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Showing posts from May, 2012

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Robert Wiene

My next installment of reviewing every Horror movie ever made is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Caligari is a Horror/Thriller film directed by German expressionist Robert Wiene. The film shows us some really spectacular art work. Again like before, this film is from 1920. To us today, on the outside, It is nothing more than a mere art film. But Caligari proves to be more than that. Wiene shows us a side of film making that hasn't been seen before. The sets and the makeup should be just enough for you to enjoy this classic. If that isn't all that sits with you, stay tuned to the end of the film for a "TWIST" ending! That's right a full fledged "We are Tyler Durden" twist ending. The film shows us the deranged Dr. Caligari (played by Nazi actor Werner Krauss) and his sideshow act, The Somnambulist Cesare (played by acclaimed silent film star Conrad Veidt). Caligari finds pleasure in sending his Somnambulist (Sleepwalker) out to take the lives of those i

Unheimliche Geschichten (aka. Eerie Tales) (1919) - Richard Oswald

Eerie Tales is fun like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. This anthology horror movie from 1919 is one of the most surprising pieces of cinema. Richard Oswald really out did himself here. The movie is comprised of five chilling tales as brought to us by three haunted paintings in an old bookstore. The paintings are; The Devil, Death (Conrad Veidt), and The Temptress (I think). The first of the five stories is "The Apparition". The Apparition - Conrad Veidt falls for a woman with an insane ex-husband. Things go awry when they check into a hotel and ONLY Conrad Veidt checks out. The Hand - Things get deadly when two friends compete for a woman's love. However, even after death one of the friends can't let go. The Black Cat - This retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic shows an abusive drunk that kills his wife and seals her up in his basement. Conrad Veidt isn't having any of it. The Suicide Club - An unfortunate little man gets mixed up in a Su

The Raven (1915) - Charles Braben

The Raven from 1915 seems to be the biggest failure, chronologically speaking. Up until now a Horror movie hadn't been this bad. This was really like the film-makers... Charles Braben, didn't even try. This movie is an exaggerated biography of the famous horror writer, Edgar Allan Poe. The movie stars Henry B. Walthall as a pretty decent Poe.  The movie is long and incredibly boring. It teeters on the edge of being scary and it never tips over. Its just a wast of time. It shouldn't be considered horror. I am only writing and posting this review to warn you all. This "horror" movie misses its mark by a huge margin. There are some pretty great scenes with Poe going into an alcohol induced hallucination of himself in his own poetry. That is about all that I can take away from this piece of junk. Sorry.  I recommend steering clear of 1915's The Raven. There are a ton of other silent horror pictures that better serve the purpose of entertainment.

The Avenging Conscience (1914) - D.W. Griffith

The Avenging Conscience is a loose adaptation of the Tell Tale Heart and Annabel Lee by none other than Baltimore's own Edgar Allan Poe. The original context of the stories depicted in this film are already scary, so it only serves for the film to be just as scary. right? Well, no. This movie is in no way scary. Not by any sense of the word. The story is a pretty decent one that shows a man being pushed to his limits. He turns to murder to finally ease his pain. That is the coolest part of the whole story. The movie doesn't ever really take off though. It just sits on the stage failing to ever take that extra step that's needed for a movie to be mildly entertaining. We are still shades away from the Silver Age of Film. Once we hit the 1920's the quality of not only the film but also the story will be apparent. Movies will start to actually be scary, well, sort of. As far as silent movie story-lines, this one is pretty top notch. I am also going to give credit to

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913) - Herbert Brennon

The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde is a famous story by Robert Louis Stevenson that has been adapted for the screen more times than Dracula. However, it is not as good as Dracula. It doesn’t have that spark that does it for me. That one thing that really scares me. That is what I expect when I am watching a horror movie. This is a good try though. The problem that I have with this franchise is that this horse has been beaten. This particular adaptation, which came out 1 year after the previous, features King Baggot as the good doctor Jekyll. Doctor Jekyll takes his potion one time and turns into the biggest annoyance ever. For his first act of menace he goes to a dance hall and screams at them. Then he leaves. Proud of himself. The most shocking thing in the movie finally comes when he chases a crippled child down and beats him for no reason. What the hell? Although bizarre, this film has some high points. SOME of the transformation scenes are good. Some of them.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912) - Lucious Henderson

This is a very basic and direct attempt to tell the tragic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This version happens to be 8 minuets and leaves out a good deal of the plot and fluff. The plot establishes Dr. Jekyll as a chemist that is working on a secret formula and stumbles upon the drug that creates the maniacal and chaotic, Mr. Hyde. He goes through his usual transformation and ends up creating havoc around the town. He rips paper, knocks little girls over, generally runs amok. However, that isn't what makes you want to run out in the streets singing the praises of this century old cinematic. The movie uses its tiny budget to really show a good cast. James Cruze is the biggest name in the film and does a great job at portraying the evil Doctor. It has been told that Director Lucious Henderson helped James Cruze with his acting. He would actually stand in at times for James, giving him pointers and helping him out with his acting. S!D

Frankenstein (1910) - J. Searle Dawley

Frankenstein from 1910 was one of the first ever incarnations of the “Monster” that we have seen on film. This quite possibly might be one of the best versions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Adapted in 1910 by director J. Searle Dawley with Thomas Edison’s company, The Edison Group. This film follows the life of Dr. Frankenstein leaving for college and subsequently creating one of the greatest monsters of all time. Personally i believe this version of Frankenstein to be one of the scarier looking versions of his monster. Two years into college Dr. Frankenstein plays god, creating life single handily. The life that he creates, however, is evil and haunts the good Doctor for the rest of the film. From the laboratory all the way to wherever Frankenstein is from, the monster harasses and bothers his maker. That is until a battle between good and evil breaks out and love prevails over all… The special effects in this film are beyond reproach as we see life being given to the monst

The Sealed Room (1909) - D.W. Griffith

D.W. Griffith brings us the longest running horror movie to date (1909). It is less horror and more tragic as the movie is probably one of the first “Horror” movies to actually tug on your heart strings a bit. This is also a movie that proves that there are other directors out there not just George Melies. The story is simple enough, we have a king who has constructed a “Pleasure Room” for himself and his concubine. But alas, this concubine is not faithful and she goes ahead and screws around with the court troubadour. The king, heartbroken and sad, commands his masons to seal the concubine and her lover in this “Pleasure Room” the two embrace as the oxygen is depleted and die in each others arms. What do i think of this? Well, D.W. Griffith is no George Melies, but he does make a valiant effort to shove Edgar Allan Poe’s vision into this 11 min. short. Extravagant costumes and a larger budget mean a more creative and fun story. The downsides are the vacant title cards and dial

The Infernal Boiling Pot (1903) - Georges Méliès

Here we are kiddos with another short from George Melies. This one is entitled The Infernal Boiling Pot. We open with two demons boiling women, suddenly the women's ghosts emerge from the boiling pot and dance above the demon's head. What we have here is nothing more than experiments on film conducted by George Melies. This isn't the first Melies short that i have reviewed (ex. The Haunted Castle) but this one really shows his ingenious with using the camera. Costumes, Special Effects, and of course Set Design, show us just how dedicated a director like himself is to experimenting with film. This is in the beginning stages of film and its amazing what this director accomplished. Its fun to watch these shorts and follow the directors path of learning. Its really hard to review something that is so short. I would have to say go to YouTube, plug in these short films, make up a margarita and sit back and relax. Enjoy these little gems from the beginning of film.

L'auberge Ensorcelee (1899) - George Melies

L‘auberge EnsorcelĂ©e is another jump into the experiments in film. Georges MĂ©liès jumped into this one just after his first “horror” film Le Manoir du Diable. This short shows a man that is staying at a haunted hotel that is constantly harassing our hero. Think of this film as a family friendly and extremely short version of 1408. The movie has a very usual equation. There is one person who is being tormented to show the different use of effects during the time. The man just becomes extremely frustrated instead of scared and the whole thing plays out more like a comedy then an actual horror movie. The jokes or “scary-scenes” are more campy than jumpy. There are various articles disappearing and reappearing. There is a pair of boots that walk on their own. There is a bed that disappears completely. However, this is all just done to showcase the “Jump Cut” and use of magnets in film. Georges MĂ©liès plays himself in the film, again. S!D

Le Diable au Convent (1899) - George Melies

Le Diable au Convent is longer than the two previous Georges MĂ©liès ventures into short form horror. This particular French short shows the Devil himself running a convent and terrorizing the poor old nuns that live there. However he is finally vanquished by the good of Faith. This is yet another MĂ©liès classic, showcasing the art work that really goes into his short film-making. This is one of the earliest examples of a horror movie that could rely on its elaborate set design and artistic design. Everything in this film, although horribly aged, has been packaged extremely well. If you are a fan of production and set design then I would highly recommend just about anything that Melies has his name on. Though nothing that is considered too extreme actually happens, Satan does have his way with a convent. The satanic imagery itself must have kept this film on the traveling carnival circuit. It certainly wouldn’t fit into the good moral bag that society shoved itself into back in

The X-Rays (1897) - George Albert Smith

The X-Rays (aka. The X-Ray Fiend) is another film from George Albert Smith. Smith directed The Haunted Castle, a remake of a George Melies film, earlier that year. The X-Rays shows us a young woman that gets confronted by an adoring older man. The older man flirts and blushes. Then an X-Ray camera floats in, or is attached to some figure in black, and presumably turns the couple inside out. Then they return to normal when the camera leaves. Fin. That is the entire short from beginning to end. It has no purpose or thought, the camera head man doesn't seem to return in this form to any other media. This was just an odd find that happened to fit rather nicely right after The Haunted Castle. The film takes advantage of an early “camera-trick,” the jump shot. The quick cut. The Quick Cut has actors stay in place when the director says “Cut!” They have to freeze every muscle in their body. Once something on the set has been changed the director resumes filming and the a

The Haunted Castle (1897) - George Albert Smith

In 1897, George Albert Smith decided to remake a historic film that came out the year before it. Smith wanted to remake MĂ©liès’ Le Manoir Du Diable. A short film from 1896 that showed a young man being tormented in an old castle. The short that Smith produced is shorter than MĂ©liès. Le Manoir runs at about three minuets, where Smiths british produced The Haunted Castle clocks in at only one minuet and one second. However, Smiths version kicks right off with the “Action” jumping right into action with our hero being tormented by the nocturnal naughtiness. The general feel of this short(er) is actually more complete than its predecessor. It looks as if George Albert Smith took everything that was good about Le Manoir and shoved it into this short(er). You are closer to the action this time, getting a good look at the characters of menace that our hero battles. You can see details that MĂ©liès’ version just didn’t have. The effects in this were still essentially the same, not

Une nuit terrible (1896) - George Melies

Georges MĂ©liès does it again in the same fashion as Le Manoir du Diable.  Albeit shorter than his prior voyage into horror film. This is at least a different story. Instead of this being a period piece, it appears to be a modern one. The film shows George Melies, himself, having One Terrible Night with a creepy, crawly, spider.  The film is one of dozens of shorts released during the era that focused more on drawing crowds biased on technology rather than the plot of a film. It is still going to be a few years before Horror is fully shaped and functioning. If you are curious to see what film looked like in the 1800's then check out below where I have included the short. Georges MĂ©liès stars as himself in this one man performance. The Film is called One Terrible Night in English.

Le Manoir du Diable (1896) - George Melies

According to Wikipedia in August of 2011, Le Manoir du diable by Georges Melies is the first horror movie. Well, actually its a short film (about three minuets or so) but film was really hard to come by in that time so this counts as a film to me. The plot of the film is basic, you have your hero being tormented by demonic things in a crazy castle room... However, that plot isn't what brought the crowds. The thing that drove the popularity of these films was the fact that you were seeing motion on screen. I suggest going and seeing Hugo. That film is spectacular. It answered so many questions that I had. It really sets the scene and the tone. The film has strong christian overtones and actually ends with Christianity prevailing over the "tides of darkness". I provided a link at the bottom of this review for anyone that would like to see this pioneer in Horror Film. The movie uses very, very early "movie magic" that is an abundance of smoke and m