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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 the special effects department. D.W. Griffith really out does himself with this movie. If you are a fan of early horror and silent films than this movie is just for you. If you like Freddy Kruger and you want blood and guts, then your going to have to wait for the 50's and 60's.

*for its time.

S!D

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