Dr. Caligari Felt Like Being On LSD for the First Time

 

Credit to Dr. Caligari — IFC Center

Dr. Caligari is definitely in the top five of the strangest horror movies I have ever watched in my entire life. The experience of watching this movie felt like a fever dream, I was trapped in another reality that made no sense. It sort of did, but I’m still a bit lost with what the hell I just watched. 

This movie was so freaking odd, but wow, were the visuals so freaking cool. The 80s aesthetic made this film really stand out, especially the characters who were all hilarious, scary, and weird at the same time. 

I’ll try my best to explain this movie, but it might be tough for me with some parts…the plot to this movie is so BIZARRE.

We follow the story of an insane doctor named Dr. Caligari. 

Credit to Dr. Caligari (1989)

Right from the start, we are given a sneak peek into Dr. Caligari’s patients in the asylum, and we know that she is not running her business in the way that she should. She seems more interested in how crazy her patients can get, and she doesn’t seem to care what happens, as long as the results interest her. 

One specific patient she takes a liking to is a woman named Mrs. Van Houten. She is sick woman who delights in exploring her ‘wild side,’ and her poor husband reluctantly agrees to admit her in Dr. Caligari’s care, hoping that she will get better in two weeks. 

So much weird stuff happens with her character, and man, the visuals made me so uncomfortable. One scene involves her opening a door to find a wall of skin. It’s breathing, and from every single wound it has, there is blood mixed with candy, and an orange liquid flowing out of it. 

At some point, the skin grows a large mouth with a huge tongue, and Mrs. Van Houten…uh…decides to make out with the tongue. 

It’s rare for me to struggle with body horror, but damn, that was tough to watch. 

Her husband begins to question Dr. Caligari’s methods, wondering if his wife is actually getting better at all. She drugs the poor man and leaves him trapped in the asylum, where he experiences pure torture from his own wife. 

She also takes another interest in a cannibalistic serial killer named Mr. Pratt, who she chooses to become a part of her sick and twisted experiments. 

Two unlikely heroes in the film decide the doctor’s methods must be stopped once and for all. 

A couple who work in the asylum both team up to stop Dr. Caligari’s madness. 

Credit to Dr. Caligari (1989) — IMDb

A married couple named Mr. and Mrs. Lodger were my favorite characters throughout the entire film. They were so quirky and strange, and they would constantly be smoking, the two of them always together and speaking with one another. 

I couldn’t help but laugh in some scenes with them, they were so entertaining as characters. 

They confront Mrs. Lodger’s father named Dr. Avol, begging him to put a stop to Dr. Caligari’s methods in the asylum, but he refuses, stating that she is a wonderful doctor who will bring them nothing but great things. 

The couple decide to take matters into their own hands after the wife has a horrible nightmare, and I burst out laughing when she asked her husband to console her. He touched her shoulder only, and they both immediately began smoking again when they barely woke up. 

These two were the best in every single scene. 

The wife decides to set forth back to the asylum to put a stop to the doctor for good. 

Unfortunately, the wife is too late to save all of the doctor’s victims. 

Dr. Caligari begins her mad experiments on her favorite patients and other victims. 

Credit to Dr. Caligari (1989)

Dr. Caligari has Mrs. Van Houten, Dr. Pratt, Dr. Avol, and Mr. Van Houten as a part of her experiment. She switches the sickness of both Mrs. Van Houten and Mr. Pratt, and they now begin to explore their new crazy sides. Mrs. Van Houten now finds to eat her own husband, while Mr. Pratt wants to explore his desires with Mr. Van Houten. 

I won’t say in detail what happens to the husband here, because wow…it was so disturbing and messed up when these two psychos found him. Dude was the biggest victim in the entire film, and he is tortured to death before he dies. 

Mrs. Lodger finds her father now a woman named Babs, who wants to embrace his ‘wild side.’ She saves her father from the doctor, trying to lead him out of the asylum, and she is saved by her husband as she appears to be going mad. He freaks out in a hilarious way with what happened to his father-in-law, and he tells his wife that now he will be the one to stop the doctor once and for all. 

Dr. Caligari is about to inject her own grandfather’s blood into her, proud that she is now following his own footsteps of being mad. Mrs. Van Houten suddenly appears, and decides to switch her sickness with the doctor. The husband arrives at this moment, and watches in shock as the doctor gets a taste of her own medicine. 

Credit to Dr. Caligari (1989)

The movie ends with Mrs. Van Houten now as the doctor, and Dr. Caligari is trapped behind bars, screaming as the other patients are standing around her, smoking. The couple continues to work in the asylum, the two of them worried about Dr. Avol, who will now forever be trapped as ‘Babs.’

The film was incredibly interesting, but damn…it was SURREAL.