Every genre of cinema has its own starting point. For comedy, it was 1895. L’Arroseur Arrosé (Sprinkler Sprinkler). In 1901 Fire! was the first drama (or at least the first to tie a series of shots into a narrative). The first surviving animated film was released in 1906. Humorous phases of funny faces. 1920 saw the actor Douglas Fairbanks take on the role of Zorro’s iconic hero Sign of Zorro, the first film in the superhero genre. The origin of the horror film is due to a three-minute film released in 1896: Le Manoir du Devilhe is devil’s housewhich was soon followed by two more prominent “pioneers” in the horror genre: Dante’s Infernothe first feature-length horror film and Terrorthe first “talking” horror.
The story of the house of the devil.
devil’s house was sent Georges Méliès. Those who are interested in film history may best know the author of the 1902 films. trip to the moonwith his iconic shot of a space capsule crashing into the Man in the Moon right in the eye, a key image in the documentary footage. devil’s house begins with a big bat flying into a medieval castle, where it turns into the Devil. He summons a cauldron and an assistant who helps him summon a woman from said cauldron. Two Cavaliers enter the room, where the Devil’s assistant taunts them by teleporting to different areas of the room. The Devil re-enters the room in the form of a skeleton, which turns into a bat, which turns into Mephistopheles himself, but is defeated by the sight of a large crucifix. This film is less scary and gives Méliès more chances to impress audiences with his groundbreaking camera gimmick, such as the illusion of transforming when filming is stopped, the skeleton is replaced with a bat, and filming resumes (think bewitched and Samantha’s wacky results (Elizabeth Montgomery) twitching his nose). Long thought to be lost until the last surviving copy was found in a junk shop in New Zealand, the film is nonetheless considered horror, given the presence of bats, skeletons and, of course, the Devil.
Long wait: “Dante’s Inferno”
devil’s house, remember, was only three minutes long, and as a result, the horror elements in the film, however few of them, didn’t have enough screen time to be truly effective. The first horror movie we would consider function lengthat a whopping 71 minutes, italian movie Infernoor Dante’s Inferno. Thanks to the rapid development of technology, Dante’s Inferno a good 55 minutes longer than its immediate horror predecessor, the 16-minute Edison Studio film. Frankensteinfirst adapted the classic Mary Shelley romance (with a monster that looks like Curly from The Three Stooges in the costume of a cowardly lion from Wizard of Oz). The film adapted the first song Dante AlighieriX The Divine Comedy“Inferno (Hell)”, where the ancient Roman poet leads Dante through the Nine Circles of Hell. Virgil. Visually, the film is a masterpiece with fantastical sets depicting all nine concentric circles of eternal torment that make up Hell. It also features extreme violence and gore, such as the Devil devouring people whole, harpies eating the corpses of suicide victims, and a man carrying his severed head as some highlights. And nakedness. Never forget nudity. The goal is clear: to scare the hell out of people and instill piety in them. The film was realized thanks to three directors: Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovanand Giuseppe de Liguoro. The first screening of an Italian film was on March 10, 1911 at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples, and it has since become an international success, grossing over $2 million in the United States alone (which gave theater owners an excuse to raise ticket prices). .
horror movies to watch and Heard: “Terror”
The first horror sound film and the second sound film released by Warner Bros., filmed in 1928: Terror. The action takes place in an old English country house that has been turned into a hotel. The guest list includes spiritualist Mrs. Alvery (Louise Fazenda), Detective Ferdinand Fane (Edward Everett Horton), and an unknown assassin known only as “The Terror” (presumably logging in under an alias) who filled it with strange sounds, mysterious organ music, and murder. London film critics of the time panned the film, with one calling it “so bad it’s almost suicidal”. Unfortunately, we will never know ourselves, as two versions of the film - a speaking version and a silent version for theaters not yet equipped with sound - are both considered lost. Vitaphone soundtrack and some stills from the film make exist, however, TerrorRussia’s heritage has not been completely lost due to the neglectful vagaries of history. Despite the scathing London critic’s assessment (very explicit about the novelty and surprise of sound films at the time), Terror is still a touchstone in the evolution of the horror film.
Pushing an envelope
The mature, boundary-pushing, often hedonistic and violent content of these and other films (and the industry itself) led to restrictive prohibitions that were introduced with the introduction of the Motion Picture Production Code, commonly known as the Hays Code, in 1930. The Hays Code effectively castrated the horror film for years, imposing draconian restrictions on profanity, nudity, crime, morality, and violence of a graphic or realistic nature. However, there have been many films made in accordance with the Hays Code that creatively overstepped the bounds, weakening its influence over time. Then came Alfred Hitchcock1960 masterpiece Psychothe movie that dealt the death blow to the Hays Code and in doing so became another first in the history of the horror genre: the first post-Code, modern horror film (technically the code wasn’t replaced until 1968 by the MPAA rating system we know and love, but after Psycho he actually lost his teeth). And it is on these groundbreaking achievements that the horror films we enjoy today are based.
Source: Collider
