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Showing posts from June, 2012

The Hands of Orlac (1924) - Robert Weine

Director Robert Weine, is a visionary with the camera. He is definitely on the contenders list of greatest horror directors, at least from his era. You can see all of the future directors that have taken interests in his film-making. David Lynch, for example, must have taken dozens of notes during this particular Weine film. Aside from Cabinet, this movie really takes the cake when it comes to Expressionist Horror. The movie is so fantastically presented that it couldn't get much better, right? Well... It stars none other than Conrad Veidt, horror actor extraordinaire. His performance as Paul Orlac is fantastic. Silents are hard to watch sometimes, you really have to be in just the right mood. You have to appreciate the fact that they weren't able to portray any drama through speech. They had to rely soul-ly on their bodies. Some argue that silent acting is True acting. They think that getting someone to feel for you and actually get into your performance, based entire

Nosferatu (1922) - F.W. Murnau

Murnau's Nosferatu is one of the most iconic silent films of all time. The scene of Count Orlock drinking the blood of some victim and then looking out at the audience is burned into my mind. That is literally the picture that pops in my head when someone says Nosferatu. Which doesn't happen as much as you think it would. Its really not talked about in normal cinema conversation. Even when vampires are brought up. It should. It really should be talked about. This movie has seen so many re-releases that it is hard NOT to see. Its really hard to find an unaltered copy of this film as it has been in the Public Domain now for some time. The movie is yet another German Expressionist film showcasing art above all. Wonderful set design and beautiful acting bring this movie full circle. This leading vampire is one of the best to be put to celluloid. Max Schreck is right on par with his blood sucking peers, the other top vampires being Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. He mi

The Headless Horseman (1922) - Edward D. Venturini

While the story is timeless and the characters are classic. This particular telling of this tale falls a bit flat when delivering in the entertainment department. Albeit interesting, this silent horror/comedy from 1922 is just boring.  It is most likely the format. However, this was an unbearable viewing. The quality of the film was horrible, this definitely needs a face lift.  Though this movie may be dry and boring, actor Will Rogers really carries the film. He does a great job as school marm Ichabod Crane. That isn't enough however, the other actors seem confused or sub-par. The effects were botched and not put together really well.  There are 30 min. of the film dedicated to Ichabod Crane (Rogers) getting tarred and feathered. It is a waste of time watching those scenes. There are some saving parts to this movie though, even though the transfer from film to DVD is crap. You can tell this is a higher quality film grade. Its this way because it is the first featur

Häxan (1922) - Benjamin Christensen

So this is more of a documentary than a actual horror film. In fact it is one hell of an amazing documentary done by a great director, Benjamin Christensen. The film shows us a history of witchcraft from the middle ages. It has strong religious imagery that documents the standings of the religious people against witchcraft and paganism.  The film is divided by chapters using the first couple to give you a background. The next couple show different situations that may have arouse around that time. However, they do have a more exaggerated and scary twist. For example, there is a woman that is lured away from her sleeping husband to have relations with Satan played by Christensen himself. The movie is a fine example of what could be accomplished with creative film making, even back in the silent era. I hear there is a version out there with William Burroughs doing the narration, that's one that i want to find. I really enjoyed most of this movie, although parts did drag out

The Phantom Carriage (1921) - Victor Sjöström

Körkarlen's brutal, realistic qualities, come mashed up with some drunken ancient lore to produce one of the most powerful horror movies to date. Well at least during this era. Director Victor Sjostrom takes audiences to places that they normally wouldn't have wanted to go in their time. The imagery that he uses and the way that he presents death is so fantastic but it has this nagging realism to it. This movie makes you fear death.  This story comes with a bit of background. Every year on New Years Eve, Death goes around collecting souls. The last one to die before the hands on the clock strike midnight gets to be the carriage driver the next year. That being said. The tale is a depressing one with three men getting pissed drunk in a grave-yard and then one of them, David, dies only to have to serve out that horrible job description from above. David is taken by death to see what the prior year had been like for him. He is shown, in various flashbacks, that he treats ever

The Haunted Castle (1921) - F.W. Murnau

F.W. Murnau (Frederich Wilhelm), is a major player in the Silver Age of horror that is 1919 - 1929. During this time he has treated us to a number of ghoulie movies. The Haunted Castle from 1921 is one of his first ventures into the genre that survived.  SchloĂŸ Vogelöd, as its known in German, is a film that takes place inside of a haunted castle (looks like a regular mansion to me). A group of guys meet up to go hunting and they are joined by Count Johann Oetsch, a guy that supposedly shot his brother. To make matters worse, his brothers widow will also be attending.  Accusations fly, everyone is blamed and the movie begins setting everyone up. It turns into a who-done-it detective story and it is really questionable to weather or not this is actually a horror movie. It has one completely out of its element scene that is really well done but it feels so far removed from the movie that it is hard to take seriously. The movie is more of a nail-biter that has a pretty dec

Der mĂ¼de Tod (1921) - Fritz Lang

Destiny from 1921 is the first successful film by Fritz Lang. Since I am doing this in chronological order, this is the first Horror movie to be made this well. Fritz Lang takes into account every aspect of the film. He weighs the contrast of the lighting with the mood in the scene. He gets these wonderful HUGE shots outside and the film is still visible. He actually spent the time experimenting with film to get the actual science behind successful cinematography. Sure, Robert Wiene had some fantastic sets in Caligari. However, Lang is successful with both artistic set design and beautiful cinematography. The story is deeper than most horror films up to this point. The title suggests that Death might be the “Destiny” of every man, or I should say that every man’s destiny is Death. However, I believe that it actually shows that bringing souls out of the living is the Destiny for Death. Death in this movie is quite well portrayed, perhaps the most well portrayed version of

The Penalty (1920) - Wallace Worsley

The Penalty from 1920 just might be the most demanding role that Lon Chaney has ever had to take on. This role called for him to play Blizzard, a gangster that has not had legs for most of his life. They were amputated. To preform this role Lon Chaney had to literally tie his legs behind his back so that he could appear as an amputee for the film. This proved to be extremely painful for Chaney who would only be able to film scenes for about 5 - 10 minuets at a time. This was about when the pain would become excruciating. This role actually left the great actor with permanent damage to the muscles in his legs. Now, that is going out on a limb (or two) for your role. The Penalty is nothing more than a gangster picture. Wikipedia and the sources that I use to research horror movies says otherwise. They classify this movie as a Crime/Horror film. However, there isn’t a scene in the entire movie that makes a hair stand vertical on my neck. That being said the movie is really interest

The Golem: How He Came Into the World (1920) - Paul Wegener

This movie is among the greatest silents to have ever graced a silver screen. Der Golem is truly superior work, it shows that famous brand of expressionism almost better than Dr. Caligari. The effects alone are enough to make you fall in love with it and beg for more. The story, shows the Jews who are under persecution from the kingdom of Prague. Rabbi Lowe, the main character in this story, has enough of the persecution. He creates a giant Golem out of clay to protect his Ghetto. Then he brings the Golem to life by placing a star of David, emblazoned with a ‘magic word’ on it. The Golem does the Rabbi’s bidding and helps rid the kingdom of its evil emperor and evil citizens. Its not enough for the Rabbi’s right hand man though. Who is jealous that the Rabbi’s daughter is dating some shiksa! Furious the Rabbi’s buddy sicks the Golem on the shiksa and all hell breaks loose. The only way to stop the Golem now is if there is some little girl who will rip the star from t

Genuine: The Tale of a Vampire (1920) - Robert Weine

Genuine: The Tale of a Vampire from 1920 was the first movie to inspire me to take this path. Unfortunately the version that I watched was presented as a special feature on my Cabinet of Dr. Caligari DVD. That meant that I only got the condensed version that is absent of about 5 or 6 minuets of footage. This movie is one of the most interesting takes on Vampirism. The Vampire in the movie is named Genuine (Fern Andra). She is more of a savage succubus rather than a Vampire. This is where this movies whole Vampire take is really interesting. Genuine feeds on men that she has a sexual allure over. She uses this allure to have the unsuspecting men do her bidding. This is really a great movie that could definitely be on par with Caligari. If it could only be cleaned up and presented in that way. The art of this movie is just non-stop amazing expressionist work. Definitely go see this movie. You will not be sorry. A 43-minute condensation of this silent film can be found a

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) - John S. Robertson

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is probably a great movie, just don't watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari before this. German Expressionism blows American Horror out of the water. At least during the Silver Age (1915 - 1929), the longest run of great horror cinema. American Horror couldn't keep up with the Germans until the 1930's. Thank you James Whale. Anyway, I digress, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is a so-so horror movie. After watching and being blown away by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Robertson’s Dr. Jekyll is just downright un-watchable. John Berrymore is a decent choice to play the bi-polar scientist but the movie just loses steam right out of the gate. Perhaps a better soundtrack or just a more interesting story-line would help. This is where I should tell you that I am not that crazy for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. The best part is, we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of renditions. There are countless. John Berrymore is always a treat, he can really bring