A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss: Frankenstein goes to Hollywood - AM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00v9gy5/A_History_of_Horror_with_Mark_Gatiss_Frankenstein_Goes_to_Hollywood/

• Cinema's are were we come for a 'collective dream'
• Horror films engage with our nightmares
• Lon Chaney
• Bela Lugosi
• Boris Karloff
• 'Realm of shadows and suggestions'
• 1925 - Silent - Phantom of the Opera
• Its about 'knowing you shouldn't look, but wanting to see'
• 'Feast your eyes- glut your soul, on my accursed ugliness!'
• Lon Chaney - Godfather of horror actors - man behind mask (Phantom of the Opera) - 'MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES'
• Silent era
• Chaney - 'extraordinary characterisation'
• Phantom of the Opera is as much an exercise in ethnic spectacle as it is a claustrophobic horror picture
• Dracula became a figure that could be... welcomed into society
• Dracula - first horror picture with sound
• Lagosi becomes a shadowy figure who 'comes to get you whilst you sleep'
• Could be said Dracula was the first modern horror film
• Atmospheric settings e.g. dark decaying castles
• Frankenstein - coffin corressed with negrophilic tenderness
• Daring tone and stylish execution
• Visionary but credible
• Frankenstein's face really tells a story e.g. through screws in neck
• Looking different makes a difference