#horror movie history

[goryhorroor]

horror movie history: george méliès (1861-1938)

the man, the myth, the legend of horror movies is george méliès, who created the first horror movie "the house of the devil." originally an illusionist, his background helped him tweak and manipulate images on film. he created special effects on screen, such as spirits, dancing skeletons, giant creatures, and sudden appearances and disappearances. a trick that this early director used was what spirit photographers would use in the 1860s, which was the practice of using double exposures or superimpositions to depict ghosts within a frame of film. after dominating the very early film industry, he constructed a glass studio in paris, which is where he invented many cameras modifications and devices to help him bring his visions to screen. he is believed to be responsible for many special effects firsts: split screen, double exposure, overlapping dissolves, fades in and out, and stop motion photography.

[thefugitivesaint]

It's "Spooky" season so here's a retrospective on Hammer Studio, the British film production company whose influence on the history of horror cinema remains strong. A good companion piece to the above can be read here.

[laluzdejesusofficial]

What's interesting is that there are thousands of movies that include a shot of a J & B bottle on screen. J & B is a liquor that emulates a fancier palette whilst also being an incredibly cheap buy for the average joe. It isn't bottom shelf but it also isn't Don Julio 1942. In fact far from it. The dramatic colors of J & B as well as the classy label makes it perfect for a tasty shot, especially for horror films where the victim takes their last sip of sinful juice before being slaughtered.

San Jose artist Gabriel Edwards brings together several easter eggs from some of his favorite films into each piece. Watch one of your favorite films and let us know which easter eggs are from which scenes.

From Left to Right to Top to Bottom:

The Thing

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I have the Key

Silent Night Deadly Night

Rosemary's Baby

Gabriel's Instagram:

⁠@gabrieldedwards

[robsheridan]

[Update: Apocalypse in Pink part 2 is out now]

Before Barbenheimer, there was “Apocalypse in Pink,” the August 1983 theme of fashion/culture magazine SPECTAGORIA. The issue’s controversial imagery of Barbie-esque models attempting to stay gorgeous and glamorous amidst nuclear annihilation sought to, in the words of editor/photographer Sera Clairmont, “revel in the morbid absurdity of the new American condition,” an “anxiety vibrating underneath all our plastic smiles.”

���It’s The Hot Pink Cold War,” Clairmont wrote in her introduction. “It’s ‘Material Girl’ on the radio and ‘WarGames’ at the drive-in. It’s ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ interrupted by the emergency broadcast signal. We’re told to look sexy, dress fashionable, make money, and spend money, but be sure we’re just the right amount of terrified about the bomb. Get that Malibu dream home, keep working on that perfect body, sip cocktails by the pool in your little pink bikini and watching the stocks go up — but STAY VIGILANT! and for God’s sake vote Republican, because that dream home could melt into a pink plastic inferno at any given moment. Just don’t stop smiling as the blast liquefies your skin into bubbling ooze like a Barbie doll in a microwave - it’s bad for the economy.”

***Continued in PART 2***

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NOTE: This is a work of fiction created by me. This alternate reality horror story is part of my NightmAIres narrative art series (visit that link for a lot more). NightmAIres are windows into other worlds and interconnected alternate histories, conceived/written by me and visualized with synthography and Photoshop.

If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Patreon for frequent exclusive hi-res wallpaper packs, behind-the-scenes features, downloads, events, contests, and an awesome fan community. Direct fan support is what keeps me going as an independent creator, and it means the world to me.

[prokopetz]

Okay, so we all know the real reason for the vampires-versus-werewolves thing in popular culture is because back in the 1930s, the same studio owned the movie rights to Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman, and they decided to moosh them all together into what is arguably the first Big Stupid Cinematic Universe, but what's slightly less well known is that H G Wells' The Invisible Man was also part of that package. I want to see what the goofy we-swear-it's-personal-horror tabletop RPG based on that facet of the mythos looks like, weirdly artificial taxonomies of playable splats and all – everybody's invisible, but there are like five completely different possible reasons for that, plus a sixth, evil reason for being invisible which you're not allowed to play as because they secretly rule the world.

[daily-spooky]

These are called Witches Stairs. Allegedly, witches can't climb up them.

You will occasionally find them in very, very old New England homes.

[closetofcuriosities]

Videodrome - 1983 - Dir. David Cronenberg

First it controlled her mind, then it destroyed her body... LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!

[wh0-is-lily]

Pamela Courson in Corsica, France cemetery (1971) Filmed by Jim Morrison on Super 8 mm

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

Re-posting this for... reasons...

Vincent Price as the devil/Mr. Scratch

The Story of Mankind (1957)

[catgirl-kaiju]

okay, so i recently watched a god-awful movie from 1971 called "Horror of the Blood Monsters". while it contained some so-bad-it's good moments, it was mostly unbearable to watch. however, the parts that were the most interesting and entertaining, were colorized clips from a 1956 black-&-white Filipino english language film called "Tagani" (Alternatively called "Kahariang Bato" for the Tagalong release). I mean just look at this!

this looks so fun!

there's elaborate creature costuming that is really fun to see and at times fairly impressive for a low budget Filipino production in the 50s! i mean, just look at these sequences involving humanoid crab and bat creatures!

and there's a surprising amount of body diversity too! there are fat folks and a few actors with dwarfism who don't appear to be playing nonhuman roles!

so, i thought, i should find a copy of Tagani that i can watch since that's what i'd really like to be watching in the first place. but...

i can't fucking find it anywhere.

no uploads, no streaming, no home video releases, not even any indications of film reels being shown of it. what the fuck? where is Tagani??? have i stumbled into lost media?

the only indications of its existence are the footage in Horror of the Blood Monsters, a poster, and a trailer uploaded to youtube. i found links to the film uploaded to youtube when i searched on duckduckgo, but when i clicked on them, the uploads were gone! I was able to find a 1080p copy of HotBM, so in a just world, i would be able to find a 1080p copy of Tagani as well.

if anyone has this magnificent film archived or knows where i can go to find a copy of this, please let me know! i'd love to watch it and help preserve it! if you'd like to watch the Tagani segments in Horror of the Blood Monsters, i recommend skipping most of the portions involving the main cast of white american actors for the best experience. I do not recommend watching the full film as it's SO boring in most scenes. but the Tagani scenes never fail to entertain

[gameraboy2]

A Pictoral History of Horror Movies by Denis Gifford, 1973

[forgottenspring]

hot take

rocky horror is so hard to adapt and keeps causing waves of controversy because people keep boiling it down into hetero respectability culture of harmless and easy to digest gays and gender conforming trans people instead of letting it be what its always been

unrestrained queers doing what they want and engaging in queer joy regardless of society standards, which means yes frankenfurter is a villain but its regardless of him being genderqueer or gay

[horror-aesthete]

Renfield, 2023, dir. Chris McKay

[thedivinecomedy0]

Part 1.

[robsheridan]

“Apocalypse in Pink” part 2 (see part 1 here), from the August 1983 issue of SPECTAGORIA Magazine. Sera Clairmont’s celebrated underground fashion magazine was always scratching at the bleeding edge of culture, deftly navigating the trends of the Reagan ‘80s by simultaneously coopting and corrupting its materialistic obsessions. Never was that theme on visceral display than in this controversial issue. Apocalypse in Pink found Clairmont’s “Barbie dolls” trying to keep their glamour and their plastic smiles in the flames of a Capitalist Cold War simultaneously obsessed with materialism and annihilation; an America that, Clairmont wrote, “relentlessly asks women if we’re beautiful enough, if our clothes are fancy enough, if our pursuits are ambitious enough, and at the end of every night, if we know where our children are.”

In true Spectagoria fashion, what begins as stylish playful “nuclear Barbie” iconography gradually descends into horrific flames and melting pink plastic bodies, with only the womens’ smiles in tact on their smoldering skeletons at the end of the issue.

Reportedly, this issue was sent to Spectagoria subscribers in a package that included a pink lighter and a note that read, “when you’re finished reading, finish the job.” When burned, the magazine was said to ignite in a dazzling show of hot pink flames that sparkled and crackled, a performance art to complete the issue’s vision. As a result, Apocalypse in Pink is one of the most rare and coveted issues of the magazine, with no complete copies known to exist.

Most who have studied Spectagoria lore conclude that the exterior of the magazine was likely coated in a chemical powder that created the fantastical pink flames. But such a magic show has been meaty fodder for those who believe the rumors of occult powers and dark witchcraft surrounding the publication…

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NOTE: Spectagoria is an ongoing work of fiction created by me. This alternate reality horror story is part of my NightmAIres narrative art series (visit that link for a lot more). NightmAIres are windows into other worlds and interconnected alternate histories, conceived/written by me and visualized with synthography and Photoshop.

If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Patreon for frequent exclusive hi-res wallpaper packs, behind-the-scenes features, downloads, events, contests, and an awesome fan community. Direct fan support is what keeps me going as an independent creator, and it means the world to me.

[edelweiss-maiden]

emily perkins as brigitte fitzgerald in ginger snaps (2000) dir. john fawcett / praying the rosary (detail, 1914) by aurelia navarro moreno (1882-1968)