German Expressionism

The films of the 1920s German movement that put inner feeling on screen through distorted sets, extreme lighting and exaggerated acting.

Its influence runs through horror, film noir and science fiction, so this list is a source of cinema's visual language.

It begins with the painted nightmares of Caligari and ends with M, when sound arrives and the style moves into the real city.

In between come vampires, doubles, giants and robots: the first monsters of the screen.