When Was the First Horror Movie Released?
The horror genre has been around for years. This genre has led to many fans falling in love with horror, because of the amazing characters, villains, and unique storylines.
While I was pondering over how much I love horror, I can’t believe this hasn’t come to mind until yesterday:
“When did the first horror movie come out?”
The first horror movie was actually released to the world in the year 1896.
The man who brought the horror genre to life on the big screen was George Melies. He was a French pioneer filmmaker that brought horror to life in the 1890s!
The film was called, “Le Manoir du Diable.”
In English translation, the movie was released in the U.S. as The Haunted Castle, or released in the UK as The House of the Devil.
The movie was a 3-minute silent horror film! Can you believe that? A 3-minute horror film left such a huge impact on audiences! That’s insane!
The film focuses on two people who encounter the Devil in a castle.
The Devil causes a lot of crazy shenanigans to scare two random men who enter his castle.
He succeeds with scaring one of them and causing him to flee the castle, but the other one decides to stay and fight, besting the Devil in battle.
The Devil vanishes, ending the film.
The film was supposed to be seen as a comedy of sorts, because of the silly things that occur in this film. This film ended up scaring audiences instead, due to the characters and events that take place in this short.
Here is another fun fact, and I can’t believe what I just witnessed when I watched the movie. I had to search it up to make sure I was right:
This movie features the first vampire on screen!
The whole time, I truly believed it was Nosferatu that brought the first ever vampire on screen in 1922.
It’s all thanks for George Melies that vampires have become such a huge icon on screen!
Wow!
It is impressive how great the effects are in The Haunted Castle.
Here is the link below to check out the film:
https://youtu.be/OPmKaz3Quzo
The Devil creates a lot of insanity for these two random men who dare to trespass into his castle. He does a lot of trickery, making objects or people disappear or appear, messing with the minds of the two men.
It’s amazing how George was able to create a masterpiece like this so early in the movie industry! I was surprised to find myself hypnotized by everything that happened in the movie.
I can also see why people were scared of this movie. If you really think about it, having no music or soundtrack added to the movie makes it appear almost eerie.
Imagine coming home after a hard day's work and finding your partner or children sleeping on the couch. Then you see this film playing on the TV, completely silent.
Now that is creepy. If that happened to me, I would walk out of the house and return the next day.
I wish I could thank George Melies in person.
He is the reason why the horror genre has become so huge, and now whenever I am about to watch a horror movie, my mind will always go back to this 3-minute film.
The Haunted Castle is the reason why horror movies exist today.
Thank you, George Melies! For bringing my favorite genre to life!
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