps it’s the way that he positions the camera in order to keep the audience uncertain of where exactly the true threat is coming from.

Then again, it could just be because I’m scared of dogs in general…

 

Horror Film Review: The Boogeyman (dir. by Ulli Lommel)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, last night, we finally got a proper storm here in Texas and wow, was I happy!  Quite frankly, it’s not October unless you’ve got thunder, lightening, and howling wind.  Of course, I also ended up getting caught out in the middle of it all and ended up getting soaked just from running from my car to the front door of my house.  Seriously, it’s amazing how quickly your life can turn into a wet t-shirt contest.  (Once I got inside, I did what anyone would do and jumped on twitter so I could tell everyone I was soaked.  “OMG, I’m so wet!” I tweeted, with the most innocent of intentions.)   Anyway, as I dried off, I watched The Boogeyman off of Fearnet.  No, I’m not talking about The Boogeyman that starred the oldest son from Seventh Heaven.  No, The Boogeyman I watched is a genuinely weird little artifact from 1980 and it was directed by the infamous Ulli Lommel.

A hybrid of Halloween, the Exorcist, and probably every other horror film that had been released up to 1980, The Boogeyman opens up with siblings Willy and Lacey spying on their mother having sex with her creepy boyfriend who is wearing a nylon stocking over his face.  So, naturally, Willy grabs a butcher knife and stabs the man to death.  This act of violence is reflected in the bedroom mirror and, not surprisingly, this leads to the dead boyfriend’s evil spirit getting trapped in the mirror.  Or maybe it’s just the evil of the act itself.  Or maybe it’s … well, there’s a lot of possibilities and it’s hard not to consider them all because the film considers none of them, beyond the fact that the dead boyfriend is still in the mirror (which, let’s give credit where credit is due, is actually a pretty neat idea for a horror film).

Anyway, we jump forward 20 years and now, the brother and sister have grown up.  They both live on a farm with their judgmental, self-righteous, ballet-hating aunt and uncle.  (Okay, I’m projecting a little here because I have relatives who remind me of both of these characters and I always hated having to spend any time with them over the summer because I always knew they’d be all like, “Look at us, we’re  farm folk, we’re better than you and who needs books or ballet when you got foul-smelling chickens and cows that’ll kick you in the face just because they feel like it…”  Seriously.)  Willy (now played by Nicholas Love) has been mute since the day he brutally butchered his mother’s boyfriend and oddly enough, no one seems to be disturbed by the fact that he’s a murderer.  (“He’s a good boy,” his uncle says at one point, “I just wish he could talk.”)  Lacey (played by Suzanna Love) is married to Jake Scully (Ron James) and they have a son.  Judging from the uniform he’s wearing when he’s first introduced, Jake is apparently some sort of law enforcement guy.  He’s also a total and complete chauvinistic toadsucker who (though it’s never acknowledged in the film) is pretty much responsible for every terrible thing that’s about to happen.

Lacey is suffering from intense nightmares (the nightmare sequence, by the way, is one of the film’s genuinely disturbing moments) and she keeps waking everyone up at night with her screams.  Well, of course, Jake can’t have this because they’re farm folk, after all!  So, Jake has to act like a man about it and chastises Lacey for not suppressing her feelings.  When that doesn’t work, he drags her off to a therapist.  This would seem like a good idea except for the fact that the only therapist in their little rural community appears to be John Carradine.  Carradine grimaces through his three scenes, tells Lacey that she should go back to her childhood home and see that it’s just a normal house despite its history of brutal murder, and then leaves to collect his paycheck.  

Lacey says she doesn’t want to go back to the house where the most Hellish thing ever occurred.  Jake tells her that she’s being silly and that she’s going to go relive the worst event of her life whether she wants to or not.  Seriously, Jake sucks.

So, Jake drags Lacey back to her childhood home.  The house is now inhabited by two teenage sisters and their obnoxious little brother who spends his time running around and screaming, “Boogeyman!” at random.  He’s kind of a brat but don’t worry — he eventually yells “Boogeyman!” one too many times and ends up getting his neck crushed by a falling window.  That scene, by the way, genuinely shocked me because you just don’t expect to see little kids dispatched so graphically.  But he really kinda deserved it, if just to keep him from growing up to be like Jake.

But before the little boy gets killed, we get to watch Lacey and Jake wander through the house.  It turns out that, even though the house has changed owners, the exact same mirror is still hanging in the bedroom.  Lacey looks at the mirror, sees her mother’s dead boyfriend’s reflection, and proceeds to shatter the mirror into a hundred pieces.  Jake replies that she’s being silly and proceeds to put almost all the broken shards of the evil mirror into a paper bag so he can take them back to the farm with him.  Why?  Well, because he’s Jake so anything he does must be right…

Of course, by bringing the mirror to the farm (and then deciding to put it back together — really, Jake?), Jake has also brought the evil spirit of the dead boyfriend with him as well.  Once again, Jake sucks.  Though, in his defense, Lacey was having nightmares and Willy nearly strangled a neighbor girl, before John Carradine even suggested going to the house.  And mom’s dead boyfriend liked to wear a stocking over his head but was he really evil?  After all, he’s the one who ended up getting stabbed to death…well, regardless, now people start dying and eventually a priest has to come up to the house and try to remember the final scene of the Exorcist.  So, thanks a lot, Jake!   

The Boogeyman is one of those odd films that always seems to pop up on TV and hidden away in various DVD horror compilations.  Through no fault of my own, I’ve actually seen it a handful of times and every time, I’ve discovered something else that doesn’t really work.  The last time I watched it, I found myself concentrating on just how unconvincing all the actors (with the exception of Suzanna and Nicholas Love) were.*  Slowly but surely, I found myself growing obsessed with actor Ron James, who played Lacey’s husband with all the style and charisma of a cardboard cut-out.  (Of course, it doesn’t help that James was playing a character who, to put it charitably, is kind of a sexist pig.  “C’mon, Lacey, cheer up!” he says as he forces her to visit the house where the most traumatic event of her childhood occurred.)  Whenever the movie hit one of its many slow spots, I asked myself, “I wonder if Ron James gave up during the first day of shooting or the second?” 

And yet, oddly, this is a film that’s stuck with me.  The film has an effectively Southern gothic atmosphere to it and even the stiff performances and unnatural dialogue help to give the film a certain dream-like atmosphere.  I know quite a few people who argue that Ulli Lommel is the worst director of all time** but he actually comes up with some effectively surreal and disturbing images.  The sight of the dead boyfriend, with a nylon stocking pulled down of her face, suddenly staring at Lacey from the mirror is genuinely frightening, as is Lacey’s nightmare in which she’s bound and gagged by a knife-wielding assailant.  The idea of mirrors storing everything that they witness is an intriguing one and there’s a nicely surreal sequence in which poor, mute Willy paints over every reflective surface he can find.  Whether by intentional design or not, these flashes of genuine fright and oddness are all the more effective because they’re surrounded by such mundane material.  The end result is a film that’s either brilliant or terrible depending on which point you actually start watching it. 

————————–

* Actually, the Loves were pretty bad too.

**By the way, the worst director of all time is Rod “Straw Dogs” Lurie.

Horror Film Review: Shock Waves (dir. by Ken Wiederhorn)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight, as I watched the premiere of The Walking Dead’s 2nd season, I found myself thinking about some of my favorite zombie films.  One which came to mind immediately was Ken Wiederhorn’s low-budget but effectively disturbing 1977 film, Shock Waves.

In Shock Waves, a group of tourists find themselves shipwrecked off the Florida coast.  As they wander through the isolated, swampy terrain, they happen to come across a decaying mansion that is inhabited by one very mad scientist (Peter Cushing).  It turns out that Cushing is a Nazi war criminal who, during World War II, created the Death Corps., an elite unit of zombie super soldiers.  As World War II came to an end, Cushing somehow ended up in Florida and, unfortunately for the living, he brought the Death Corps. with him.  And now, with the arrival of the castaways, the Death Corps. has reawakened…

Shock Waves is considered by many (like me, for instance) to be the best example of the small genre of film known as the Nazi Zombie film.  (Though I have to admit that it’s not my favorite Nazi zombie film.  That honor would have to go to Jean Rollin’s delightfully weird Zombie Lake.  For another example of the genre, check out Arleigh’s review of Dead Snow.)  Admittedly, once you get past the idea of underwater zombies, the film is pretty predictable plot-wise.  But a certain predictability goes along with any zombie film.  One reason why zombies are so scary is the very fact that they are very simple and predictable.  Zombies exist solely to destroy and, beyond running and hiding, there’s not a whole lot of options available for dealing with them.  Vampires and werewolves are almost ludicrously vulnerable to all sorts of defensive moves (seriously, people, how difficult is it to wear a crucifix around your neck?) but zombies are pretty much an unstoppable force and for a zombie film to succeed, the zombies must truly seem unstoppable.  This is where Shock Waves truly succeeds because seriously, these zombies are brutal.  There’s a lengthy montage where the zombies literally tear apart a building, searching for the castaways and it’s probably one of the most chilling sequences of destruction ever caught on film.  It helps that these Nazi zombies are truly frightening to look at, with their hair plastered to the sides of emotionless faces and their eyes hidden behind dark goggles.  Add to that, they’re Nazis.  Seriously, nothing’s scarier than Nazis.  Perhaps the most enduring image from this film is of the members of the Death Corp. emerging from the water, one after another.  It’s a remarkable sequence and probably one of the most striking “zombie mob” scenes ever.

The Shock Waves DVD also features an audio commentary with director Ken Wiederhorn and a few other crew members.  It’s actually probably one of the more interesting DVD commentaries I’ve ever heard, as Wiederhorn is very honest about not being happy with how the final film turned out.  And certainly, this is one of those low budget B-films that you can pick to death.  As Wiederhorn himself points out, lead actress Brooke Adams often seems to just be going through the motions and, as effective as the Nazi zombies are, the film never explains how 1) they ended up off the coast of Florida or 2) how they haven’t been discovered before this.  But so what?  Shock Waves is one of those films that manages to be quite a bit more than the sum of its parts.  Wiederhorn might not be happy with the film but that doesn’t change the fact that he manages to create a true sense of menace and danger during the film’s first half and the second half features some of the scariest zombies ever.  Ultimately, Shock Waves is a genuinely scary and effective zombie film and one that the director has every right to be proud of.

One final note — Shock Waves opens up with one of those “This film might be based on a true story” narrations and it’s all the better for it.  I’m including a clip of it below because 1) it’s just so grindhouse that I can’t help but love it and 2) it also features a bit of the film’s brutally effective score.

Horror Film Review: Plan 9 From Outer Space (dir. by Ed Wood, Jr.)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I guess it’s debatable whether or not Plan 9 From Outer Space can actually be called a horror film.  For one thing, it’s scary like not at all.  If you actually pay attention to the film, it’s obvious that director Ed Wood was actually trying to deliver a heartfelt plea for world peace (as well as finding use for a minute of footage featuring the late Bela Lugosi).  Of course, a lot of others claim that all Wood did was create the worst film ever made.

Now, at the risk of being branded a heretic, Plan 9 From Outer Space is hardly the worst film ever made.  First off, lead actor Gregory Walcott actually gives a pretty good performance as Jeff, the confused pilot who is accused of having a “stupid, stupid mind.”  And secondly … well, that’s really the only traditional praise that I can give the film.  Still, Plan 9 From Outer Space is way too much fun to be truly bad.  Yes, you may sit there and wonder, “How was this movie made?” but the fact of the matter is this: it was made and we’re all better off for it.  No, Plan 9 From Outer Space is not your standard “horror” film despite the presence of zombies and grave robbers from outer space.  However, in its own silly “Look we made a movie!” sort of way, it’s the perfect film for Halloween.

And luckily, it’s also in the public domain!  So, allow me to present you with the one and only Plan 9 From Outer Space!

Now, I’ve recently heard some talk about a Plan 9 From Outer Space remake.  What would that look like?  Well, here’s one possibility…

The Horror, The Horror — 6 More Trailers

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s time for the latest installment of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation trailers and, continuing with October’s theme, they are once again all horror trailers.  This week, I set out to prove that Argento’s a master and everything’s scarier in German.  Let’s begin:

1) Friday the 13th (1980)

There’s no way I could possibly get through October without including at least one Friday the 13th trailer.  I went with this one in order to specifically prove that everything’s scarier in German.

2) Paganini Horror (1989)

The trailer for this Italian horror film is in German as well and I have to be honest that, despite being a fourth German, I speak the language like not at all.  Then again, considering that this is one of Luigi Cozzi’s films, it’s probably for the best that I can’t understand the trailer.  All I know is that the killer’s mask is creepy and who doesn’t love Venice?  Seriously, I went there the summer after I graduated high school and there’s no other place I’d more want to be stalked by Klaus Kinski.  One more piece of trivia (and don’t quote me on this), I think that Cozzi may have attempted to sell this film as a part of Dario Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy.

3) Suspiria (1977)

Speaking of Dario Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy, here’s the U.S. trailer for the film that started it all, Suspiria.  While you can probably guess that Suspiria is one of my favorite horror films, it’s also one of my favorite ballet movies as well.  In fact, the ballet aspect of Suspiria is largely responsible for me discovering my love of Italian horror because, if not for the fact that it took place at a cursed dance academy, I doubt I would have paid as much attention to the movie the first time I saw it.

4) Inferno (1980)

While Suspiria is definitely more fun, I still think that the second part of the trilogy — Inferno — is a better horror film.  Seriously, the underwater sequence at the start of this film still freaks me out.

5) Mother of Tears (2007)

Twenty-seven years after Inferno, Argento finally concluded the trilogy with Mother of Tears.  A lot of horror fans practically foam at the mouth going on and on about how much they hated this film.  I happened to have enjoyed it.  So there.

6) Dawn of The Dead (1978)

Continuing on the Argento theme, here’s a classic trailer for a classic film.  George Romero may have directed the American version of Dawn of the Dead but the European version (known as Zombi) was put together by Argento and guess which one is superior?  Anyway, this trailer is for the Romero version:

Horror Film Review: Nosferatu (dir. by F.W. Murnau)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since I previously “presented” our readers with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, it’s only appropriate to now present another early horror film — F.W. Murnau’s classic silent vampire film, Nosferatu.  Much like Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu requires a bit of patience from modern audiences that take intrusive sound and CGI as a given.  And much like Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu rewards the patience.  Everything from Murnau’s moody use of shadow to Max Schreck’s performance as Orlock adds up to create one of the most influential and iconic films of all time.  And while the film itself might not feature the “jump out your seat scares” that modern audiences expect (and demand) from horror films, the image of Schreck’s creeping shadow remains effectively creepy and nightmarish.  Like all great horror, this is a film full of images that stick with you after you view it.

I am also very aware of both Werner Herzog’s excellent 1980 remake and the Oscar-nominated Shadow of the Vampire.  However, I’m kinda typing all this up at work so those two films will have to wait for a later date.  For now, if you have 84 minutes to kill and seriously, who doesn’t?, please enjoy F.W. Murnau’s classic Nosferatu…

Horror Film Review: The Dead Pit (dir. by Brett Leonard)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Let me set up the scene for you:

It’s late at night.  A woman wakes up from a terrible nightmare and finds herself in a shadowy, white-walled hospital room.  She gets out of bed and walks over to the window.  Standing outside, staring up at her, is a lone figure in blood-stained surgical scrubs.  The figure’s eyes glow red as he says, “Around here, I’m the head surgeon.”

And then he tosses some poor orderly’s decapitated head up at the window.

If you enjoy the type of silly but effective creepiness that is epitomized by this scene, than 1989’s The Dead Pit might just be the film for you.

In The Dead Pit, Cheryl Lawson plays Jane Doe.  As you might guess from her name, Jane isn’t quite sure who she really is or how she came to lose her memory.  All she knows for sure is that she’s been checked into a disturbingly sterile hospital.  At night, she’s haunted by nightmares in which she’s stalked by a menacing figure wearing a doctor’s mask and during the day, she has to deal with the occasional earthquake and the fact that she occasionally starts to speak in a vaguely possessed voice that freaks out the head psychiatrist (Jeremy Slate).  Could it have anything to do with the fact that one of her fellow patients is an ex-nun who is obsessed with sprinkling holy water over everything?  Or could it possibly be related to the fact that many years ago, her psychiatrist murdered Dr. Ramzi (Danny Gochnauer) when he discovered that Ramzi was actually a serial killer who murdered countless patients?  Then again, it could just be related to the fact that there’s apparently a hundred freaking zombies just wandering around the hospital…

If The Dead Pit sounds like it’s kinda silly and a little bit campy … well, it is.  However, it’s also a lot of fun, the type of unapologetically trashy horror film that makes for perfect Halloween viewing.  Director Brett Leonard makes good use of what appears to be a very small budget.  The film was apparently shot on the grounds of an actual mental hospital and, through the use of inventive lighting and a constantly tracking camera, Leonard makes good use of the locale’s inherent creepiness.  This is yet another film that works far better than you might expect, simply because the director understood just how scary it can be to feel isolated.

Just from doing a quick google search, I can also say that apparently, this film — and, specifically, Cheryl Lawson’s lead performance in this film — has a lot of fans on the Internet.  I can understand that because Lawson’s likable, she’s believable when she’s both scared and possessed, and she screams with panache.  She makes this film effective because she takes the material seriously and has enough respect for the audience to actually give a good performance and that makes it impossible not to 1) identify with her and 2) hope that she makes it through the film in one piece.  Even when Lawson is having to scream for her life, she never allows Jane Doe to come across as weak.   Speaking as a girl who loves horror films but hates to always see women having to act like simple-minded victims, I found Lawson’s performance to be almost empowering and I’m sure that’s why so many of The Dead Pit’s fans love this movie.

Of course, Cheryl Lawson also spends almost the entire movie running around in her panties and a t-shirt.  I guess that also could possibly have something to do with the film’s popularity…  

Okay, I guess that is a more likely explanation.  However, in all honesty, if I was in a horror movie, I would totally want to be the girl who spends the whole movie running around in her underwear.  I mean, yes, I know that it’s the good girls who always survive until the end but seriously who wants to be a good girl in a horror movie?  The good girls are boring and usually end up forgotten by the time the sequel comes out.  The bad girls are the ones that everyone remembers.

But, regardless of the main reason why you personally might enjoy it, the Dead Pit is a fun movie that’s a great pick if you’re like me and you often find yourself simply looking for something to watch at 2 in the morning.

 

Horror Film Review: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (dir. by Robert Wiene)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’m currently working on several reviews for horror month here at the Shattered Lens but tonight, rather than just review a film, I want to share one with you.  Released in 1920, the German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one of those films that we’ve all heard about but far too few of us have actually seen.  Like most silent films, it requires some patience and a willingess to adapt to the narrative convictions of an earlier time.  However, for those of us who love horror cinema, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari remains required viewing.  Not only did it introduce the concept of the twist ending (M. Night Shyamalan owes his career to this film) but it also helped to introduce German expressionism to the cinematic world.  

My initial reaction to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was that it simply wasn’t that scary.  It was certainly interesting to watch and I was happy that I was finally experiencing this film that I had previously only read about.  However, the film itself was obviously primitive and it was difficult for my mind (which takes CGI for granted) to adjust to watching a silent film.  I didn’t regret watching the film but I’d be lying (much like a first-year film student) if I said that I truly appreciated it after my first viewing.

But you know what?  Despite my dismissive initial reaction, the film stayed with me.  Whereas most modern films fade from the memory about 30 minutes after the end credits, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has stuck with me and the night after I watched it, I even had a nightmare in which Dr. Caligari was trying to break into my apartment.  Yes, Dr. Caligari looked a little bit silly staring through my bedroom window but it still caused me to wake up with my heart about to explode out of my chest.

In short, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari passes the most important test that a horror film can pass.  It sticks with you even after it’s over.

For the curious who have 50 minutes to spare and an open mind to watch with, here is Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari…