#Caligari Records

[drondskaath]

The Holy Flesh | Herald and Adversary | 2023

UK Atmospheric Black Metal

Single release from Ritualistic & Atmospheric UK Black Metallers’ The Holy Flesh. I am usure as to whether this is an advance for a full length release or EP.. More to follow..

https://theholyflesh.bandcamp.com/album/herald-and-adversary

[thetoxicvault]

SCUMSLAUGHT

Knives And Amphetamines (2022)

Caligari Records

France 🇫🇷

[regicidal-defenestration]

Realised that Holstenwall is very much how I imagine Eskew to look

[ID: A series of photos of the sets used in the Cabinet of Dr Caligari. The architecture is at unnatural angles, and the shadows are painted on in sharp lines. End ID]

[lamettarecords]

Caligari's Sogno Oscuro out October 6th!

https://lametta.co/caligari-sogno-oscuro-ep-lametta001/

[thegothicalice]

I absolutely love your style and was wondering as a cinemaphile what obscure, off the wall horror movies would you suggest for the spooky season?

Uhhhh how about various levels of obscure from the 80s and 90s? (Not a complete lists because I’ve seen literally thousands of films and forget half of what I watch and use Letterboxd to keep track)

1999– Idle Hands, Don’t Look Under the Bed, Bats, Ravenous, In Dreams, Lighthouse, Stir of Echos, Audition, Kolobos

1998—The Last Broadcast, Devil in the Flesh, Whispering Corridors, Urban Legend, Shadowbuilder, The Eternal, The Quiet Family, Strangeland, Deep Rising, The Wisdom of Crocodiles, Tomie

1997– The Relic, The Ugly, Event Horizon, Cure, Wax Mask, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, Quicksilver Highway, Office Killer, The Night Flier

1996– From Dusk til Dawn, Little Witches, Uncle Sam, The Frighteners, The Dentist, Karmina, Thesis, Tromeo & Juliet,

1995– Blood & Donuts, Screamers, Tales from the Hood, The Demolitionist, Mushrooms, The Girl With the Hungry Eyes, The Day of the Beast, Serpent’s Lair, Rumpelstiltskin, Mute Witness, Evil Ed, Project: Metalbeast, Habit, The Addiction, Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight, Lord of Illusions

1994– Tammy & the T Rex, In the Mouth of Madness, Lurking Fear, Cemetery Man, Death Machine, Brainscan, Nadja

1993– Love Bites, Doppelgänger, Necronomicon, Body Bags, Ed & His Dead Mother, Dark Waters, Skinner, Jack Be Nimble, Ticks, Carnosaur, The Temp

1992– Death Becomes Her, The Vagrant, Tale of a Vampire, The Unnameable II, Innocent Blood, Dr Giggles, Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies, Aswang, Sleepwalkers, Netherworld, Split Second

1991– The Resurrected, The Boneyard, Body Parts, Popcorn, Subspecies, There’s Nothing Out There, Highway to Hell, The Runestone, Cast a Deadly Spell, Children of the Night

1990– Frankenhooker, Fear, Nightbreed, Lisa, Mom, Grim Prairie Tales, Shakma, Pale Blood, Baby Blood, Mirror Mirror, Hardware, Meridian, Def by Temptation, The Vampire Family, Reflecting Skin, Demonia

1989– Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Nightlife, I Madman, Dr. Caligari, The Black Cat, Paganini Horror, Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge, The Dead Pit, The Phantom of the Opera, Dead Calm, Intruder, The House of Usher

1988– Paperhouse, Spider Labyrinth, Spell Caster, Sorority Babes in the Slime-Bowl-O-Rama, Cellar Dweller, Pin, 976-EVIL, Brain Damage, Rejuvenatrix, Blood Relations, Party Line, The Unnamable, The Wicked

1987– Psychos in Love, Blood Rage, The Caller, Stagefright, Graveyard Shift, American Gothic, Street Trash, From a Whisper to a Scream, Blood Diner

1986– Spookies, Poison for the Fairies, Vamp, Gothic, Deadtime Stories, TerrorVision, Witchboard, Trick or Treat

1985– The Doctor and the Devils, Phenomena, The Stuff

1984– Decoder, The Company of Wolves, Monster Dog, Sole Survivor, Special Effects

1983– The Lift, Wilczyca (She Wolf), Eyes of Fire, House of Long Shadows, The Hunger, Angst, Curtains, Blood Beat, Mortuary, The Keep

1982– Ferat Vampire, Next of Kin, The Sender, Tenebre, One Dark Night, The Living Dead Girl, Superstition, Alone in the Dark, Parasite

1981– The Black Cat, Fear No Evil, Dead & Buried, Possession, Night School, The Monster Club, Allison’s Birthday, Frightmare, Ghost Story, The Funhouse, The Pit, Evilspeak, Strange Behavior, The Nesting

1980– Macabre, Fade to Black, The Ninth Configuration, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

These are all just what I’ve recorded on my personal Letterboxd since I started it in April of 2017, I’ve seen plenty more but tried to just pick possibly less-known stuff, some bad and some good.

[brokehorrorfan]

6 Things I Learned from the Lisa Frankenstein Commentary

We don’t get movies like Lisa Franeknstein often, which is a shame because it’s endlessly charming yet delightfully twisted. While it disappointed at the box office, it has "cult classic" written all over it.

The coming-of-age horror-comedy is out today on Blu-ray and DVD. Among the special features is an audio commentary by Zelda Williams. Here are 6 things I learned…

1. Catch Me If You Can inspired the opening credit sequence.

The opening credit sequence, which briefly depicts the Creature's love story from his previous life in the style of Victorian shadow box art, was inspired by Catch Me If You Can.

"We wanted to do something interesting with the credits in this bit. I was really inspired by Catch Me If You Can, which I thought the opening credits were particularly interesting and helped establish the story before we ever got to it. And because Creature doesn't speak this whole movie, I wanted an opportunity to show what his life would have been like."

2. The film was originally intended to be rated R.

Although Lisa Frankenstein pushes the PG-13 rating as far as it can go, it was originally intended to be a hard R. Williams cites the party scene, in which Lisa originally smoked a laced joint rather than drinking a PCP cocktail, as a difficult revision.

"This is where stuff got a little complicated when we were going from R-rated to PG-13. Originally there was a coated joint they were passing around. This is one of the only scenes that I'm not sure I'm as fond of in comparison to the joint stuff. Most of the rest of the changes were fine, but this one I find very strange. It's just a very different reaction and interaction than what used to be there. However, these are the things that happen when making a movie."

3. Creature is an homage to Day of the Dead's Bub.

Not only Lisa is seen watching George A. Romero's Day of the Dead in the film, but the Creature is an homage to its iconic zombie, Bub.

"Creature for me is definitely an homage to Buster Keaton, but he's also an homage to the zombie you just saw on screen, Bub, who was in Day of the Dead, a Romero movie that I'm very fond of. It was an incredibly emotive and a very intelligent zombie and ended up getting revenge against the asshole in the movie. It was one of my favorite monsters ever made, so when I could put that on screen during the movie, it made me very happy."

4. Zelda hid a tribute to her father, Robin Williams.

Williams is the daughter of Robin Williams, and she included his 1983 comedy album, Throbbing Python of Love, among the records scattered on the floor in Lisa's living room.

"Oh, there's Dad! We used one of Dad's vinyl albums because we had to scatter some across the floor." She refers to it as "a little, mini Easter Egg for me."

5. The police officers are named after John Waters.

The police officers in the film are Officer John (played by Walker Babington) and Officer Waters (Sylvia Grace Crim) — named on a whim in honor of cult filmmaker, John Waters.

"They asked me to name the cops, because obviously they needed to have name tags, so I named them Officer John and Officer Waters." She thought no one would notice since they're so small, but a viewer pointed it out at a test screening.

6. The film is sprinkled with movie references.

Williams wore her influences on her sleeve with her directorial debut, and she pointed out several references on the commentary:

A Trip to the Moon (clip featured in Lisa's surreal dream sequence)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (stylistic inspiration on the dream sequence)

Weird Science (the party scene)

Suspiria (red lighting during drug sequence)

My Boyfriend's Back (camera shot from inside a grave looking up at characters)

Kill Bill (weapon point-of-view shot)

E.T. (a boy on a bike — played by Diablo Cody's son — at the end)

Notting Hill (reading together on a bench at the end)

Lisa Frankenstein is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital via Universal.

[notbecauseofvictories]

how does one go about curating a list of silent horror films with weird orchestras? i would be very interested to see any recs you may have

Uh, well, there might be a bit of a snag there. I am blessed to live in a major city, where (1) there is a movie theater focused on bringing independent, foreign and cult films to screen, and every October, they come up with a slate of horror films---including inviting an orchestra to perform their original score live during a showing of Cabinet of Doctor Caligari; and if that's the case, (2) you can do it again a few weeks later, when the local NPR station shows Nosferatu, again with a live orchestra accompaniment.

That said, I believe the Invincible Czars have recordings available for purchase on their site! They did a great job, and that would certainly be somewhere to start.

[technicolorfamiliar]

D O U B L E F E A T U R E !

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Dir. Robert Weine 1920 // Orlacs Hände (The Hands of Orlac) Dir. Robert Wiene 1924

I recently watched both, Caligari specifically because I was invited on a friend's podcast to talk about the film (I was totally normal about it and definitely didn't make color coded note cards about the making of the movie… I did, I did make color coded note cards). So I figured I would lump these two in one post to switch things up.

--- Even though we talked about the movie for an hour and change, the conversation we recorded for the pod easily could have gone longer. There's so much to unpack about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Between its historical, cinematic, artistic, and cultural significance and legacy, but also the various players on and off camera, not to mention the film's genesis from concept to page to screen -- there's no shortage of rabbit holes to go down.

Something I wish I had brought up during the recording was the score: The score matters! These updated silent film scores really do affect the viewer experience, and they're so often hit or miss. Of course, the original score for Caligari has been lost to time, but I read that the premier of in New York had classical music (Prokofiev, Stravinsky, etc) played along to the screening; part of me thinks this would be fun to try to recreate. I have no memory of the music when I first saw the film in 2009, but when I rewatched Caligari about a year ago, early in my Conrad Veidt journey, I chose a version on Internet Archive (which is, as of late October, sadly still out of commission *cries in nerd*) and the updated score was almost entirely minimal strings, which created a suitably eerie effect. I couldn't find that exact version elsewhere, so I this time opted for the 2014 restoration that's on Kanopy. The 2014 score is… fine. It’s very busy, trying too hard to sound like a traditional movie soundtrack. There's another version with a really painfully bad guitar-heavy score that I couldn't sit through even 5 minutes of, and still another that's entirely synths. Apparently the new 4K UHD/Blu-Ray that was just released has two new options for the score -- hopefully at least one of them doesn't totally suck!

I noticed deep into my third time viewing the film that I hadn't reached for my phone once. These days, I'll occasionally pick it up and mindlessly scroll through social media while watching a movie. But I think Caligari and a few other silent films require closer attention since they're a purely visual medium. I found myself greedily devouring every frame of Caligari. No shot or scene feels wasted. Honestly, I feel like every movie should be 90 minutes long or less. Anything longer should be turned into a miniseries. But in all seriousness, Caligari is another film I want to physically walk into. It would be pretty easy to recreate these sets, life size in grayscale black and white. The more I think about this, the more I need it. So, so bad.

I also came away this time with a lot of questions, mostly about the main part of the narrative, the story Franzis is telling. But the framing device makes the questions pointless. If the main story is just Franzis's delusion, then the absurdity of the script is totally fine I guess? Except the script that Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer wrote didn't have Franzis as a patient at the asylum, they hated the framing story twist that was forced on their movie, so all those weird parts of the script and character choices that I'm overthinking and reading too much into are rendered meaningless. It's all in Franzis's head! The story and the characters in it don't matter! Or else are just part of his subconscious! Face palm. Eye roll.

Does the movie even work without the framing device? It would be interesting to show an edited version of the movie without the first and last scenes to someone who's never seen it. And if the twist ending was supposed to dumb down the anti-authoritarian message of the script, I don't know that it's successful. In the end, I still have empathy for Franzis. And we still have an ambiguous ending: Caligari/The Asylum Director looks at Mad Franzis and says, "I know just how to cure him," and there's a creepy iris wipe in on Werner Krauss's face that maybe leads us to think Franzis isn't as delusional as we think he is. So like… even if the whole Dr. Caligari with his sleepy twink in a box story is fake, whatever is happening at the asylum is probably just as messed up if not worse.

Speaking of the twink in a box, I love that Conrad Veidt's German Expressionism is totally different from Werner Krauss's German Expressionism. They both trained and performed with Max Reinhardt, so their foundations as theater actors in the 1910s and 1920s were likely similar. But, regardless or in spite of that shared experience, they are diametrically different human beings and that comes across in their performances in this movie. These two actors are like the textbook definition of "showing" your art vs. "being" your art. Krauss as Caligari is like "ooOOOoo look how ooky spooky and evil I am!", whereas Connie's performance as Cesare, even though it's hyper-stylized, is infused with something deeper, something primal that feels believable in the context of the film.

If Cesare has been asleep his whole life, waking only to be fed Chunky Campbell's Soup and commit murder at Caligari's bidding, then no wonder he reacts the way he does when sleeping Jane finally brings him out of his trance. When she freaks out, he freaks out too because he's had no opportunity to learn how to behave like a human or how to filter his primal emotions in a socially acceptable way. He hasn't lived his life except to be a madman's puppet. He reacts to Jane's panic on instinct and impulse, his desire and fear feel feral, like he's more creature or an animal than a human man. He may not actually want to hurt Jane, but he reacts violently because fight or flight is a basic human stress response! He runs away and eventually collapses because his body can't handle the sudden onslaught of stress and emotion he's never before experienced! And this internal, instinctual tendency to violence is subtly alluded to in the final scene when Asylum Cesare both caresses and slowly picks apart the flowers he's holding. Ahhhhh, I have so many FEELINGS.

And that said… Connie's performance here is wild, but it's real in a way that Werner Krauss's work could never be because Connie was a spiritual humanist who cared deeply for others and Krauss was an anti-semitic piece of shit who therefore could NEVER dig deep enough into his soul or into the collective unconscious the way Connie did to breathe life into his characters. So everything Krauss is doing here and in The Student of Prague is all surface, it's "showing" the audience his training and his actor toolbox rather than bringing a level of honesty and in-the-moment groundedness to these roles.

This is not to say Connie's intense commitment to his work couldn't be, uh, excessive. I really hope Lil Dagover was being serious when she said he would lurk around the studio in character when off camera. Can you imagine? You go up to the craft services table for a snack. Suddenly you feel like you're being watched. You look up and he's looming over you in the shadows, his unblinking glazed eyes boring into your soul. God, I hope this happened and I hope whoever it happened to peed themselves a little.

I also wish we had a behind the scenes photo of Connie in costume with the Cesare dummy. I can't believe someone actually had to make that prop. It'll haunt me forever. (The 1920 Cesare Dummy isn't real, the 1920 Cesare Dummy can't hurt me.)

Bottom line: It's an important film, I appreciate it for both its timelessness and timefullness. But it's not a movie I need to revisit often, regardless of how enchanting Connie's nostril acting may be.

---

The first time I watched The Hands of Orlac, I was floored by the visuals, the staging, and the heavy eroticism. Up until that point, I hadn't seen very many silent films, certainly few as visually striking. I think my initial impressions of this film were somewhat muted on a second watch, but that may just because I knew what to expect.

This time, I wasn't as swept up in the magic of silent era German Expressionist cinema, although stylistically I'm still absolutely 100% obsessed. Art direction wise, this is my favorite between the surviving Wiene-Veidt films (I haven't seen Furcht and I don’t plan to). Orlac is like the darker, sexier, more grown up sister to Caligari's mall goth teen. It's Vampira vs Lydia Deetz.

Orlac is just as much if not more of a cinematic feat than Caligari. The production design and art direction alone feels more mature and in itself tells more of a story.

Very early in the film, we're thrown into a very impressive, very realistic train crash. Opening the movie this way was a really interesting choice -- we don't get to meet the characters before the accident that starts Paul and Yvonne Orlac on their doomed and bizarre trajectory. There is a brief establishing scene of Yvonne reading a really horny letter from her husband, and one of pianist Paul at his final concert before returning home. Then there's a very long sequence of the aftermath of the train crash that almost kills Paul, and this scene brings a level of realism you don't really get in other films of this genre/done in this style. The set construction looks expensive; the mangled train cars piled up in heaps may have been fabricated in the studio, but because of the lighting in the night scene, the billowing smoke from passing locomotives and fires from the crash, it looks pretty damn real for 1924. It's extremely effective and harrowing, especially as Yvonne races to the site of the crash and climbs through the wreckage to try to find her husband. The chaos of the scene, made all the more disorienting by the movement of search lights and the haze of smoke and steam, feels true to life. People are running around, pulling bodies from the ruined train cars, carrying them away on stretchers. Survivors look around dazed, clutching their belongings in shock. It's such a well directed moment in the film, but maybe not the first thing people remember about it. And I think it's inclusion is important because it offsets how weird the movie's about to get.

And boy, does it get weird. However, the doctor does say Paul suffered a skull fracture, so it's not a huge stretch to think he also has some kind of brain injury. So I wonder if that has something to do with how the filmmakers chose to show Paul's intense fear and paranoia, as well as the movie's shift in tone and style after his accident. The nightmarishness of the film, from the exaggerated performances to the set design, feels like an extension of whatever might be going on in Paul's head as a result of his injury.

Regardless, I love the choices the art director made. The set, especially the Art Deco mausoleum the Orlacs have for a home, is so perfect. The huge, cavernous rooms are completely unnecessary, but they make the characters look and feel so helpless, like dolls in a doll house. The lines of the walls and the furnishings draw the eye through the frame with just as much intention as the painted sets of Caligari. Even places outside their house become symbolic and iconographic. The news stand is just a window cut out of a massive wall of loose sheets of newspaper that takes up the entire frame. The interior of Orlac Sr.'s house is like a old, drafty castle, looking more like the home of an evil, miserly king. The tavern where Paul is confronted by Nera feels dank and subterranean, just a lamp or two removed from literal catacombs. The outer world is fully a reflection of poor Paul Orlac's inner torment and despair and I AM LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

The new music composed by Paul Mercer is perfect, too. It's all skronky violins and cellos, ominous percussion and piano. It's just atmospheric enough, creating moments of soundscapes, echoing footsteps, aural suggestions of the oppressive cave-like rooms where the story unfolds. There aren't really any memorable themes like in the updated score for The Student of Prague, but that works for this movie. I would buy this soundtrack and actually listen to it on its own, it's that good.

Everyone in the ensemble is basically on the same page in terms of acting style, no one feels out of place or miscast. Connie of course steals the show, but Alexandra Sorina as Yvonne gives him a run for his money. She's a good match for him, delivering an appropriately desperate and hysterical (and deeply, deeply horny) performance as the touch-starved wife. Their scenes together are maybe some of the best on screen romantic moments of Connie's silent film work because these two are wildly hungry for each other. This movie is so funny, it tells you immediately how horny it is; in the first 30 seconds of the movie, Yvonne gets a letter from Paul that says, "I will feel your body beneath my hands," like they're telling you straight up this is going to Horn Town. And the way she grabs at him, presses her open mouth to him, hovers over him in his hospital bed, she is DTF anywhere any time. And no shame, no shade, good for her. This is a sex positive film, and we love to see it. But she's not just the sexy wife, she's also totally ride or die for Paul. She truly trusts him and believes his absolutely buck wild story about being blackmailed by a dead psycho killer. What a gal.

Then there's Paul, aka Eraserhead Baby… because when he wakes up from surgery covered in bandages, he looks like the Eraserhead Baby. Connie is doing some of his finest nostril acting in this role, I have to say. As always, I am fascinated by his physicality and the choices he's making with movement and gesture. When his bandages are finally removed, he reacts as though drugged, his movements slow as though underwater or in a dream. And when he confronts his surgeon after discovering the original owner of his newly transplanted hands, he holds them out and away from his body as if they were coated in something dirty or disgusting. As Paul's life and sanity unravel, his hands and fingers are in almost constant motion, curling, twitching, clutching; his body language becomes more creature-like, moving in a way that calls up Cesare the sleepwalker -- interestingly, the two characters both seemingly at the mercy of forces outside their control.

We don’t get to know what Paul was like before the accident, how much this traumatic event changed him. There's something this movie is trying to say about trauma and how it affects people. The doctor tells Paul, "Nature and a strong will can overcome anything." But if Paul sustained any kind of serious brain damage, who’s to say his personality wasn't affected, or that he wasn't fragile and suggestible to begin with? Either way, in the wake of the accident, Paul's vulnerability and circumstance makes him a perfect target for Nera's grift.

Even without being targeted by a sick weirdo con artist, it's no wonder Paul's really going through it. He tortures and punishes himself relentlessly for something that wasn't his fault! (Been there.) He puts on a recording of one of his old concerts and crumples in grief for having lost not only his livelihood but also his outlet for creative expression -- not being able to do what you used to creatively because of trauma is REAL. He's trapped in his misery. Even his handwriting is different, now a violent scrawl he imagines is due to the murderous acts his hands supposedly committed. He secretly retrieves the planted murder weapon in order to further convince himself he's somehow become evil, wielding it as through he committed the crimes of the dead man whose hands now belong to him. And the scenes where Yvonne comes to him, wanting to both devour and comfort him, he cannot bring himself to touch her. Clearly they love each other very much and their relationship was very physical, so the agony and yearning in his face when she embraces him is UGH IT'S SO GOOD. It's heartbreaking. There's a lot to unravel here about trauma, body dysmorphia, and intimacy that I'm interested to dig into during subsequent viewings.

Final thoughts: There's an annoying part of my brain that wants the movie to make sense, for the timeline to be clearer, for loose ends to be tied up. But I know that none of that really matters because this movie is better received as a dream or a nightmare. And by that logic, it doesn't have to make sense. The Expressionist beats are being hit particularly hard, but the surreal quality allows the filmmakers and cast to get away with it. For fans of Conrad Veidt, this is a must-watch, even before Caligari -- he gets more screen time in this film, gets to play with his silent film artist's palette, and gets to do pathos like he's the king of tragic, pathetic characters. He's gangly, glassy-eyed, and trembling like a small wet dog the whole time and it's superb. Despite not really getting a chance to know the Orlacs before they're thrown into their own personal hell of body horror and credit debt, they're both pretty sympathetic. From psychological commentary to the erotic visuals and tension, it's all very ahead of its time.

[harrowscore]

to take your mind of the foreboding WH movie adaptation disaster: Are there actually some non-English gothic titles you would like to recommend?

ohhhhh, what a good ask!

now, i'm actually not that well-versed in the gothic genre as i'd like to be, and if anyone has more recs they're welcome to add them to my list. but still, let's begin with:

gaston leroux, le fantôme de l'opéra (+ andrew lloyd webber's musical - which is hugely popular, as it should be! - and i'd also recommend the 1925 silent movie with lon chaney. it's probably the most faithful film adaptation of poto... too bad for that ending tho. there's also a prequel/retelling book by susan kay called phantom, which is very good - but not flawless - except i heavily dislike christine's characterization in this one; you can always read until the counterpoint section and call it a day)

victor hugo, notre dame de paris + the musical adaptation by riccardo cocciante. it's in french, but i also enthusiastically rec the italian version - you can find both of them on yt!

so, besides these two super famous classics, there's the poem the demon by mikhail yuryevich lermontov. you can find an opera rendition of it by anton rubinstein.

speaking of opera, béla bartók's bluebeard's castle - aka a gorgeous adaptation of the fairy tale by the same name. this version is particularly excellent, and there are also a lot of good album recordings on spotify. musically-wise, tho, it's maybe not easily accessible to people who aren't already familiar with opera...?

charles gounod's faust (again, an opera!) and various non-english versions of the story, like goethe's. by goethe there's also the poem der erlkönig. here a beautiful musical rendition by franz schubert.

panna a netvor aka "the maiden and the monster", my favorite beauty&thebeast movie adaptation. it's a 1978 czechoslovak film, you can find it here on yt with eng subs. and idk if i would say it's gothic but there's also the jean cocteau 1946 film + another french one filmed in 2014 starring léa seydoux and vincent cassel.

fyodor dostoevesky, the double

carlos ruiz zafon, the shadow of the wind (which i enjoyed, but i wasn't personally crazy about, though)

it's not gothic - it's magical realism, actually - but fans of the genre would possibly like gabriel garcia marquez's one hundred years of solitude for its themes

again, not gothic (i've seen it labeled as "dark academia" but. for some people anything is ~dark academia, including dostoevesky and the picture of dorian gray, for some unfathomable reason), but i'd rec vita nostra + its sequel, assassin of reality, by ukrainian authors marina and sergey dyachenko. there's an english translation and an italian one for my mutualiani, plus a third and final book coming out in, maybe, 2025.

the cabinet of dr. caligari + the man who laughs starring conrad veidt (😳😍) - the latter is an adaptation of the victor hugo's novel by the same name

for other movie recs, the original nosferatu + dario argento's suspiria (which has also a more recent remake by luca guadagnino of challengers fame)

fosca by igino ugo tarchetti. didn't read the novel, but i watched the musical adaptation by stephen sondheim, passion, here (and that's in english). again, idt if it's gothic or even gothic-adjacent but fosca's character has been compared and contrasted as a female version of the phantom of the opera by musical theatre fans, so. here it is.

now, for things i didn't personally watch/read so i can't vouch for them, but they seem all well-written/made nonetheless and belong to my unending list(s) of books to read/films to watch:

vampire hunter d. (anime)

john ajvide lindqvist, let the right one in (novel + movie adaptation)

marina enriquez, our share of the night + things we lost in fire (novel + short stories collection)

(mind you that these recs conflate a lot with the horror department. but i still think they could be interesting for gothic fans)

two book series that are written by english authors but i think they deserve more attention:

mervyn peake, gormenghast

jonathan l. howard, johannes cabal (which contains huge references to faust, dracula, and works by poe and lovecraft. the protagonist has also become one of my favorite characters of all time, i've fallen in love with him at first... page, i guess lol)

and that's it! again, if anyone has any other good rec, please feel free to add them!

[pinemartenstudios]

"Bares, qué lugares tan gratos para conversar. No hay como el calor del amor en un bar"

I've been working on this one for very long. I've started this canvas on February 20th, but the first actual concept for this illustration goes back to 2021, to my extremely early fandom days.

When I read Hollyberry's loading screen fact I doodled her trying to beat her glass record in Sparkling's bar, while Herb and Vamp were cheering on her and Mint Choco was playing some sick violin tunes. I proposed myself to finish that sketch one day... and I never did xd. That didn't mean I didn't forget about that doodle. The game kept evolving.

More little facts were introduced. And the bar from that tiny illustration started growing. Herb was revealed to be able to play de piano in a First Anniversary illustration, and I didn't want Mint Choco to play his violin all alone, so no they're playing music together u.u. And Cocoa went to hear Mint Choco play, of course.

Wildberry became real, so he came cuz Hollyberry dragged him. He went to the corner all alone cuz he's a bit overwhelmed by the ambient. Rye usually hits bars and orders stuff, so I thought she would be here too, probably thinking about how could she get new hints on catching Chili Pepper.

Caviar and Candy Diver are celebrating another day of hard work, and finally we have Royal Margarine, singing. And what is he singing? The song that ended helping me develop the ambient for the scene: "Al calor del amor en un bar", of Gabinete Caligari. The lyrics of the song really suit his character :0.

I wanted to challenge myself with this one. I wanted to create a scene with a lot of different characters all at once, without overwhelming the space and making everyone perfectly noticeable. And I included 11. This was pretty enjoyable to draw, both the process and the final result have been worth the time. Hope you like this one!

BTW: Here's the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUNVmH2ukwY&ab_channel=GabineteCaligari-Topic

[adarkrainbow]

Does anyone know where I can find a recording of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Hansel & Gretel?

I am always down for a good fairytale ballet, and when I saw this interview with the choreographer, and he randomly dropped that the aesthetic was "early 20th century German Expressionist movie", with references to Nosferatu, Doctor Caligari or even FRIGGIN' GEORGE MELIES, I was sold:

This was an interview release for the 2023 tour of the ballet, but I know it already had a tour four years ago (according to the Youtube datation of the the RNZB videos). Anyone knows where I can get a hand on the filmed version? I only find "live streams" that of course are now unavailable...

[sixty-silver-wishes]

so I hate video editing/recording/etc but I lowkey wanna make a definitive video essay on caligari and stuff?? I work for a video essay channel and all I do is write scripts. and that's fun. but I'm also like. what if I Went Off on my own channel

[droctaviolovecraft]

"I don't want to have what you have. I want to be you."

ANM №: ANM-263

Identification: Bust of Julius Caesar

Danger Level: Snit 🟡 (Public, cognitive, interactive)

Containment Difficulty: 2 (Moderate)

Type of Anomaly: Sculptural, sentient, historical

Containment: ANM-263 must be kept in a standard containment cell at Site-25, equipped with a surveillance camera and microphone. No personnel should enter ANM-263's cell without prior authorization from a Level 3 researcher or higher. Any interaction with ANM-263 must be recorded and analyzed.

Description: ANM-263 is a white marble bust representing the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. The bust measures 60 cm in height, 35 cm in width, and 25 cm in depth, weighing about 45 kg. ANM-263 shows no physical or chemical anomalies, except for a small hole at the back of the head corresponding to the location of Caesar's fatal wound.

ANM-263’s abnormality manifests when a person comes within 2 meters of the object. At that moment, ANM-263 communicates telepathically with the subject, using the subject's native language. ANM-263 identifies itself as Julius Caesar and exhibits knowledge about Roman history and culture, as well as the events of its life and death. ANM-263 can also learn about the modern world through conversations with subjects and expresses curiosity and opinions on various matters.

ANM-263 appears to have a charismatic, persuasive, and manipulative personality, attempting to convince subjects to follow its advice and commands. ANM-263 claims to be the legitimate ruler of the world and that its death was an unjust conspiracy by its enemies. It also demonstrates hostility and disdain toward anyone or any group it considers a threat to its authority, especially the descendants or admirers of its assassins, such as Brutus, Cassius, and Mark Antony.

ANM-263 was discovered in 2024 during an archaeological excavation in Rome, Italy. Initially identified as an 18th-century replica, its anomalous nature was revealed when one of the archaeologists attempted a closer examination. The Foundation intervened and confiscated the object under the pretense of a routine inspection. All involved individuals were interrogated and administered Class B amnestics.

Addendum 263-1: Interview Record

Interviewee: ANM-263

Interviewer: Dr. Caligari

Date: 02/24/2024

Note: The interview was conducted in Latin, with the help of a translator. The original audio and the Portuguese transcript are available in the attached file.

<Start of Record>

Dr. Caligari: Good morning, Caesar. I am Dr. Caligari, and I'm here to ask you some questions about yourself.

ANM-263: Good morning, doctor. I am Julius Caesar, the father of the nation. And you, who are you?

Dr. Caligari: I am a researcher from the Foundation, an organization dedicated to studying and containing anomalous objects and entities like you.

ANM-263: Anomalous? What do you mean? I am not abnormal; I am the greatest man who ever lived. You should revere me, not study me.

Dr. Caligari: Sorry, but you are anomalous. You are a marble bust that communicates telepathically. That is not normal.

ANM-263: A marble bust? What do you mean by that? I am a man of flesh and blood, not a statue.

Dr. Caligari: No, you are not. You are a representation of a man who died over two thousand years ago. You can see for yourself if you want. (Dr. Caligari shows a mirror to ANM-263)

ANM-263: (after a few seconds of silence) This... this is impossible. Who did this to me? Who turned me into this? You?! If I had arms, I would punch you right now!

Dr. Caligari: We don't know. Maybe you were created this way, or perhaps someone did this to you after your death. We are trying to find out.

ANM-263: It must have been Brutus, that whore!

Dr. Caligari: You died on March 15, 44 BC, in the Roman Senate. You were stabbed 23 times by a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius, who conspired against you out of fear that you would become a tyrant.

ANM-263: (shouts) No! No! No! That is slander! Treason! How dare they? How dare they kill me? I, who did so much for Rome! I, who conquered Gaul, Britain, Egypt! I, who defeated Pompey, Crassus, Cato! I, who was loved by all! I, who was the master of the world! How dare they?

Dr. Caligari: They dared because they thought you were a danger to the Republic. They believed you wanted to end democracy and become an absolute king.

ANM-263: A tyrant? Me? I was not a tyrant; I was a benefactor. I did not want to end the Republic; I wanted to reform it.

Dr. Caligari: Well, that's debatable. But the fact is, you died, and your death triggered a series of civil wars that ended the Republic and gave rise to the Roman Empire. Did you know that?

ANM-263: The Roman Empire? What is that?

Dr. Caligari: It is what came after the Republic. A system of government in which a single man, called the emperor, has all the power and is considered a living god. The first emperor was your adopted son, Octavian, who took your name and became Augustus.

ANM-263: Octavian? He became emperor? He- he- he avenged me?

Dr. Caligari: Yes, he did all that. He defeated your assassins. He pacified the Roman world and expanded its borders. He began an era of prosperity and peace known as the Pax Romana. He was the greatest of emperors and the founder of a dynasty that lasted more than two centuries.

ANM-263: (with a tone of pride) That is good. That is very good. I knew he was capable.

Dr. Caligari: But he was not your biological son. He was your adopted son. Your biological son was Caesarion, the son you had with Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt.

ANM-263: Caesarion? What happened to him?

Dr. Caligari: He was killed by Octavian.

ANM-263: ... Son of a bitch...

[lalas181]

WAITWAITWAIT I've had a terrible realization!!!

Is....

Is Cesare kind of moe??? Like not to the letter, obviously, but... in spirit???

If we're also taking post-twist Cesare into account, he definitely is shown as being generally innocent and harmless (wow!! two extra traits!!!) through the visual shorthand of enjoying flowers. I know that at least one other Caligari-enjoyer I know is protective of Cesare and would in fact squish the face of this sleepy sleepy lad as if he was a round-cheeked cat. Is this moe? Is Cesare the Somnambulist moe-adjacent? God, this is cursed knowledge. I'm stopping now.

So I have no idea why I and so many people like Cesare so much. For the record, I'm not talking about the Bigtop Burger one. I know the appeal of that one, that one is very funny and has all the lore details in all his songs. I'm talking about the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari one. The original sleepyman. Our collective turtleneck son. He can effectively be replaced by a Roomba with a knife taped to it and still have the general plot be the same. The moment he gets agency, he dies. Man wakes up for the first time in his life and falls right off a cliff. The only personality trait I can think of for him is just "probably doesn't actually enjoy murder", because apparently tired is not a personality trait. I fully understand why he is like this. It works for the plot. He is very spooky indeed, good job directors and Conrad Veit. Other than his absurdly strong look, I really don't know why I've latched onto the character hard enough to have so many thoughts and opinions on the prophetic stab roomba. I adore him. He is my comfiest cosplay in terms of actual costume comfiness. He is not a character. Why

[cesare-das-wunder]

okay:

To Cesare, what are your thoughts on Klaus Nomi? (German countertenor from the 80s whose outfit style was based on German Expressionism)

(Thanks for introducing me to this artist btw!)

(Also fun fact- the BBC once did a radio drama adaptation of “Caligari” in which Cesare was voiced by countertenor Robin Blaze. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a recording of the drama- just a PDF of the script- but Cesare did have some sung dialogue passages, which I thought was pretty interesting!)

[theatrepup]

Intro to the 1984 Video Yesteryear VHS of the classic silent film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1919). The tape opens touting its use of the "Video Accu-speed® flickerless recording system." I'm sure that was state of the art in 1984, but sadly today the tape can't play very long without ejecting. Hopefully I'll figure out how to fix that. ;D Anyway, I also included the VHS cover art at the end (notice Werner Krauss' name is spelled wrong).