Silent Screams – The Road to Elm Street | A Nightmare (1896)

Georges Melies — our defending champion — wins spot #2 in the series as well, this time for Le Cauchemar (aka A Nightmare).

It’s not exactly Wes Craven material as the presentation is more humorous than horrific (though Freddy can be a pretty funny dude at times). However, scary movies are so deeply rooted within nightmares that this work by the cinemagician cannot be ignored. It also happens to be highly entertaining and contains excellent stop-motion substitution tricks especially innovative for the time.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0222946/

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Silent Screams – World’s 1st Horror Movie | The Devil’s Castle (1896)

Considered the first horror movie — and arguably the first vampire movie — Le manoir du diable (aka The Devil’s Castle) is an 1896 Georges Melies film that runs for over 3 minutes, an astonishing length for the time.

The film has been known by a variety of alternate names — The Devil’s Manor, The Manor of the Devil, The House of the Devil, and The Haunted Castle — the latter is actually a different movie by Méliès, made 1 year later on the same set and with many of the same costumes. It is also notable for containing some of the earliest hand-tinting of images.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000091/

Alice Guy, 1st Female Filmmaker – The Cabbage Fairy [La fée aux choux] (1896)

The Cabbage Fairy (aka La fée aux choux) is the oldest surviving film directed by the world’s 1st female filmmaker, Alice Guy-Blaché. The short references a folk tale regarding the origin of babies, not unlike the delivery stork, and pre-dating Cabbage Patch dolls by about 80 years.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0223341/

March Melies Madness! – A Nightmare [Le Cauchemar] (1896)

A man’s nightmares are presented via the use of stop-cut substitution effects. A Nightmare (aka Le cauchemar), by Georges Méliès.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0222946/

March Melies Madness! – The Devil’s Castle [Le manoir du diable] (1896)

Considered the first horror movie, and arguably the first vampire movie, The Devil’s Castle (aka Le manoir du diable) runs over 3 minutes, an astonishing length for the time. The movie has been known by a variety of alternate names including The Devil’s Manor, The Manor of the Devil, The House of the Devil, and The Haunted Castle. The latter is often incorrectly attributed to this film, but “The Haunted Castle” is actually the name of a different movie by Méliès, filmed 1 year later.

Music performed by Billy Duncan for Change Before Going Productions.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000091/

March Melies Madness! – The Vanishing Lady [Escamotage d’une Dame au Théâtre Robert Houdin] (1896)

Georges Méliès stops the camera to create The Vanishing Lady (aka Escamotage d’une Dame au Théâtre Robert Houdin, literally The Conjuring of a Woman at the House of Robert Houdin). This was the 70th film by Georges Melies.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000075/

March Melies Madness! – A Terrible Night [Une Nuit Terrible] (1896)

In A Terrible Night (aka Une nuit terrible), a man tries to get a peaceful night’s sleep but is disturbed by a giant spider that leaps onto his bed. A battle then ensues in hilarious comic fashion. This is the 26th film by Georges Méliès.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000131/

March Melies Madness! – Post No Bills [Defense d’afficher] (1896)

Long thought to be a lost film, Post No Bills (aka Défense d’afficher) was recovered in 2004 and features two bill posters fighting over a poorly-guarded off-limit wall. It is the 15th movie by Georges Méliès.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000069/

March Melies Madness! – Card Party [Une partie de cartes] (1896)

The 1st of 555 known films by Georges Méliès, Card Party (aka Une partie de cartes aka Party of Cards) is a remake (the world’s 1st known movie remake) of Louis Lumiere’s Card Game. The Lumière original can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VGSjgi9l4c

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000132/

1st Reverse Motion in Film

Demolition of a Wall (1896) – Louis Lumiere

In Demolition of a Wall (aka Démolition d’un mur) by Louis Lumière, we see the action proceeding forward as expected, but at the mid-point of the film, the footage is reversed, taking us back to the beginning. This was the 1st movie to contain footage in reverse motion.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000070/