A Blood Sucking Good Time
After a slight delay we are back for another week of Scaredy Nerds! With this new week we say goodbye to the silent films and hello to the start of vocal tracks! Keep the excitement in check, before we can get to the exciting movie of the week we need to go over your homework. You had an extra week so no excuses!
Phantom of the Opera:
Everyone knows the basic story of the Phantom of the Opera, but this first version is something special. This film brought to life the story of a deranged psychopath in amazing visual detail. But beyond that it gave cinema one the first real startle moments, a moment that many audiences still find terrifying. Of course I am referring to the moment where we finally get to see the Phantoms face. When Christine does finally unmask the Phantom we get treated to a horrifying visage. If for some reason you didn't watch the film, check out the unmasking here:Haxan:
No this wasn't a show on the history channel, but it was what the director called "a cultural history lecture in moving pictures".The movie starts as the kind of lecture you might see in a history class but turns into a display of witchcraft in the middle ages. It is important to note that The director can be seen in this movie as the devil, something many directors would later on do as well. The reason this film was so horrifying to audiences of the time was because of the documentary format that as choosen. Up until that time audiences were accustomed to their films being presented as purely fictional. The fact that this was presented as a documentary and thus "true" disturbed audiences of the day. It is because of this that it was important to watch. To put this in perspective, wasn't the Blair Witch Project only scary because there was doubt in the audience whether it was true or not.This Weeks Homework:
This week is a short week so we are only tackling one film, but it is a big one. This week we see Bela Lugosi in the film that made his name famous, Dracula! We have already seen vampires on screen in one form with the silent film Nosferatu, but this is something truly special. This film sets the scene for what modern audiences will come to recognize as vampires. Plus this is one of the earliest horror films to have a vocal soundtrack. So prepare for one of the most important films in the horror genre ever! As a side note, VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE!
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