Nosferatu (1922)

NOSFERATU

1922 • F.W. Murnau

Cast:  Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim

Screenplay: Henrik Galeen based on Dracula by Bram Stoker 

Producers: Enrico Dieckmann, Albin Grau

Cinematography: Fritz Amo Wagner

94 Minutes • 1.33:1 • Germany

Film Arts Guild

Is this your wife? What a lovely throat.

The original epic horror film. Even though this silent film is over a century old, it doesn't fail to deliver chills in ways that modern horror films wish they could. The story is familiar and is a fun adaptation of the classic Dracula story. Schreck is especially creepy as the title character and the camera work was way ahead of its time.

Henrik Galeen’s story of Nosferatu is loosely based (read: ripped off from) on Bram Stoker’s original novel Dracula.  At the time of production, Bram Stoker’s estate had not given permission to Murnau to shoot the film, so they worked around it by changing names and a few events. So... Max Schreck portrayed "Count Orlok" instead of "Count Dracula."   A real estate agent visits the reclusive Count Orlock in Germany to sell him some land but notices a series of unusual events surrounding his visit.  Sound familiar?

Murnau is one of cinema’s pioneer filmmakers.  His sense of visual style was groundbreaking.  F.W. Murnau would later go on to direct a series of pioneering films, most notably the Oscar-winning film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.  One of the first feature-length horror movies, Nosferatu is to the horror film genre what Metropolis was to the science fiction genre… extremely influential.  The shot composition was ahead of its time, especially this iconic image:

I mean… LOOK at that image.  Even 90 years later it is still chilling.  Many of the influences that Nosferatu had can be seen in modern horror films.

You can’t talk about this film without mentioning Max Schreck as Count Orlock.  One of the great screen presences… few on-screen vampires have been more chilling.  Gary Oldman, Bela Lugosi, and Christopher Lee have all played excellent Draculas, but Schreck is the original on-screen vampire.  Unlike Dracula, Orlock is not a charming, sophisticated aristocrat.  He looks like the demon he is, and Schreck’s portrayal is so alarmingly disturbing that it still sends chills down your spine.  80 years later the making of this film was fictionalized in a film called Shadow of the Vampire starring Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck who, in the story of the film, is actually a vampire.  (Also a good watch, by the way.)

A beautiful horror film.

It will cost you sweat and tears, and perhaps... a little blood. 

READ ON SUBSTACK

Faust (1926)

FAUST
F. W. Murnau
1926 • 106 Minutes • 1.33 : 1 • Germany
UFA

Cast: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Wilhelm Dieterle, Frida Richard, Yvette Guilbert
Screenplay: Hans Kyser based on the play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Cinematography: Carl Hoffmann

Produced: Erich Pommer

THE SCREEN SENSATION OF TWO CONTINENTS!

Earth and sky shall surely quake, when the dead themselves awake, answers to the Lord to take. When the court is held in sway, hiding shall no longer pay, all must out on Judgement Day!

A beautifully shot lyrical film of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe play.  God and the Devil are in an epic battle for the fate of the Earth and they wager the outcome on the soul of Faust, a learned alchemist. Faust, at first, just wants to help his people as a pestilence sweeps his city but Satan soon tempts him with youth, love and power. Faust gives in to his base desires, and the Devil is winning the battle. Can Satan fully corrupt Faust? Or will Faust find redemption, and in turn, salvation? 

The film is filled with beautiful imagery that seems to only be found in German expressionist films of the era.  A heavily special-effects laden film for the era, throughout the narrative we see the horsemen of the apocalypse, burning letters etched into the soul contract and ominous hooded figures. It's a feast for the eyes, and is essential viewing for its shot compositions alone. The atmosphere Murnau creates is haunting.  Very few inter-titles are used, with the story relying heavily on its visuals. At the time, it was the most expensive German film ever produced, only to be surpassed by Metropolis a year later. Fittingly, both films are credited with seriously contributing to the early visual effects industry.  The film is also said to have inspired the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from 1940's Fantasia.

Emil Jannings, usually a somewhat hammy actor, puts his over-the-top antics to wonderful use here as the evil dark lord Satan, imposing a menacing presence throughout the film. The rest of the cast is solid, but overshadowed greatly by Jannings.

The last major film Murnau produced in Germany before his debut in the United States with the Academy Award winning Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans in 1927.

Frankenstein (1910)

FRANKENSTEIN
J. Searle Dawley
1910 • 14 Minutes • 1.33 :1 • United States
Edison Manufacturing Company

Cast: Augustus Phillips, Charles Ogle, Mary Fuller
Written by: J. Searle Dawley Based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Described as a "liberal adaptation" of the Frankenstein story by Edison, the film packs a lot into its 14 minute runtime. The film wastes no time in getting right to the good stuff, practically skipping right to the experiment.  Instead of lightning bringing the monster to life, you see the monster materialize from skeleton to flesh. The special effects for the time are quite impressive and terrifying. The film is in the public domain, which you can check out below.

The Haunted Castle (1896)

The #CountdownToHalloween continues with our #HistoryOfHorror

THE HAUNTED CASTLE (1896)
Director: Georges Méliès
Writer: Georges Méliès
Starring: Jeanne d'Alcy, Jules-Eugène Legris, Georges Méliès

Genre: Haunted House

One of the earliest examples of horror on film comes from the imagination of Georges Méliès. Clocking in at a little over 3 minutes, Méliès packs a lot into the single shot short film. A bat bursts through a window in a castle and transforms into Mephistopheles. What follows is a series of in-camera magic tricks as the devil conjures up a series of supernatural creatures.

The Iron Mask (1929)

Watch the original 1929 production of THE IRON MASK starring Douglas Fairbanks and directed by Allan Dwan.

The Black Cat (1934)

THE BLACK CAT
Edgar G. Ulmer
1934 • 65 Minutes • 1.33 : 1 • United States
Universal

Screenplay: Peter Ruric; Story by Edgar G. Ulmer, Peter Ruric
Cast: Boris Karloff, Béla Lugosi
Cinematography: John J. Mescall
Producer: E. M. Asher

THINGS YOU NEVER SAID BEFORE OR EVEN DREAMED OF!

Dracula VS Frankenstein's Monster! Sort of. This underrated and underseen pre-code horror film stars the two titans of 1930s monster movies: Lugosi and Karloff. Peter and Joan are two honeymooners get caught up in a twisted revenge plot between Lugosi's Dr. Werdegast and Karloff's Hjalmar Poelzig.  Werdegast is a cat-phobic psychiatrist who spent the last 15 years as a prisoner of war, never seeing his wife again. The honeymooners meet Werdegast on their way to Hungary, but get sidetracked in a bus accident. Werdegast treats Joan's injuries and they end up seeking refuge at none other than Poelzig's home (to which Werdegast was already traveling).  Once there, the history between the two men unfolds. Werdegast blames Poelzig for his imprisonment and for stealing his wife away. It is revealed the Poelzig is a satanist and plans on sacrificing the injured Joan in a brutal ritual. What follows is a game of psychological cat and mouse between the old rivals, with the lives of the honeymooners hanging in the balance. The end of the film takes full advantage of its pre-code freedom as Werdegast enacts a psychotic revenge. In a little over an hour the film packs in drugs, necrophilia, torture and satanic rituals. The film credits Edgar Allan Poe as inspiration, but this film has little to do with his work. While Count Dracula is his most famous role, this is, in my opinion, Bela Lugosi's best role as the twisted anti-hero with a thirst for vengeance. The best scene in the film is when Lugosi and Karloff play a game of chess, literally gambling with the lives of Peter and Joan. The film was a major box office success for Universal, and Lugosi and Karloff went on to star in several films together including THE RAVEN (1935), SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) and THE BODY SNATCHER (1945).

"Do you know what I am going to do to you now? No? Did you ever see an animal skinned, Hjalmar? That's what I'm going to do to you now - fare the skin from your body... slowly... bit by bit!"

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
Robert Wiene
1920 • 67 Minutes • 1.33 : 1 • Germany 
Decla-Bioscop AG 

Cast: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Fehér, Lil Dagover, Hans Twardowski
Screenplay: Hans Janowitz, Carl Mayer
Cinematography: Willy Hameister
Producers: Rudolf Meinert, Erich Pommer

Awards & Honors

The Essential Films Countdown Lists
100 Essential Horror Movies - 2011 Edition
100 Essential Horror Movies - 2012 Edition
100 Essential Horror Movies - 2013 Edition

100 Essential Horror Movies - 2016 Edition

THE MOST AMAZING STORY EVER FILMED

Cesare, a somnambulist controlled by the demented Dr. Caligari, makes deadly predictions that come

to pass.  In fact, Caligari is hypnotizing Cesare to commit murders around the country.  Can our hero, Francis, stop the murders before it is too late? Or worse yet, before he descends into madness?

This is perhaps THE defining work of German Expressionist cinema with its sharp angles and twisted backgrounds and exaggerated set design. The style lends itself to the psychological horror of the film. It's an intentionally distorted reality to keep the viewer consistently on edge and cause anxiety and stress. The entire film has a nightmarish quality and plays into the climax, which may possibly one of the first twist endings in cinema. Even the film's intertitles have a creepy, unsettling style, far from the standard font used at the time. The film draws attentions to its words. Film scholars have noted that Cesare, manipulated into committing crimes while sleeping, is an allegory to the horrors of Germany at the time, a nation devastated by World War I.

Robert Wiene's expressionist style has a clear influence on modern filmmakers, especially Tim Burton. Look to Edward Scissorhands, Batman and Beetlejuice for the clear homages to this film. From film noir to modern horror, this film's influence is felt everywhere. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the pinnacle of paranoid horror films.

You fools, this man is plotting our doom! We die at dawn! He is Caligari!

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Rupert Julian

1925 • 107 Minutes • 1.33 : 1 • United States

Cast: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland

Screenplay: Elliott J. Clawson, Raymond L. Schrock, Bernard McConville, Jasper Spearing, Richard Wallace, Walter Anthony, Tom Reed, Frank M. McCormack; Based on The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Cinematography: Milton Bridenbecker, Virgil Miller, Charles Van Enger

Producer: Carl Laemmle

Awards & Honors

National Film Registry

Inducted in 1998

If I am the Phantom, it is because man's hatred has made me so. If I shall be saved, it will be because your love redeems me.

"THE GREATEST HORROR FILM OF MODERN CINEMA!"

The most famous adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel (no, not counting the musical from 2004.) Lon Chaney, the man of 1000 faces, sports one of his most ghastly and ghoulish disguises in this story of a disfigured composer living under a theater who falls in love and becomes obsessed with a beautiful opera singer. His obsession leads to murder, mayhem and mystery in the opera house that he haunts. The film is easily found, as it is in the public domain.  The film is a masterpiece of silent cinema and was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1994.

Lon Chaney's performance is one of the most memorable of silent and horror cinema. His face covered by a mask for most of the film, and the image of Christine unmasking the Phantom for the first time is one of horror, if not cinema's, most iconic images. Because of the massive success of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923, Chaney was given free reign to customize his Phantom make up for full horrific effect.  Even by today's standards, the Phantom's face is disturbing, making a mockery of Gerard Butler's prosthetics in the 2004 musical. Chaney transformed his face by physically altering the shape of his nose by pulling it back with tape and pinning in place, plus simple tricks like false teeth and paint around the nostrils and eye sockets. This commitment led to Chaney's portrayal as being the most accurate based on the source material's description as a skull like head with a few wisps of hair on top. Legend has it that audiences screamed at the reveal of his shocking disfigurement.  In this version of the film, The Phantom was born with his deformity, as opposed to being scarred as in later adaptations.

"Feast your eyes! Glut your soul on my accursed ugliness!"

The "Masque of Red Death" sequence, in which Julian used a two-strip technicolor process to add the color red to the film remains possibly the film's second most iconic sequence. The image of Erik The Phantom, descending the stairs in his skull mask is as haunting in 2017 as it was in 1925. The sets are magnificent and the Paris Opera House in particular was a massive undertaking, built with steel girders and capable of housing thousands of extras.

This film is a beautiful gothic masterpiece perfect for a Halloween viewing experience or Horror marathon.

Scrooge (or Marley's Ghost) (1901) "A Christmas Carol" First Film

Check out the earliest known film adaptation of Charles Dickens' immortal classic, A Christmas Carol.

SCROOGE, OR MARLEY'S GHOST
1901 • Walter R. Booth

Writers: J.C. Buckstone based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Producers: Robert W. Paul

The History of Film - Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888)

Take a look at one of the earliest films in existence. Traffic crossing Leeds Bridge from 1888, Directed by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

A TRIP TO THE MOON

"Le voyage dans la lune"

Georges Méliès

1902 • 13 Minutes • 1.33:1 • France

Black & White • Silent • Star Film

Cast:  Georges Méliès, Bleuette Bernon, Henri Delannoy

Writers: Georges Méliès based on the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells

Producer: Georges Méliès 

Cinematography: Michaut, Lucien Tainguy

Often credit as one of the first (if not THE first) science fiction film, the wonderful images Méliès captures in this pioneer film are still amongst the most memorable and iconic in cinema.  The story follows a group of astronomers who are shot into space (via a cannon) and land on the moon's surface where they meet an entire society of moon people before returning to Earth and splashing down in the sea.  It is perhaps Méliès most well-known film, with the shot of the cannon shell lodged in the moon's "eye" being the most famous.

Méliès was a stage magician who entered filmmaking after seeing a screening of a Lumiere Bros. film. He directed over 500 films during his career and he used a wider variety of his magic techniques to create magic on film and A Trip to the Moon is no different. Méliès, in addition to producing, writing and directing also acts in the film as the Professor who shots the ship into space and as the moon itself.  The art direction of the professor's lab and the moon itself were ahead of its time, and nothing audiences had really seen before.  At one point in the film, the spaceship falls off the moon and lands back on Earth in the sea. To shoot the underwater scenes, Méliès placed a fish tank in front of the camera so the actors appeared as if they were in the water with the sea life.  This is an example of the inventiveness that Méliès was famous for.  

The film proved a massive success which led to Thomas Edison, among others, to pirate the film in the United States. Edison made a fortune off the film by distributing it in the States, of which Méliès did not see one cent. Unfortunately, Méliès shortly went bankrupt afterwards.

A Trip to the Moon is essential viewing for fans of science fiction, fantasy or film in general. Over 100 years later, it still captures the imagination.

The film is in the public domain and you can watch it below:

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack

1932 • 63 Minutes • 1.37:1 • United States

Black & White • English • RKO 

Cast: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, Robert Armstrong

Writers: James Ashmore Creelman (screenplay), Richard Connell

Producers:  Merian C. Cooper, David O. Selznick

Cinematography: Henry W. Gerrard

This world's divided into two kinds of people: the hunter and the hunted. Luckily I'm the hunter. Nothing can change that.

The Most Dangerous Game is the first filmed adaptation of the 1924 novel of the same name. While a short feature by today's standards, this film is an essential Pre-Code Hollywood film made by the future director of King Kong, Irving Pichel and Ernest Schoedsack. It also stars two of the main actors from the classic monkey feature, Robert Armstrong and the iconic Fay Wray.

The story follows Joel McCrea's Bob Rainsford who is shipwrecked and swims to a nearby island, owned by the mysterios Russian Count Zaroff (Banks.)  Zaroff and Rainsford share a common interest in big game hunting.  Zaroff reveals he is obsessed with hunting the most dangerous game, but won't divulge what exactly that is.  Also staying on the island is Eve Trowbridge (Fay Wray) and her brother Martin, but when Martin turns up dead, Rainsford and Eve discover that Zaroff's most dangerous game is: Man.  Disappointed that Rainsford does not share his same passion, he decides that both he and Eve are now his next prey. And thus the hunt begins.

With only 60 minutes of running time, the film packs a lot into its short time frame.  The first half of the film is pure character development. Setting up both Rainsford and Zaroff as skilled hunters. Rainsford says at one point "This world's divided into two kinds of people: the hunter and the hunted. Luckily I'm the hunter. Nothing can change that." This of course is turned on its head when he becomes exactly that.  The second half of the film is pure thrills and excitement.  Not a shot is wasted in creating suspense as Rainsford and Eve evade the psychotic Zaroff's manhunt with plenty of close calls and near captures.  Speaking of Zaroff, Leslie Banks imbues him with such psychotic energy, almost to the point of pure ham... but that isn't exactly unwelcome in a film like this.  Pichel & Schoedsack also give us plenty of close-ups, especially of the eyes, to take us into Zaroff's insanity.

The Most Dangerous Game is a short, compact chase-thriller that is an essential appetizer to the directing duo of Pichel & Scheodsack's immortal 1933 fantasy adventure, King Kong. 

The film is in the public domain, and you can watch it below:

The Battle of Midway (1942)

THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY
John Ford
1942 • 18 Minutes • 1.37:1 • United States
Color • English • United States War Activity Committee 

Voice Cast: Donald Crisp, Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell
Writers: Dudley Nichols & James Kevin McGuinness
Producer: John Ford
Cinematography: John Ford & Jack MacKenzie & Kenneth M. Pier

Awards & Honors

Academy Awards
Best Documentary

During World War II, propaganda films were prevalent on all sides of the conflict. The Battle of Midway is a collection of footage shot from the legendary real-life battle and edited together to tell the "story" of the fight.  Included in story is narration by Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell, where Darwell plays the role of a woman from Ohio, recognizing one of the soldiers in the footage. Fonda goes on to explain how important this GI is to the war effort and how proud everyone at home should be of him. Donald Crisp provides bookend narration of the battle's importance and the climax of the documentary is 16 MM footage (shot by the enlisted Ford himself) of the ongoing battle.  Ford's captured the action purely by chance as the battle broke out while he was en route to the island.  The film (as well as its Academy Award win) are pure American propaganda, but an important piece of film history.

Watch the Academy Award winning documentary, The Battle of Midway, in its entirety below.

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS

Erle C. Kenton

1932 • 70 Minutes • 1.37:1 • United States

Black & White • English • Paramount

Cast: Charles Laughton, Bela Lugosi, Richard Arlen, Leila Hyams, Kathleen Burke

Screenplay: Waldemar Young and Philip Wylie based on the novel by H.G. Wells

Cinematography: Karl Struss

Mr. Parker, do you know what it means to feel like God?

THIS ENTRY CONTAINS SPOILERS

Island of Lost Souls is the first, and best, cinematic interpretation of HG Wells' classic 1896 novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau. The film was remade several times, notably in 1977 with Burt Lancaster in the title role and again in 1996 with Marlon Brando headlining in an infamously notorious adaptation.  The story follows the shipwrecked Edward Parker who finds himself on a mysterious uncharted island. Parker soon learns that the island is owned Dr. Moreau, a twisted geneticist who has created half-men, half-beasts for his own amusement and desire to play God. Parker is disgusted by Moreau's lack of humanity and desperately wants to return home, while also conflicted about leaving the "beast men" to be tortured at the hands of their sick creator.  The climax of the film sees a revolt against Moreau in one of Horror cinema's more memorable scenes.

Charles Laughton is the star of the picture here, as the villainous Dr. Moreau.  Laughton at the time was an A-list actor, not far from winning his Academy Award for The Private Life of Henry VIII, so perhaps it is strange to see him in what could be considered a "B-Movie."  However, Laughton's penchant for chewing scenery works to the film's benefit as Dr. Moreau is truly one of the screen's most despicable villains. Like most good villains, Moreau's character does't know he's evil... he's following his own path of righteousness. As the creator of these half-men/half-animals, he sees himself as their just and powerful God. The inhabitants fear him and his House of Pain, the laboratory where he performs his hideous experiments.  When they finally revolt and kill Moreau, they are really killing God. While the film is excellent as is, it would have been fascinating to see the filmmakers tackle the aftermath of the decision of a group of beings killing their creator.

While tame by today's standards, the film was considered graphic in nature in 1932. In fact, the film was banned several times in the United Kingdom, specifically for scenes of the vivisection of the beast men. It was also not very well-received by Wells himself, who objected to the horror elements overshadowing the intent of his story, which was the cruelty to animals and moral responsibility. 

However, the film has been very influential in horror circles, especially in the world of make-up effects.  The film was ahead of its tim in terms of monster make-up, and even 80 years later, the effects remain at a high standard.  Bela Lugosi, in particular, is completely unrecognizable in his role as the "Sayer of Law."

Island of Lost Souls is an essential sci-fi/horror classic with ahead-of-its-time make-up effects and a deliciously twisted movie villain.  

You made us... things! Not men! Not beasts! Part man... part beast! Things!

Watch the complete film below:

50 Years of James Bond: The Movie

In celebration of 50 years of James Bond and the release of Skyfall, this video has been released stitching together all 22 James Bond films into one 2 hour movie using 5 minutes of each movie.  It’s more seamless than it sounds and ultra cool. Check it out.

Batman - The Complete 1943 Serial

The Last Man On Earth (1964) - Watch the Full Movie

Watch the movie that was later remade as The Omega Man and I Am Legend.  The Last Man on Earth is one of the 1000 Essential Films and thanks to the power of public domain you can watch it here... for FREE!  Enjoy!

The Last Man on Earth
1964, American International Pictures


Principal Cast:  

Vincent Price, 

Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart
Director:

Ubaldo Ragona, 

Sidney Salkow
Producers:  Robert L. Lippert, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Harold E. Knox
Screenplay:  Furio M. Monetti, Ubaldo Ragona, William Leicester, Logan Swanson
Cinematography:  Franco Delli Colli
Plot:  When a disease turns all of humanity into the living dead, the last man on earth becomes a reluctant vampire hunter.  (Courtesy:  IMDB)

Awards & Nominations


The Essential Films

• #20 in the Top 20 End of the World Movies
• An Essential Film

Watch the Horror Classic “Night of the Living Dead” Free Online

Thanks to the power of modern technology, and for that matter the power of the public domain, “Night of the Living Dead” is available to watch for free on YouTube HERE. If you’ve never checked it out, do yourself a favor and do so. Watch the zombie movie that started it all. Enjoy!