Cinematical Seven: Horror Movies of the 1930s |
| Published: October 20, 2007, 4:02 pm |
| Tags: 1930s, bela lugosi, boris karloff, carl theodor dreyer, cinematical, dr jekyll mr hyde, edgar g ulmer, film, freaks, halloween2007, horror films, james whale, king kong, movie, the black cat, the mask of fu manchu, the old dark house, tod browning, vampyr |
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Filed under: Horror, Cinematical Seven Filmmakers dabbled in horror during the silent era, but it wasn't until the 1930s that studios realized how much money was waiting to be made in the genre. The short period between 1931 and 1934 heralded a mini-horror renaissance, highlighted by several potent new stars (Karloff, Lugosi, etc.) and by extraordinary black-and-white cinematography and set design. Two things happened to eventually kill it. Will Hays came in and began regulating morals in Hollywood movies, no longer allowing the more intense factors that made horror films interesting. And producers got greedy and began repeating successful formulas, cranking out increasingly anemic sequels to the dark originals. To be fair, I decided to choose only one film each from the era's two masters, Tod Browning and James Whale, otherwise they could have engulfed the entire list. I regret not being able to include anything by the great cinematographer-turned-director Karl Freund, whose The [ Full article ] |
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