Top 5 Horror Movies of the 1920s: Cinema's Silent Era At It's Best

Today, I look at what I consider the top 5 best horror films of the 1920's, the decade that really kick-started the movie industry and really defined the genres of action-adventure, comedy, horror, and sci-fi/fantasy.

Criteria:
Must have been made between the years of 1920 and 1929
Must be a horror film, or contain horroresque elements

But first, a little background...
     At the turn of the century, movies were beginning to gain a lot of traction, and replacing older art forms, such as vaudeville theater. Because of this, filmmakers began expanding their ideas, making them bigger and more fantastical. Movies went from five or ten-minute shorts to full-length features, with actual stories and characters. The movie star was born, with Lon Chaney Sr., Great Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Harold Lloyd becoming the subjects of immense public interest. Chaney is the one I'm going to focus in on, as he's most important in the topic of horror films.
     Chaney was born to two deaf parents, and thus had to learn to express himself through sign language and exaggerated facial expressions. These skills lent themselves to his career as a silent film actor, and he became a star of horror films, due to his penchant for playing freakish people who are tragically misunderstood by society, and his talent for applying his own gruesome makeup. He can be considered the man who made horror films a big thing in the U.S., but over in Europe, filmmakers were a bit ahead of him.
    In Germany, in particular, surreal horror was thriving. German expressionist cinema was a perfect platform for Gothic horror- weird characters, dream-like atmosphere, and imaginative sets and costumes are all components of both expressionist cinema and classic horror. Filmmakers such as F.W. Murnau and actors like Max Schreck and Conrad Veidt were terrifying European and American audiences alike, and they can be considered the true creators of the horror movie.

The List:

5. Haxan (1922): This Eastern-European masterpiece from Benjamin Christensen tells a tale of withcraft and devil worship, and although it was beloved in it's native Denmark, and is now considered a classic of silent cinema, at the time it was banned in several countries (including the U.S.) due to what was considered controversial depictions of torture, sex, or satanic worship.



4. The Golem (1920): This prequel to the 1915 film tells the original story of The Golem, a Jewish folklore monster, a creature made of clay who kills. With it's striking visuals and interesting background in ancient Hebrew lore, it's hard not to enjoy The Golem on some level.



3. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920): This German expressionist film is basically a surreal retelling of the Frankenstein story, with a nightmarish quality that looks like the visuals of artists such as Salvador Dali and Van Gough, as well as Tim Burton's black-on-white color scheme. It brought so many innovations to the world of movies: it introduced the idea of a scary movie, as well as perhaps having the first twist ending.



2. The Phantom of the Opera (1925): The only American film to make the list is undoubtedly Lon Chaney, Sr.'s best and most iconic performance. Adapting Gaston Leroux's eerie novel, the film tells the tragic and dark story of the lonely and possibly insane "Phantom" named Erik, who falls in love with an opera singer and intends to win her over, albeit in his own twisted way. Rare for American horror at the time, the monster is portrayed in a mostly sympathetic way that challenged many audience members. Not to mention Chaney's impressive and physically taxing self-made makeup job that still manages to creep under the skin today. When his character is first unmasked, audience members were said to have screamed in horror or simply fainted.



1. Nosferatu (1922): Undoubtedly the scariest film of the 1920's, this unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula was almost destroyed when Stoker's widow sued director F.W. Murnau for copyright infringement. The cinematography and Gothic look of the film are already impressive, but add in Max Schreck's eerie performance as the bat-like Count Orlok, whose inhuman appearance still sends shivers down the spine of moviegoers, and it's no wonder why this film is still heralded as one of the best vampire films ever made.

   (Images: Wikipedia)

Runner-ups: Faust, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, London After Midnight (lost film), The Cat and the Canary, The Bat.