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Showing posts from June 6, 2012

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