Horror Movie Project

Western's were popular in the thirties. The Internet Movie Database lists only 14 horror movies from 1934 with 72 westerns. It was only a matter of time before there was a bleed over film. This is that movie. Horribly acted and produced. This forty-five minuet short felt like it had a great deal of potential. I felt as if the filmmakers were confused when they made it. The garb was a mix of modern-for-the-era-chic and western wear. It was pretty horrible. A band of thieves and bandits take over a town and murder their way to power. They start with an innocent family and go from there. Years later, many of the members are being murdered in some pretty vicious ways by a killer known as ' The Rawhide Terror'. Riveting, no?   The acting is oblivious to the nature of the scenes in which they were filmed. It's like the movie has no direction. Some of the actors would over sell their lines and the others would sound too nonchalant in the delivery. The ten gallon ha...

This American short film of the Edgar Allan Poe story is not as complete or concise as its French predecessor. In fact this storyline seems to be a little more skewed and definitely more experimental. It is really interesting that these movies have been pretty much forgotten. They are really well made and the directors really took some leaps with the camera. While the story is not as well portrayed the avant garde nature makes this film entertaining and original. I highly recommend this movie to anyone that is going to film school. It is one of the best examples of creativity in the silent era of American cinema. There is virtually a new effect in every scene that tries to drive home the surreal feel of the story, it just becomes a gimmick at one point. Not horrible, just overused. Director: Melville Webber & J.S. Watson Jr. Country: USA Style: Short Did ya know... This is one of many adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's Fall of the House of Usher . Over f...

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

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...

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 Ensorcelée is another jump into the experiments in film. Georges Méliès 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 Méliès plays himself in the film, again. S!D

Le Diable au Convent is longer than the two previous Georges Méliès 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 Méliès 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 i...

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...

& Teller and & Teller 2, are shorts created by Teller from the popular comedy/magic duo Penn & Teller. The film(s) are a video diary of Teller surviving a Zombie attack in Las Vegas. It is narrated by Teller, who keeping true with tradition, doesn't actually talk on camera. I think that for a short of this length it is very creative. They fill a short amount of time here with a great little story. The art department deserves a gold star for this one. The story is pretty good as well. A little comedy mixed with some ok looking, slow moving, Zombies. The story kind of feels like this is an off shoot of the great Zombie novel, World War Z, by Max Brooks. In fact if they do a World War Z movie this should really be in there somewhere, maybe some viral marketing for the film. I dunno, but Teller does a great job, very good effort and i hope to see more of these in the near future. There will be more reviews hopefully tonight/morning.

So my second film, well its a short film (50 sec.) is one of the first Horror films ever made. I'm not sure what makes it horror, there is a skeleton, but it doesn't scream Horror at me. I enjoyed this short it made me chuckle. I admit to not watching the original, as the copy that i have seen has been color tinted, it was the closest it have been to it. The film starts out with our hero coming into a room where he goes through a quick battle with a ever changing chair. Acting in this film is horrendous, but its what you expect for a film that is over 110 years old. For a hardcore fan or someone that is ready to get their horror on, this short wouldn't be for you. But it is just amazing to see something that has been on film for so long. This is definitely worth watching for some turn of the century special effects. On a scale it is really hard to place this short, 50 seconds is hard to evaluate. For a horror movie i would have to rate this a 2 out of 5. Come...