Georges Méliès
I don't know if French film maker, Georges Méliès, is considered the grandfather of movie special effects. If not, he ought to be. Being an illusionist who utilized many technical developments in the earliest days of cinema, such as splicing, multiple film exposures, time lapse, scene dissolves, and early forms of film colorization that involved painting film, Méliès is most certainly a founding father of storytelling in film. Plus, he's known for being one of the first film makers to use storyboards.
On top of these achievements, he's also credited for producing what's believed to be the first horror movie, House of the Devil.
It was once considered a lost film until it was discovered at a New Zealand film archive in 1988. His groundbreaking, albeit very early, techniques are present in this short movie.
Since House of the Devil has a runtime slightly over three minutes, I watched this movie on my lunch break. Not all the horror movies I'm venturing through need to be an hour or more in running time. Anyways, the first claimed horror film needs to be counted among these 1,000 titles.
House of the Devil has a thin story line. Though being an early film, Méliès shows his masterfulness in impressing audiences with phenomenal visuals and effects.
It begins inside a castle where a bat transforms into a slave of the devil named Mephistopheles - the demon known in German folklore whom Faust sold his soul to.
With the assistance of a minion, Mephistopheles begins to conjure up demons in various forms through spells cast with a cauldron.
Meanwhile, two men enter the castle where the demons try to scare them by manifesting in terrible forms.
In the end *spoiler alert* one of the men produces a large crucifix to cast Mephistopheles out for good. Using camera pauses to create the illusion of spirit conjuring and disappearances, it's truly a fascinating film experiment. It deserves more than my mentioning it here.
House of the Devil was produced before Méliès's more famous silent film A Trip to the Moon - an early science fiction movie from 1902. Its iconic scene of a rocket lodged in the eye of the moon's face is still often seen today.
Méliès is a pioneer of movie magic with his special effects, careful and truly imaginary artistic scenery like those of a stage play. He's also the first to create fictional narratives.
Movies of this time were generally novel films depicting ordinary scenes in everyday life such as The Kiss (1896) by Thomas Edison. The title pretty much sums up that 30 second film. A man is seen flirting cheek to cheek with a lady, until the two engage in a simple, classy kiss. It was considered risque' at the time. It's pure and innocent by today's standards, of course.
French film makers Auguste and Louis Lumiere, brothers who were pioneers of motion pictures, are known for making such movies. Their movies have the impression of using motion picture cameras to take ordinary yet moving photos as though the brothers were using a regular still photography camera. These "Actuality Films," also called "Actualities" such as The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, Baby's Breakfast, The Gardener and Blacksmiths normally had a runtime of 30 to 40 seconds. And like The Kiss, their titles explain the subject matter. No story, necessarily. Rather, moving pictures of ordinary things. Still life in motion right before your very eyes.
Méliès saw these Actualities and harnessed their potential as a new and novel medium in story telling.
He portrayed extravagant science fiction, fantasy and in this case, thriller stories through on-camera physical transformations, magical acts, characters disappearing on screen right in front of audience's eyes, and other remarkable scenes audiences of the day had never seen in a picture before.
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| Mephistopheles summons a figure from a cauldron. |
House of the Devil depicts the ultimate battle in every horror movie. With limited tools, Méliès manages to portray the ultimate good symbolized through the faith of the two men and the crucifix against the ultimate evil depicted in Mephistopheles and his sinister sorcery.
The movie isn't necessarily meant to terrify audiences though images of a skeleton and demonic presences must have done just that with early film goers. Rather, it's visually displaying that eternal conflict which had never been portrayed in motion picture. It's this motif that became the foundation for all horror movies to follow decade after decade. Of course, it's a battle as old has mankind. Evil is ugly, proud, and fearful of good. Good, meanwhile, is strong and never fails to finally defeat evil. Never!
Movies this early didn't have credits.
So, it's believed among film historians that magician Jules Eugene Legris, who appears in A Trip to the Moon, portrays Mephistopheles. And many historians are certain stage actress Jehanne D'Alcy is the woman who appears out of the cauldron.
D'Alcy appears in other Méliès's films, and eventually became his wife.
Other silent horror pictures were made shortly after Méliès film, all before the turn of the century - A Terrible Night, A Nightmare, The X-Ray Fiend, The Bewitched Inn, Photographing A Ghost, The Cave of the Demons, Resurrection of a Corpse, Jizo the Spook, The Joyous Skeleton and The Miser's Doom to drop a generous number of titles.
The horror genre has Méliès to thank for implementing the solid foundational truth that in any horror movie, good must face evil in some way or another. And no matter how nightmarish evil's looming presence is, there is always a way to conquer it. It's up to the protagonist to find that narrow path that leads to victory. At least, until evil returns in the dreaded horror sequel.
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