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Movies that feel like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

If you loved The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the closest films we have are Faust (1926), The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and The Black Cat (1934). All three share The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari's dread and unsettling feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Amazon Prime Video, Criterion Channel and Shudder and others, checked against today's data.

Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Robert Wienecontemplativedreadunsettlingtensegritty
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If The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari hit the spot, these will too

Faust poster
Faust
1926 · dir. F. W. Murnau
🍅 91%8.1fantasy · drama · horror

Both are working the same pair: silent film, german expressionism

The difference: Without the same tension

God and Satan wager on the soul of a learned and prayerful alchemist as part of their eternal war over Earth.

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The Phantom of the Opera poster
The Phantom of the Opera
1925 · dir. Rupert Julian
🍅 90%7.5horror

One thread runs through both: black and white

The difference: Not nearly as contemplative

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

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The Black Cat poster
The Black Cat
1934 · dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
🍅 89%6.9horror · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.

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Wait Until Dark poster
Wait Until Dark
1967 · dir. Terence Young
🍅 96%7.7thriller · crime · horror

The same mix in both: dread, then unease

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

After a flight back home, Sam Hendrix returns with a doll he innocently acquired along the way. As it turns out, the doll is actually stuffed with heroin, and a group of criminals led by the ruthless Roat has followed Hendrix back to his place to retrieve it. When Hendrix leaves for business, the crooks make their move -- and find his blind wife, Susy, alone in the apartment. Soon, a life-threatening game begins between Susy and the thugs.

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Red Dragon poster
Red Dragon
2002 · dir. Brett Ratner
🍅 68%7.2crime · thriller · horror

Both keep coming back to the same thing: megalomania

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

Former FBI Agent Will Graham, who was once almost killed by the savage Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter, now has no choice but to face him again, as it seems Lecter is the only one who can help Graham track down a new serial killer.

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The Girl Who Killed Her Parents poster
The Girl Who Killed Her Parents
2021 · dir. Maurício Eça
5.9crime · drama · thriller

Contemplative and tense in the same breath

Based on one of the most shocking and gruesome murder cases in Brazil, the film presents Daniel Cravinhos's point of view of the events that led to the death of Marísia and Manfred von Richthofen, his girlfriend’s parents.

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The Phantom Carriage poster
The Phantom Carriage
1921 · dir. Victor Sjöström
🍅 100%8drama · fantasy · horror

Both are built on the same subject: silent film

The difference: Played as fantasy first

An alcoholic, abusive ne'er-do-well is shown the error of his ways through a legend that dooms the last person to die on New Year's Eve before the clock strikes twelve to take the reins of Death's chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year.

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The House That Jack Built poster
The House That Jack Built
2018 · dir. Lars von Trier
🍅 59%6.8drama · horror · crime

Gritty drama, and it commits to that

Failed architect, engineer and vicious murderer Jack narrates the details of some of his most elaborately orchestrated crimes, each of them a towering piece of art that defines his life's work as a serial killer for twelve years.

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The Exorcism of Emily Rose poster
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
2005 · dir. Scott Derrickson
🍅 20%6.7crime · drama · horror

Horror with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

When a younger girl called Emily Rose dies, everyone puts blame on the exorcism which was performed on her by Father Moore prior to her death. The priest is arrested on suspicion of murder. The trial begins with lawyer Erin Bruner representing Moore, but it is not going to be easy, as no one wants to believe what Father Moore says is true.

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Blackmail poster
Blackmail
1929 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 88%6.9drama · thriller · crime

Thriller built on tension, twice over

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.

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Kill List poster
Kill List
2011 · dir. Ben Wheatley
🍅 79%6.4horror · thriller · crime

Both lean on dread more than on crime

Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.

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What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? poster
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962 · dir. Robert Aldrich
🍅 91%8drama · horror · thriller

Unsettling drama in both cases

A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’s defining feeling.