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the History
of Horror Movies |
Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most popular gothic horror
authors of the 19th century. It was only natural that his poems and stories
would be adapted to film during the early days.
In 1908 Murders in the Rue Morgue was filmed as Sherlock
Holmes in the Great Murder Mystery, in 1909 The Pit and the Pendulum was
filmed, as was The Cask of Amontillado under the title of The Sealed Room. In
1912 the first version of the Raven was filmed and it was filmed again in 1915.
right: the Raven from 1912 filmed by the
Eclair American Film Company |
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Also in 1915 German actor and director Paul Weggener
collaborated with Henrik Galeen to film a version of Der Golem from the old
Hebrew legend about a man made from clay by a Rabbi. Weggener filmed another
version in 1920 in which he collaborated with Carl Boese. This version is a
recognized cinema classic. left: Paul
Weggener as Der Golem from the 1920 version. |
But it would be 1920's German film, Das Cabinet des Dr.
Caligari directed by Robert Wiene that would be the first full fledged horror
feature film. Werner Krauss plays Dr. Caligari, a sideshow owner who exhibits a
somnambulist, Cesare played by Conrad Veidt. Cesare, in a dream state recites
predictions of the future and eventually kidnaps the heroine of the film. After
the authorities chase the escaping Cesare it is discovered that he is a patient
in an asylum under the influence of the asylum's director ... Dr Caligari!!
After killing Cesare, Caligari himself becomes an inmate in the asylum
The film is remarkable for it's impressionist sets
designed by Hermann Warm, the top quality of Robert Wiene's directing and the
cinematography by Willy Hameister. |
above
left: Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari and Conrad Veidt as Cesare. above right:
the impressionist set design of Hermann Warm |
Then in 1922 an unauthorized version of Bram Stoker's
classic vampire novel Dracula would be transformed into the German classic,
Nosferatu directed by the great F. W. Murnau.
The film, written by Henrik Galeen, makes perfect use of
dark sets and stark photography by Fritz Arno Wagner. Galeen's screenplay
introduced some of the cinema legend of vampires including the belief that
vampires disintegrate in sunlight (in Stoker's novel, Count Dracula wanders
London streets during daylight). |
above: An original German poster for Nosferatu
1922 |
A nightmarish excursion into darkness, it was the perfect
gothic horror template for all future horror films, most especially for those
in the immediate future of filmdom. It remains one of the best films in cinema
history adapted from the Dracula novel and some believe the film is even
superior to Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi. |
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