1. The story follows Dr. Caligari and his assistant, Cesare, who go around town predicting the future. Accusations are made of Dr. Caligari and his sleepwalking assistant that they are committing murders. Francis, the narrator, takes on the task of finding out who is really behind all these murders which leads to an unexpecting ending.
2. The film uses sharp angles and unique landscapes to distort the viewing experience, thus creating a dark and eerie mood. In addition, the film creates delusions and deceptive appearances around the characters to create a haunting cinematic experience. Also, the film is told using flashbacks through the narrator's perspective, which helps create a an almost unrealistic or exaggerated story.
3. The film uses unique narrative structures, lighting, plot twists, and framing to accomplish its story in an extremely unconventional way, going beyond normal storytelling to produce a cinematic experience that is both visually and psychologically different. The dark colors and shadowy lighting give the audience a spooky and eerie feeling.
4. The final plot twist is that Dr. Caligari is a director in an insane asylum where Francis ends up following him too. However, it is revealed that Francis, Cesare, and others from the story are all actually patients in the insane asylum, and Francis was just making up this story in his head the whole time.
5. The final plot twist is one of the first of its kind, thus challenging original story telling in cinematics. The film creates a false, unreliable narrative that leaves the audience questioning which parts of the story were true. In addition, it helps introduce a new concept for future film making.
6. The set designs were very important in early filmmaking since we weren't given much else to go off of. When the set designs were combined with specific camera angles and lighting, it gave an audience a unique experience. The set designs had very low budgets and were without special effects, so illusions had to be made to give the audience something interesting to see.
7. Set designs are used to create a specific atmosphere and control the mood of the film. In the "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", the set designs were a little off balance and slanted, creating and uneasy or scary feeling and mood.
8. The film was culturally relevant because during the same time period a movement of surrealism was going on. The use of unrealistic, illogical, and unnerving imagery was used to fit the context of the time. In addition, the film holds cultural relevance today because it was credited as the first horror film, thus holding significance with many new horror films emerging today.
9. Edward Scissorhands reminded of similar characters in Caligari as they were both seen as dark and pale. In addition, the lighting and set designs seem to be based off that uneasy and unnerving feeling with dark lighting and angled camera shots.
10. Since the film started and was portrayed through the narrator, Francis, it was expected that he was telling the truth and would be a trustworthy character. This leaves the audience open to interpretation of the events that take place throughout the film. The reliability of the narrator has cultural relevance because this movie was released after WW1 which at that time one wasn't sure who they could trust or not.
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