This week: The House Of The Devil Edited by: W.D.Wilcox  
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This horror newsletter is about the first horror movie ever made.
"Be afraid. Be very afraid." - The Fly (1986)
"They're here!" - Poltergeist (1982)
"I see dead people." - The Sixth Sense (1999)
"Do you like scary movies?" - Scream (1996)
"It's alive!" - Frankenstein (1931)
"We all float down here." - It (1990)
"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
"You can't hurt me." - Hellraiser (1987)
"You don't know what death is." - Halloween 2 (1981)
"Whatever you do, don't fall asleep." - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
"I'm your boyfriend now, Nancy." - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
"What an excellent day for an exorcism." - The Exorcist (1973)
"I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time, I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS F*: * COUCH!" - The Thing (1982)
"The box. You opened it. We came." - Hellraiser (1987)
"We have such sights to show you." - Hellraiser (1987)
"It rubs the lotion on its skin or else gets the hose." - Friday the 13th Part II (1981)
"I am your worst dream come true." - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
"We got this by the ass." - Dawn of the Dead (2004)
"When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth." - Dawn of the Dead (2004)
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Oh, The Horror
The First Horror Movie Ever Made, "The House of the Devil" by Georges Méliès, was made in 1896. It is a silent film without spoken dialogue. The narrative relies on visuals and minimal intertitles to convey the story of a haunted house and supernatural occurrences.
While there are no spoken quotes from Le Manoir du Diable, it's important to understand the context of early film and the limitations of the medium. Early horror films, like Le Manoir du Diable, used visual cues, exaggerated expressions, and dramatic staging to evoke fear and suspense.
The three-minute film is complete with cauldrons, animated skeletons, ghosts, transforming bats, and an incarnation of the Devil. While not intended to be scary—more wondrous, as was Mellies’ MO—it was the first example of a film (only just rediscovered in 1977) to include the supernatural and set a precedent for what was to come. Where the genre will go over the next hundred years is anyone’s guess, but sometimes it’s good to look back on the long road we’ve traveled to get to this point.
You can actually see this old film on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGKz-JYRmXo
Widely considered to be the finest era of the genre, the two decades between the 1920s and 30s saw many classics being produced and can be neatly divided down the middle to create a separation between the silent classics and the talkies.
On the silent side of the line, you’ve got monumental titles such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Nosferatu (1922), the first movies to really attempt to unsettle their audience. The latter title is one of Rotten Tomatoes’ best horror movies of all time and cements just about every surviving vampire cliché in the book.
Once the silent era gave way to the technological process, we had a glut of incredible movies that paved the way for generations to come, particularly in the field of monster movies – think the second iteration of Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932) and the first color adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).
The 30s also marked the first time that the word “horror” was used to describe the genre—previously, it was really just romance melodrama with a dark element—and it also saw the first horror “stars” being born. Bella Lugosi (of Dracula fame) was arguably the first to specialize solely in the genre.
And as well as unnerving its viewers, the genre was starting to worry the general public at this point, with heavy censoring and public outcry becoming common with each release. Freaks (1932) is a good example of a movie that was so shocking at the time it got cut extensively, with the original version now nowhere to be found. Director Tod Browning, who had previously created the aforementioned and wildly successful Dracula, saw his career flounder at the hands of the controversy.
The shock value of Freaks is one of the few that has aged well up until the present day and is still a highly disturbing watch. Freaks were banned for thirty years in the country that really came into its own during this period.
The Hammer horror company, while founded in 1934, only started to turn prolific during the fifties, but when it did, it was near global dominance (thanks to a lucrative distribution deal with Warner and a few other U.S. studios). Once again, it was adaptations like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Mummy that put the company squarely on the map, followed up by a slew of psychological thrillers and TV shows.
And, of course, you can’t mention British horror without paying respects to Alfred Hitchcock, single-handedly responsible for establishing the slasher genre, which we’ll see a lot of as we travel further forward in time.
Another hallmark of the 40s-50s era of horror came as a product of the times. With war ravaging Europe and fears of nuclear fallout running rampant, it’s of little surprise that horror began to feature less supernatural antagonists—radioactive mutation became a common theme (The Incredible Shrinking Man, Godzilla), as did the fear of invasion with The War of the Worlds and When Worlds Collide, both big hits in 1953.
The latter marked the earliest rumblings of the “disaster” movie genre, but it would be a couple more decades before that would get into full swing.
I hope you've enjoyed this. Until next time,
W.D.Wilcox
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Horror Flicks and Picks
| | | Ignatius Pyre (13+)
Ignatius makes a deal to become rich. 2nd in Short Shots Official WDC Contest, 03 2023.
#2293040 by Beholden  |
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I enjoyed the poetry. I’ve never thought of writing a horror poem. I might have to give it a try.
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Horror/Scary: May 07, 2025 Issue [#13116]
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