The Haunted Castle
The Haunted Castle [1] is an 1896 three-minute-long French movie written, directed, and produced by Georges Méliès.[1] The movie contains many traditional pantomime elements. It was meant to amuse people, not frighten them. It is considered to be the first horror and vampire movie.[2] The Haunted Castle is now in the public domain.[3][4] In English, this movie has been known as The Haunted Castle, The Devil's Castle, The Devil's Manor, The Manor of the Devil, and The House of the Devil.[5][6] It was released on Christmas Eve, 1896, at the Theatre Robert Houdin, 8 boulevard des Italiens, Paris.[6]
Story
A large bat flies into a castle. The bat circles slowly while flapping its monstrous wings. Suddenly, it changes into Mephistopheles (Georges Méliès). After preparing a cauldron, the demon produces skeletons, ghosts, and witches from the bubbling contents of a cauldron. One of those summoned from the underworld holds up a crucifix. Satan vanishes in a blast of smoke.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Georges Méliès: EncoreFlicker Alley. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
- ↑ The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Horror. The Overlook Film Encyclopedia Series 3 (September 1994)Overlook Press. ISBN 978-0879515188.
- ↑ 'The Haunted Castle online streamingInternet Archive. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
- ↑ Wemaere, Severine. A Trip to the Moon: Back in color (La Couleur retrouvee du Voyage dans la Lune) (April 2011)Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage. p. 192. Retrieved 2011-09-03.[dead link]
- ↑ The House of the Devil (1896).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Le Manoir du Diable (1896). steve-calvert.co.uk. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
Other websites
- The Haunted Castle on IMDb
- Free download at https://archive.org/details/LeManoirDuDiable-GeorgesMelies1986
