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The 13 Greatest Horror Films Of The Silent Era

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jamesenstein31	The 13 Greatest Horror Films Of The Silent Era	Lead	[-]
Apr 10 12 2:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This is my list of the greatest silent horror films. It was an odd list to do, since the genre was still in it's infancy. I tried to stick primarily to supernaturally themed films, and did not include METROPOLIS on the list, as I find it leaning far too heavily towards sci-fi, though it's an essential. What would make your list? http://monstermania-batcat31.blogspot.com/2011/08/silent-screams-13-greatest-horror-films.html
VladtheImpatient		#1	[-]
Apr 10 12 7:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A few to add: West of Zanzibar – more a dark stage melodrama than classic horror, the situation Chaney puts Mary Nolan thru nonetheless remains something on par with the early horror work of Wes Craven, particularly with that seriously shocking reveal. Very disturbing movie. The Sorrows of Satan – Griffith’s Faust retelling is a deeply underrated classic with some magnificent photography. The Monster – not the best of the ‘Old Dark House’ genre but is notable as the first horror parody (!) before the genre is fully formed. Bunuel pulled a similar trick on the documentary form with ‘Land Without Bread.’ The Hands of Orlac – rather good adaptation with Veidt. Homonculus – Never seen more than fragments of this serial from 1916 but it sure looks fascinating. The Magician – OK adaptation of an early Maughm novel pastiching Crowley, but the finish (especially the castle exploding) set the standard for Universal horrors to follow a few years later. Unheimliche Geschichten - another multi story anthology, nicely done and remade with Paul Weggener in the early 30’s. Alraune – fine late German silent with Briggite Helm as a prostitute is artificially inseminated with the semen of a hanged man. The story is based upon the legend of Alraune and the powers of the mandrake root to impregnate women. In this version the symbiosis caused by the sexual union between the human and the root causes the girl to kill all men who fall in love with her.
Barbenfouillis		#2	[-]
Apr 10 12 8:13 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	VladtheImpatient wrote: Homonculus – Never seen more than fragments of this serial from 1916 but it sure looks fascinating. Have you seen this? http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/sneak-peek/# Fifth row from the bottom, 2nd from the right. BTW, there has been a full chapter 4 and another part chapter making the rounds for a number of years now on the grey mkt circuit. Steve "This is the wireless detonator, men," he explained. "When I press this key it will complete a radio circuit in the real detonator tuned to this wave combination. As soon as I can get the boy Hank, I'll have him tow the old duck boat with the wireless bomb and leave it under the radio shack where that Evans chap has his laboratory and his confounded radioplane. Then blooey!"
jamesenstein31		#3	[-]
Apr 10 12 8:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	WEST OF ZANZIBAR would have likely been number 14, as it is a very good movie and VERY disturbing.
Rick		#4	[-]
Apr 10 12 10:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, of course, with the silents, you're really dealing with a different animal from your other lists. For one thing, there wasn't really a horror tradition before DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN. Certainly there were horror films, but more random, one-at-a-time sorts of things. (But it's true that there was a very strong silent tradition of Old Dark House movies, certainly cousins to horror). Also, so many of the silents are just gone. Maybe DRAKULA HALALA and DER JANUSKOPF and IL MOSTRO DI FRANKENSTEIN and THE HAUNTED HOUSE were the greatest horror films of all time, but we'll never know. So, between lack of a real genre and the Missing Movies, we're left with a pretty sparse field from which to choose. But, that said... I think your list really is pretty much the cream of the crop. I might slip in WEST OF ZANZIBAR and HANDS OF ORLAC from Vlad's suggestions, but certainly none of his other possibilities. It should be said, and then promptly ignored, that neither THE MAN WHO LAUGHS or HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is really a horror film. But, since we've always accepted them as such, I'm not gonna fuss about it. Personally, I would definitely move THE GOLEM and CAT AND THE CANARY up on the list, certainly before MAN WHO LAUGHS and HUNCHBACK. I also can't pass fair judgement on FAUST and WAXWORKS since I've only ever seen them in their old, crappy prints. I keep meaning to remedy that...
lencandraw		#5	[-]
Apr 10 12 11:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A pretty good list overall. Haven't see FAUST, and I agree with other comments that THE GOLEM would be higher.
jamesenstein31		#6	[-]
Apr 11 12 12:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE is top five, because it really is one of the finest horror films of that era, or any era. That one truly deserves the deluxe treatment, but unfortunately has yet to recieve it. I sorta-kinda agree with the positioning of CAT AND THE CANARY, as it is very historically important(and alot of fun) and could be moved down. THE GOLEM is likewise, very influential and well made. I reccomend that if any of you guys ever have the opportunity, try to score some of those Kino DVDs. I lucked out, as I got a number of them, as some nut traded these in at FYE and I got them for half the price! What are the odds of finding stuff like that?
Frankensteinhead		#7	[-]
Apr 11 12 3:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Another excellent list and really nothing to quibble about this time. Perhaps WOZ as already mentioned or Edisons Frankenstein, but as far as 13 films go I think you've nailed it.
jamesenstein31		#8	[-]
Apr 11 12 4:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks, Frankenstein's Head. Edison's Frankenstein was pretty neat. One of the creepier Frankenstein Monster designs. It was a tough call between Nosferatu and Caligari, but I think Nosferatu has the edge. It's probably the most beloved silent horror of them all.
Wich2		#9	[-]
Apr 11 12 5:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>I also can't pass fair judgement on FAUST and WAXWORKS since I've only ever seen them in their old, crappy prints. I keep meaning to remedy that...< Rick, if only as a textbook example of what Fantasy every tool available to the Late Silent moviemaker could acheive, FAUST is amazing. (Of course, you have to put those tools in the hands of a genius like Murnau; I think it may be Ivan Butler, or some such writer, who riffs somewhere about how mind-blowing something like PETER PAN would have been in hands like his.)
Liz.stoogeworld		#10	[-]
Apr 11 12 7:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You pretty much have all the films I would've listed, James. Well done. Why don't you do something to help me? The Psycho Ward's Classic Film Reviews - request a film to be reviewed!
jamesenstein31		#11	[-]
Apr 11 12 9:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks, Stoogeworld.
pulp novelties		#12	[-]
Apr 12 12 2:00 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think Jean Epstein's 1928 FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is a masterpiece, obscure only because relative unavailability of the years (compared to PHANTOM, NOSFERATU, CALIGARI and the like).
jamesenstein31		#13	[-]
Apr 12 12 9:11 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	pulp novelties wrote: I think Jean Epstein's 1928 FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is a masterpiece, obscure only because relative unavailability of the years (compared to PHANTOM, NOSFERATU, CALIGARI and the like). I've seen that one. Very moody and dreamlike, anticipating what Dreyer did with VAMPYR. For some reason, I always lump it in with fantasy because of the imagery, though, which is odd considering the source.
pulp novelties		#14	[-]
Apr 12 12 3:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	jamesenstein31 wrote: pulp novelties wrote: I think Jean Epstein's 1928 FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is a masterpiece, obscure only because relative unavailability of the years (compared to PHANTOM, NOSFERATU, CALIGARI and the like). I've seen that one. Very moody and dreamlike, anticipating what Dreyer did with VAMPYR. For some reason, I always lump it in with fantasy because of the imagery, though, which is odd considering the source. Well, this goes around in circles in the silent forum, that is what constitutes horror in silent film. I'd argue that USHER has a sustained atmosphere of morbidity, and I agree it's the not-so-distatnt cousin of VAMPYR. I think FAUST has some fantastic imagery, but is more a literary morality-play, the same is true of HUNCHBACK and possibly even THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. These films are all the seeds of horror, with NOSFERATU being the through-and-through full-blooded horror film of the bunch.
jamesenstein31		#15	[-]
Apr 12 12 6:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	pulp novelties wrote: jamesenstein31 wrote: pulp novelties wrote: I think Jean Epstein's 1928 FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is a masterpiece, obscure only because relative unavailability of the years (compared to PHANTOM, NOSFERATU, CALIGARI and the like). I've seen that one. Very moody and dreamlike, anticipating what Dreyer did with VAMPYR. For some reason, I always lump it in with fantasy because of the imagery, though, which is odd considering the source. Well, this goes around in circles in the silent forum, that is what constitutes horror in silent film. I'd argue that USHER has a sustained atmosphere of morbidity, and I agree it's the not-so-distatnt cousin of VAMPYR. I think FAUST has some fantastic imagery, but is more a literary morality-play, the same is true of HUNCHBACK and possibly even THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. These films are all the seeds of horror, with NOSFERATU being the through-and-through full-blooded horror film of the bunch. I'd add PHANTOM, too, since Chaney plays him as sort of a macabre supervillain.
Frankensteinhead		#16	[-]
Apr 12 12 7:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Me and my daughter got to see FAUST at a church with live piano accompaniment last fall. It was awesome and my daughter loved Jannings portrayal of Mephistopholes. Toronto Rocks!
jamesenstein31		#17	[-]
Apr 12 12 7:58 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Frankensteinhead wrote: Me and my daughter got to see FAUST at a church with live piano accompaniment last fall. It was awesome and my daughter loved Jannings portrayal of Mephistopholes. Toronto Rocks! That sounds great! Jannings was terrific in one of his best roles.
Robert Laughlin		#18	[-]
Apr 21 12 5:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The list should have included Victor Sjostrom's KORKARLEN (THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE in English). Sad to say, this was a predictable omission; the great achievements of the Swedish silent cinema are still too little known outside Sweden.
Liz.stoogeworld		#19	[-]
Apr 21 12 6:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Robert Laughlin wrote: The list should have included Victor Sjostrom's KORKARLEN (THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE in English). Sad to say, this was a predictable omission; the great achievements of the Swedish silent cinema are still too little known outside Sweden. I loved KORKARLEN but I certainly wouldn't call it the greatest. As far as great achievements of Swedish silent cinema go, it definitely wasn't HAXAN. Why don't you do something to help me? The Psycho Ward's Classic Film Reviews - request a film to be reviewed!
jamesenstein31		#20	[-]
Apr 21 12 7:11 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Robert Laughlin wrote: The list should have included Victor Sjostrom's KORKARLEN (THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE in English). Sad to say, this was a predictable omission; the great achievements of the Swedish silent cinema are still too little known outside Sweden. That is one beautiful movie. I need to get that Criterion eventually. Thank you, for mentioning it!

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The 13 Greatest Horror Films Of The Silent Era

The 13 Greatest Horror Films Of The Silent Era