"And much of Madness,
And more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot."
- Edgar Allan Poe, The Conqueror Worm (1843)
A Short History
Please note: There are two parts to this first section: "A Short History," and "Filmic Terms" (shown below).
Click the link below to view the lecture videos. Watch them in order and take notes.
Click the link below to take the quiz on the History of Horror Cinema. Once you've finished the quiz, return here to continue this lesson.
Click the link below to access the reading for this lesson of the course.
Once you've finished your reading, click the link below to go to the forum and take part in our first class discussion.
Filmic Terms
Click the link below to view the lecture videos. Then move on to the assignment.
Once you've finished studying about filmic terms, click the link below to complete the assignment.
Did you know?
Le Manoir du diable, released in the United States as The Haunted Castle and in Britain as The Devil's Castle, is an 1896 French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès. The film, a brief pantomimed sketch in the style of a theatrical comic fantasy, tells the story of an encounter with the Devil and various attendant phantoms. It is intended to evoke amusement and wonder from its audiences, rather than fear; because of its themes and characters, however, it can technically be considered the first horror film, and (because it includes a transformation involving a bat) the first film depicting supernatural beings. The film is also innovative in length - its running time of over three minutes was ambitious for its era.
Taken from Wikipedia
Image credits, clockwise from top: Interview with the Vampire (1994), House on Haunted Hill (1959), Fright Night (1985), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Scream (1996), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Prom Night (1980).