When someone is told to name a very scary film, the movie title "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is not likely to cross their lips. "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" may not be considered scary to most people, though it is definitely significant in the manner that it contributed many ideas to the current film world. "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" demonstrates ideas of cutting edge cinematography for it's era. This film brings revolutionary ideas of suspense and horror to cinema that are still found in current films.
"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" introduced a new and very innovative idea to the world cinematography. This idea is the close up shot. The close up shot is a camera angle used in almost every current film when trying to create drama or emphasize an emotion. The logic behind it is that the closer the viewer is to the face of the actor, the more emotion that can be expressed to the viewer. This is an idea that can be applied to all genres of films, though this idea fits perfectly into horror and suspense films because the more emotion that can be expressed, the more fear or paranoia that can be invoked within the audience. "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" uses the close up shot to introduce the sleepwalking monster. In this scene, the sleepwalker is shown emerging from his deathly sleep by opening his eyes very slowly. The only thing the viewer can see is the head of the somnambulist, but this is good, because now the viewer is exposed to every detail on the monsters face: his eyes, his mouth, and even the dark make up around his eyes. When seeing all of these details, suspense is built within the viewer. As well, the grueling pace at which the somnambulist opens his eyes adds to the suspense too. This close up shot would come to be a very common and effective tool used in future films, especially horror films.
In contrast, other people such as Kracauer believe that the film is conventional because of it's cliché challenge of authority, and that it's not as revolutionary as some critics claim. Kracauer does make a good point because the film does depict the man declared as insane to be very sane, though I feel that just because an idea is repeated that does not mean the idea is valueless or ineffective. The story can be viewed as cliché, though the way it was expressed through cinematography made it revolutionary when compared to past films.
In a word, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is revolutionary because it's ideas of cinematography have stood the test of time. The film's actors may be muted, but the ideas embraced in the film still speak loudly to this day.
