Post by Nalkarj on Dec 26, 2017 6:02:15 GMT
In my comments in @nxnwrocks’s thread on Murders in the Rue Morgue, I commented on what I called “horror-as-painting,” which can become “horror-as-poetry”—that is to say, horror based on the mood conjured up by the imagery, rather than by good acting, directing, or writing. That is not to say that these qualities do not exist in these movies—to the contrary!—but that mood dominates, to such an extent that we may see it such-and-such a picture as a “mood piece.” (Nor am I saying that pictures that do not fit this category lack completely in mood—simply that they’re not overwhelmed by it.) Again, horror as art generally and painting specifically.
I’d be interested in your thoughts as to why exactly you think so many movies fit this category. Is fear, as such a primal emotion, able to tap our natural artistry, as the Romantics might have claimed?
Anyhoo, a few pictures I’d classify as horror-as-painting:
Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari [The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari] (dir. Robert Wiene, 1920)
Häxan (dir. Benjamin Christensen, 1922)
Faust (dir. F.W. Murnau, 1926)
La chute de la maison Usher [The Fall of the House of Usher] (dir. Jean Epstein, 1928)
Dracula (dir. Tod Browning, 1931)
Vampyr (dir. Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932)
White Zombie (dir. Victor Halperin, 1932)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (dir. Robert Florey, 1932)
The Mummy (dir. Karl Freund, 1932)
Mark of the Vampire (dir. Tod Browning, 1935)
Mad Love (dir. Karl Freund, 1935)
The Seventh Victim (dir. Mark Robson, 1943)
The Curse of the Cat People (dir. Robert Wise, 1944)
Isle of the Dead (dir. Mark Robson, 1945)
Valkoinen peura [The White Reindeer] (dir. Erik Blomberg, 1952)
“The Picture,” sequence from Three Cases of Murder (dir. Wendy Toye, 1955)
The Brides of Dracula (dir. Terence Fisher, 1960)
Et mourir de plaisir [Blood and Roses] (dir. Roger Vadim, 1960)
La maschera del demonio [Black Sunday] (dir. Mario Bava, 1960)
The Dance of the Vampires [The Fearless Vampire Killers] (dir. Roman Polanski, 1967)
*I do not know whether or not to count Jean Coceatu’s sublime La belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast, 1946) and Charles Laughton’s equally superb The Night of the Hunter (1955) as horror, but—if they count—they most certainly deserve spots on this list.
I’d be interested in your thoughts as to why exactly you think so many movies fit this category. Is fear, as such a primal emotion, able to tap our natural artistry, as the Romantics might have claimed?
Anyhoo, a few pictures I’d classify as horror-as-painting:
Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari [The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari] (dir. Robert Wiene, 1920)
Häxan (dir. Benjamin Christensen, 1922)
Faust (dir. F.W. Murnau, 1926)
La chute de la maison Usher [The Fall of the House of Usher] (dir. Jean Epstein, 1928)
Dracula (dir. Tod Browning, 1931)
Vampyr (dir. Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932)
White Zombie (dir. Victor Halperin, 1932)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (dir. Robert Florey, 1932)
The Mummy (dir. Karl Freund, 1932)
Mark of the Vampire (dir. Tod Browning, 1935)
Mad Love (dir. Karl Freund, 1935)
The Seventh Victim (dir. Mark Robson, 1943)
The Curse of the Cat People (dir. Robert Wise, 1944)
Isle of the Dead (dir. Mark Robson, 1945)
Valkoinen peura [The White Reindeer] (dir. Erik Blomberg, 1952)
“The Picture,” sequence from Three Cases of Murder (dir. Wendy Toye, 1955)
The Brides of Dracula (dir. Terence Fisher, 1960)
Et mourir de plaisir [Blood and Roses] (dir. Roger Vadim, 1960)
La maschera del demonio [Black Sunday] (dir. Mario Bava, 1960)
The Dance of the Vampires [The Fearless Vampire Killers] (dir. Roman Polanski, 1967)
*I do not know whether or not to count Jean Coceatu’s sublime La belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast, 1946) and Charles Laughton’s equally superb The Night of the Hunter (1955) as horror, but—if they count—they most certainly deserve spots on this list.
