Silent Screams

I know... the title of this blog sounds like the name of a cheesy '80s softcore action movie starring Shannon Tweed. Huh-huh, huh-huh.

I figured since it was my favorite month, and my favorite holiday of all is just around the corner, I'd focus a great deal of MLiS's attention this month on the bestest genre in the whole wide world. Out of all the genres in cinema (aside from pornography), horror is the most represented. As long as there has been celluloid to stamp the print on, horror has been an integral part of the industry.

But an unfortunate side effect to the longevity of film is, over the length of the years, a lot of silent movies have been overlooked by modern audiences. As the title of the article indicates, the purpose of this piece is to familiarize you, the reader, with some of the best of the bunch when it comes to silent horror.

Frankenstein (1910): Perhaps the first of the recognizable landmarks of the silent era, Thomas Edison's adaptation of Shelley's novel is undoubtedly the first milestone in horror cinema. Clocking in at about ten minutes, this film, like many of its descendants, takes quite a bit of liberty with the base story of the novel. You can watch it here:



Der Golem (1915): One of the first and only vaguely popular cinematic tales of the legendary "golem" (a clay statue that can be animated), the story begins in the 1500s when a golem is animated by a Polish Rabbi to save his city's Jews from the persecution of their rulers. Later found in the ruins of an old synagogue, it is brought to life by an antique dealer and used as [essentially] a slave. It eventually falls in love with the wife of the dealer, and it goes on a murderous rampage when its love for her goes unanswered. It's pretty obscure, but it's well worth your time. Check out Sohogolem's Youtube channel for the complete, restored version.

Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari / The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920): The finest example of Germany's Expressionist film movement, Caligari follows the story of Francis, Alan, and Francis's fiance Jane. Alan and Francis take a day at the fair, where they meet the exhibitionist Dr. Caligari and his somnambulist Cesare, who can predict the future. Alan asks how long he has to live, and Cesare says he has until dawn. The prophecy comes to pass, and Alan is found murdered. Of course, Cesare is a prime suspect. Cesare then creeps into Jane's bedroom and abducts her, running from the townspeople and finally dying of exhaustion. Meanwhile, the police discover a dummy in Cesare's cabinet, and Caligari flees. Francis then tracks Caligari to his mental asylum. A fabulous twist in the story then occurs, but telling it to you would spoil the whole thing more than I already have. Caligari is definitely one of my favorite horror films of all-time, and you'd be doing yourself an injustice by not going here to download a copy of it.

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922): The first theatrical edition of Bram Stoker's novel, F.W. Murnau's masterpiece portrays Dracula as a nosferatu instead of a dashing Eastern European aristocrat. Name changes were necessary because this version was so close to the novel's plot - Murnau did not have the rights to produce a movie using the Dracula name. So, Count Dracula became "Count Graf Orlock" (played by Max Schreck), Renfield became "Knock ein Hausermakler", and so on. Enough of the film was altered from the book so as not to completely infringe, but the Stoker estate sued the production company nonetheless and won. All known prints and negatives were destroyed under the terms of the settlement, but fortunately the film subsequently surfaced in other countries. Schreck's Orlock is undoubtedly one of the most faithful representations of the Dracula character. Original prints (w/the German names) exist prominently, but are quite expensive to procure on DVD. Download a modified print with Dracula-themed title cards here.

Un Chien Andalou (1929): Some would argue that this isn't technically a horror film, but I contend that it's undefinable with any genre. But, without a doubt, there is enough horrific and disturbing imagery throughout the film's sixteen minute runtime to qualify it, in my book. I can't really give you a plot synopsis, because the film has none... it's nothing more than a disjointed collection of imagery concocted by the messed-up minds of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali (which explains a lot). Even if it's strictly out of a sense of curiosity, you should check this one out. You can do that below.



If you couldn't tell, Germany no doubt ruled the silent horror scene, and Caligari and Nosferatu are still recognized as some of the best horror in existence: they are in the top 15 of the Top 50 Horror Movies of All-Time list at the Internet Movie Database. But that's not to say everyone else didn't have a say in the genre of Silent Horror: "The Man of a Thousand Faces" Lon Chaney scored a hat trick with The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), and London After Midnight (1927), and the best of the numerous Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde movies was released in 1920, starring John Barrymore as the good/bad doctor. Needless to say, this era foreshadowed the following few decades of horror quite nicely, when one entity, as with Germany, ruled the scene: Universal Studios. I'd almost go out on a limb and say that without the above films, Universal wouldn't have immortalized the horror movie.