[fantasyfan]

That is a very interesting insight. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is certainly an astonishing Expressionist film that plays with themes such as madness, perception, illusion and reality. Here’s an interesting comment on its visual style.

“. . . painted back cloths, dominated by curves and cubes, deliberately distorted perspectives and furniture unnaturally elongated. The effect was to disorientate the viewer. . .”

Jeffrey Richards, “The Cabinet of Dr Caligari” in Movies of the Silent Years, edited by Ann Lloyd p.90, London, Orbis, 1985

It does sound rather Lovecraftian though I don’t know if Lovecraft himself ever saw the film. Considering his tastes for that sort of thing in his reading and his obsession with things alien, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did and was influenced by it.