Yes they are very good because each episode feels so distinct, those early silent horror films, the Universal monsters through to to those early 50s B movie sci-fi horror pictures. The British horror films of the 1950s-1970s which switched to 16:9 and were shot in colour, mostly set in the past and made on a shoestring budget. The last one is quite good but he seems to think a good horror movie hasn't been made since 1978. Love it or hate it you can't deny The Blair Witch Project was very powerful and influential in the late 90s..... Good interviews too in the series.
I watch this every so many months . I too love horror but only recently had good access to it . Most good horror movies were made before I was born or when I was to young to see it in cinemas . A prospective like this gives me names of great horror that I knew nothing of . Then I can research buying copies of these movies . It’s a great time to be alive .
This is one of the finest documentaries I've ever seen on ANY subject...greatly benefits from Mark's obvious personal Love and appreciation for the genre
As a child I cried so much for the Frankenstein monster. My mom used to laugh at me. Years later I read the book and I realized Karloff's monster was exactly as Mary Shelley described. The loneliness. The longing. Karloff was perfect.
Karloff was not eating well when they found him . He was gaunt and that added to the character . Once he started making money he filled out and the monster never looked so sickly again .
I think Karloff purposefully played for sympathy . He said that he was told by many fans that they identified and sympathized with the wretched lonely creature as kids .
Shelley was just 19 when she wrote the story, and still Mary Godwin, the daughter of William Godwin, himself a famous writer, and his wife Mary Wolstoncroft, an early feminist writer who has statues and memorials to her memory across UK
Im still so upset that they tore down the Phantom of the Opera set. Literally destroying film history. It should have stood forever, for film fans to come and enjoy, and step inside a piece of iconic film history for themselves. Film studios amaze me sometimes. Whoever okayed the decision to tear it down should be shot.
I am sure it was brittle and dry . Must have cost them a lot to insure . Seemed like a fire hazzard . For what its worth I was saddened to hear about it too
The set facades themselves are still intact! The original 1924 stage that had housed them for so long, however, has indeed been demolished. I couldn't find any updates as to the future placement of the Opera House itself, but Universal has invested millions in its careful removal & storage so it's safe for now. Without further investment from a museum or other cultural heritage facility the set pieces will certainly be in jeopardy again eventually, so if any of us has a good connection at such an arty place we should remind them of the situation.
The original universal Dracula holds up really well I still think. The two Frankenstein films are also very disturbing. The Mummy is also very good, though not scary but very classy and well acted.
I always tear up when he gets to Lugosi's outcome and how things didn't work out for this magnificent and other worldly man. 😢😞💔 "Dracula is hamlet to me"....what an actor...
Thank you for that touching post, I had no idea. Glad Mark Gatiss bagged this great interview with her about Lon Chaney and the early days of big screen horror.
@@TheBionicRectum Wow, I just looked her up after reading your post, you're quite right. Carla Laemmie was born October 20 1909, and died aged 104 on June 12th 2014 It makes me sad, because my dear grannie was born just 2 days later on October 22nd 1909, and died in May 1995, aged 85. I wish she had gone on another 19 years in good health, as long as this lady did! Carla never married or had children (she lived with divorced actor-writer Raymond Cannon until his death in 1977). Maybe that's the secret of long life!
"What always appealed to me most (about horror films) was just the sense of going into a different realm; a realm of shadows, suggestion and spookiness." Really strong writing. Well done, fellow horror enthusiast!
I am glad I watched this documentary. As a child I was taught to dislike horror films because they were the depiction of fear, and fear was for feeling not taming through depiction. Recently I have been reading and listening to the history of eugenics, all those altered statistic, false narratives etc that both others and condemns minorities and creates a narrative of the superiority of a few rich white men. The horror films from the 1920's to the 1940's with their singular and wealthy white protagonists could be seen as a popular entertainment mirror to the false justifications of eugenics. Science leading to folly is a powerful idea, both in eugenics and in horror films.
When Gatiss commented on the pages of a book he couldn't look at as a kid, I knew exactly what he was talking about. I'll never forget the first time I saw Freaks. That movie is clearly underrated.
Hearing of Lugosi's fate, I was suddenly struck by the idea of how wonderful it would have been had he been offered the chance to play Van Helsing in the Dracula stage play revival. It would have been a nice opportunity to escape the character and pass the torch along, while also creating an interesting real-world rivalry between himself and the actor who played the Count, which might have added to their performances. A shame things didn't play out that way. I think he would have been wonderful as an obsessive, but kind hero. We almost got a glimpse of that in The Black Cat, I think.
He was still playing Dracula in the early 50's onstage here and in London and his ego/machismo would never permit him to play any other role in that play. He still looked vital in 1947 w Bud and Lou and he was 65.
I am assuming that you are referring to The Black Cat from 1934 (one of my favorite films with Lugosi and Karloff) and not the later film from 1941. Am I correct?
no need to worry about Bela, no matter about his bad luck in Hollywood, he's still extremely famous and his memory and his movies will be remembered long after every body who is currently alive are long gone.
@King of All Buttocks what? Mark is a total horror fanboy, and did a fantastic job with this documentary. What an ignorant and incorrect comment. Rude fuck. What's your problem? I hate people in the comments like you. Did you not get enough attention as a child or something??
@King of All Buttocks How dare you! Mark is a talented actor, writer, and producer on shows like Sherlock and Dr Who. For that alone, he gets my respect, as I love those shows, especially Sherlock.
What makes "A&C Meet Frankenstein" work so well is that, if you took A&C out, you still have a classic Universal horror film - Count Dracula, with the help of a mysterious, beautiful European scientist (who, it is hinted, may be a fugitive Nazi war criminal) is planning to resuscitate the Monster. Meanwhile, an always serious, tragic Larry Talbot is trying to thwart him. All of those actors play their parts straight, which adds to both the tension and the humor.
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" from 1931 is my favorite horror film of all time. For all the times I've watched it I am still amazed that March plays both Jekyll "and" Hyde. Not only by makeup, but also by his brilliant acting, one can't ever tell the two apart. Simply amazing.
Well done with the prologue, Mr. Gatiss & co! I was lucky to watch the censored cut of "Frankenstein" on cable in 1974 and remember every moment. Thank you for this excellent docu
Those old actresses were so elegant and charming. It shows us what we can do aging gracefully. I always feel sad about Bela Lugosi. Somewhere he took a wrong turn in his career and couldn't go back. He's like Barbara Steele in the sense that they both wanted to work in more "serious roles" but something about them made Gothic Horror the niche they were born to play in. Karloff had the sense to embrace this for himself. Maybe his long struggle to succeed made him realize he was lucky to be in these films.
I swear half my anecdotes come from this documentary. I remember recording it off the TV and watching it repeatedly. 11 years later, I'm watching it yet again! So glad this is on here.
My mum relates the story about being forced to see Phantom of the Opera, and leaping into a stranger's lap, uncontrollably screaming, when the Phantom's true face is revealed. It is difficult to pin point what makes certain horror movies memorable or otherwise. Is it the suspense, and ultimate reveal? Is it the suspense and imagined terror when it is not revealed? For me, it is the creation of mood. This is many things, obviously, but for me, it is characters portrayed in a void. Be that Space (Aliens), the Overlook Hotel (The Shining), The Ocean (Jaws), an Icescape (The Thing) or a Wilderness (The Blair Witch Project), to name but a few, the feeling you are on your own is the most powerful mood one can create in Horror.
Your mom’s reaction made me laugh. My mom, even though she was a little girl at the time, remembered hearing stories about people fainting or running screaming from the theater when Chaney’s mask was removed. It may be hard for some people to realize it now (what with all the horror and gore we have subsequently been exposed to since then) but people back then were scared out of their wits because they had never been exposed to anything like that before.
@@MsAppassionata So true. It would have been a visceral experience for them. They seem to still be referred to, even now, which is a testament to their quality and originality, I guess.
I was thinking, this Mark Gatiss guy is JUST, like me. We're approximately the same age, and obviously, the same interests😁. He may be British, as I'm United Statesian, no big deal. BUT, when he iterates about a gift, he was given as a child, and holds it up @ (36:00), low and behold, it's the same book I was given as a kid, also as a gift 😲!!!! The only difference is, I was older (12), when I received it. I STILL HAVE the book as part of my, sci-fi/horror collection. Wowsers, what's the odds, in that🤔⁉️ That book was my first reference to films, on paper with pictures!!!
Horror is the genre that can most showcase and embody the human condition, and that is what gives it such power as a storytelling genre. It is where we are given the rare opportunity to side with, not the hero, but the villain of the story.
Nice to hear the proper pronunciation of 'Bela'. Anyone who could/can sit through professional golf to catch sight of a Horror Star is truly a fan, indeed!
Thats one thing about, Mark, he SUITS horror things, there is a certain air about him that makes him perfect for horror stuff and that voice of his sounds like the perfect voice to be as mad as a hatter in something horror all by itself.
He wrote and produced a supernatural mini series called Crooked House. Three stories about an old haunted house based in three different eras... Really good, wish he'd do more.
We don’t get great documentaries like this in America. The History Channel has turned into a Goddamned joke, along with the Discovery and Learning channels. National Geographic? They’ve taken a fatal blow as well. It’s all a bunch of Goddamned reality shows.
Burton was at his best when he took on new material and stories no-one had done before. Sadly, the vast majority of his output is comprised of either remakes or adaptations of well-known works. The director of "Ed Wood" would toss a drink in the face of the director of the live action "Dumbo" remake.
I don't know how many times I have watched this video but its a lot . I think Gatiss and I have the same feeling about horror that we no longer see reflected in horror movies today .
You will love Cinemassacres' videos on horror films. James, aka AVGN, is an avid hardcore horror film fanatic. He has quite an extensive collection of videos on the topic. He is more of a horror film nerd than a video game nerd. I love the classics too. ^_^
The Dracula/Frankenstein double bill was the idea of a theatre owner who needed a cheap double bill. Universal jumped on the bandwagon when they saw his success with it.
I love the bits where Mark just sits in the cinema, watching those movies. He's such a cute and sophisticated man. I adore him. His voice isn't bad either. :)
Mr Karloff and Mr Rathbone as well as George Saunders , are my favorite actors along with Atwill and Zucco . Always loved the look they achieved on film . I feel like Ray Davies , feeling ennui for an older time . Thanks for posting .
I've literally only just discovered this. And I've still got parts 2 & 3 to go. Definitely going to dedicate more time to this period of horror cinema when I do my 31 days of horror next year.
Iv followed Mark Gatiss's career since The League of Gentlemen days & especially his supernatural endeavours. He's brilliant as The Man in Black & really creepy narration skills. Have just recently thought that hes got a bit of a likeness to Prince Harry ! 🌝
Obscure Entertainment Maybe try All the Boys Love Mandy Lane instead of the Babadook, 85% of the way through u think it’s good but when the twist happens you’ll say oh it’s genius!
I was worried that Lugosi's scandal sheet would be center stage of this monster history. Gatiss fine tunes the experience with a faith only found in masters of the genre.
They scored a real coup by including Carla Laemmle in this documentary. Amazing that she's still alive, and boy is she SHARP! What a treat to see her reciting the first lines from the original "Dracula".
As a big horror fan, I've found your series of documentaries on the genre both classy, insightful, and marvelously complete, a masterwork, really. Kudos!!
Late as hell to this party, but man I can't agree with you more on this statement. He really shined in that role. He totally upstaged Karloff in that one if I have my films straight here.
Yes,as well as struggling with alcoholism and disease in his later years.However,contrary to the claims of this documentary and the Ed Wood film Bela was always extremely polite even to his "rivals",true to his socialistic nature!
@@AspieMediaBobby Béla did seem a real gent. Our dad as a teenager served Boris Karloff {Willie Pratt} in Ralph Hughes Men'sClothiers, East Sheen.... 'Boris' was also a Gentleman. I watched a 'Dracula' ..oops, sorry, Frankenstein...film as a child on TV {1970's] and it scared me so much.. but when dad said That 'Boris' used to buy stuff from the shop where he worked and was very 'un scary', it made me feel better. Dracula was less scary to me than Frankenstein's monster.
I saw the broadway touring company in 1978 with Jeremy Brett as Dracula. It was funny erotic spellbinding thrilling and had one huge jumps scare. Loved it
I used to have that book, The Movie Treasury of Horror Movies. It was kind of a bible to me as well. I used it to educate myself by renting as many of the more highly recommended movies on VHS.
Mark doesn't appreciate Bela Lugosi as Dracula (1931). No one will ever play Dracula as creepy as Bela. The sets, music, shadows in the 1931 classic are all the creepiest. Bela doesn't need gore, blood or fangs. He is the BEST.
I saw this when it was originally broadcast. Fantastic. I love the presentation and the fabulous interviews. A great, personal, look at wonderful movies of the past.
This is great! Max Schreck‘s Dracula was worth a mention as his appearance was truly scary. My thanks to them all for building the good scary movie to entertain us all!
And of course you know, people don't scream when in utter fear - they stare or look away. True blood curdling fear is silent. That's why I prefer silence when the deed is done.
Horror is truly an underappreciated genre in Hollywood. Just because it doesn't star an all A list cast or has michael bay explosions doesnt mean they aren't amazing movies. We all love these movies because I feel deep down we enjoy getting scared or seeing what's lurking in the darkness.
No mention of Nosferatu? If only as a precursor to the period he's rightly interested in regarding highly in this episode, some mention would seem to be warranted. If that's just my opinion then fine, but as an early classic horror movie, especially since he later moves on to discuss every iteration of dracula there's been since, Nosferatu is at least be a footnote, surely?
Aron Le Baron l agree, Nosferatu should be here, most especially as Max Schreck was in real life an unnervingly weird person who’s behaviour was extremely strange - and he wasn’t acting. This, l think, would make him more relevant to the whole horror platform.
This is a great documentary to watch around Halloween season. I like that he was very respectful toward Bela Lugosi and left out any mention of his controversies including his Ed Wood period.
I really enjoyed this documentary I didn't realize that Mark Gatiss is a horror fan.I love the way he talks and I am the same age as him so I watched the same things as him .He explains brilliantly the story of horror and makes me want to watch one.He is perfect for this program.
Jules There are two types of children; those who are afraid a monster is under their bed, and those who are afraid there isn't. I always thought I didn't have a monster because it was afraid of me.
I'm 15 and have a fascination for horror, death and all sorts of things. I'm not goth or an emo, I don't wear all black all the time, but I often waffle on about monsters and serial killers, coding and horror movies. I am called strange by my peers, and adults think I'm a bit of a creepy child.
Been a horror fan since I was a kid. The hand-painted VHS horror cover art always got my attention in the video stores. I think my earliest memory was watching Maniac Cop 1 when I was 7yo, thanks to an awesome babysitter ('88), asides from that most kids meet horror monsters early through Halloween; whether they're truly aware of them; 30-odd yrs '000's of horror films later, still a fan. It is fascinating to see how the genre has evolved and grown. These^, White Zombie and Freaks were considered scary and horrifying; I'd love to see those audiences reactions to later horror: Modern Horror: Hold my beer! - The Exorcist, The Thing, 31, Terrifier, Ju-On (Grudge), 28 Days Later, Grave Encounters, Cannibal Holocaust or Last House on the Left, Saw, Evil Dead (Feel like Pinhead "I have such sights to show you" :D) What would they think, not in retrospect, but if in like a double feature The Mummy followed by The Descent or The Werewolf followed by An American Werewolf in London (especially to Piccadilly cinema goers). It's funny those ^ could be considered going easy on them and yet PG films like Ghostbusters and Poltergeist would likely terrify them! A 1940's reaction to Sleepaway Camp and it's ending would be priceless; their mouth's would end up wider than Felissa's!! :D 50:10 - If you've got a monster, show it!! What do you know John Carpenter, not a Thing!?! :D 1otB We love our horror in the Black Country and -Deadly- Dudley! >XD
@@TheEyez187 Yeah, that's true, I just wonder why it grabs some people and not others. It seems like the kind of thing I would be into, but although I like some horror I never became a huge fan.
Mark's passion for horror is so addictive. Each of the three episodes is compulsive viewing.
check out the Shudder series "Queer For Fear" - Mark appears several times and it's fascinating!
Yes they are very good because each episode feels so distinct, those early silent horror films, the Universal monsters through to to those early 50s B movie sci-fi horror pictures.
The British horror films of the 1950s-1970s which switched to 16:9 and were shot in colour, mostly set in the past and made on a shoestring budget.
The last one is quite good but he seems to think a good horror movie hasn't been made since 1978.
Love it or hate it you can't deny The Blair Witch Project was very powerful and influential in the late 90s.....
Good interviews too in the series.
I watch this every so many months . I too love horror but only recently had good access to it . Most good horror movies were made before I was born or when I was to young to see it in cinemas . A prospective like this gives me names of great horror that I knew nothing of . Then I can research buying copies of these movies . It’s a great time to be alive .
This is one of the finest documentaries I've ever seen on ANY subject...greatly benefits from Mark's obvious personal Love and appreciation for the genre
I think it's awesome that Mark was able to interview Carla Laemmle and Gloria Stuart before they died.
As a child I cried so much for the Frankenstein monster. My mom used to laugh at me. Years later I read the book and I realized Karloff's monster was exactly as Mary Shelley described. The loneliness. The longing.
Karloff was perfect.
Karloff was not eating well when they found him . He was gaunt and that added to the character . Once he started making money he filled out and the monster never looked so sickly again .
I think Karloff purposefully played for sympathy . He said that he was told by many fans that they identified and sympathized with the wretched lonely creature as kids .
Shelley was just 19 when she wrote the story, and still Mary Godwin, the daughter of William Godwin, himself a famous writer, and his wife Mary Wolstoncroft, an early feminist writer who has statues and memorials to her memory across UK
Im still so upset that they tore down the Phantom of the Opera set. Literally destroying film history. It should have stood forever, for film fans to come and enjoy, and step inside a piece of iconic film history for themselves. Film studios amaze me sometimes. Whoever okayed the decision to tear it down should be shot.
Just another ghost now...
I am sure it was brittle and dry . Must have cost them a lot to insure . Seemed like a fire hazzard . For what its worth I was saddened to hear about it too
Yes sad but it’s probably for the best. The sets were old and like one comment said. Could have caught fire. Surprised it never did.
Damn, that sucks! That set was almost a hundred years old. It was also used in Amadeus and The Muppets!
The set facades themselves are still intact! The original 1924 stage that had housed them for so long, however, has indeed been demolished. I couldn't find any updates as to the future placement of the Opera House itself, but Universal has invested millions in its careful removal & storage so it's safe for now. Without further investment from a museum or other cultural heritage facility the set pieces will certainly be in jeopardy again eventually, so if any of us has a good connection at such an arty place we should remind them of the situation.
The original universal Dracula holds up really well I still think. The two Frankenstein films are also very disturbing. The Mummy is also very good, though not scary but very classy and well acted.
I watch these documentaries every few years - pure comfort viewing
Wow! The Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde transformation STILL looks great and creepy.
I always tear up when he gets to Lugosi's outcome and how things didn't work out for this magnificent and other worldly man. 😢😞💔 "Dracula is hamlet to me"....what an actor...
And the yearly Halloween rewatch of this series begins... Thanks for uploading!
Enjoy!
I'm glad they got the interview with Carla Laemmle. She passed away 5 months after this video was published. She was absolutely stunning.
Thank you for that touching post, I had no idea. Glad Mark Gatiss bagged this great interview with her about Lon Chaney and the early days of big screen horror.
@@glamdolly30 She still seemed mentally sharp here too, she remembered her opening lines from Dracula which would of been 80 years ago.
@@jayjay66111 Yes indeed - pretty amazing! And wasn't she pretty in old age, she retained her charisma to the end.
@@TheBionicRectum Wow, I just looked her up after reading your post, you're quite right. Carla Laemmie was born October 20 1909, and died aged 104 on June 12th 2014
It makes me sad, because my dear grannie was born just 2 days later on October 22nd 1909, and died in May 1995, aged 85. I wish she had gone on another 19 years in good health, as long as this lady did!
Carla never married or had children (she lived with divorced actor-writer Raymond Cannon until his death in 1977). Maybe that's the secret of long life!
@@glamdolly30 THAT'S WHY, she lived so long 😏!! Alot, less stress…………
"What always appealed to me most (about horror films) was just the sense of going into a different realm; a realm of shadows, suggestion and spookiness." Really strong writing. Well done, fellow horror enthusiast!
Mark Gatiss has an amazing narration voice
This is the greatest history of horror movies ever made IMO
I am glad I watched this documentary. As a child I was taught to dislike horror films because they were the depiction of fear, and fear was for feeling not taming through depiction. Recently I have been reading and listening to the history of eugenics, all those altered statistic, false narratives etc that both others and condemns minorities and creates a narrative of the superiority of a few rich white men. The horror films from the 1920's to the 1940's with their singular and wealthy white protagonists could be seen as a popular entertainment mirror to the false justifications of eugenics. Science leading to folly is a powerful idea, both in eugenics and in horror films.
When Gatiss commented on the pages of a book he couldn't look at as a kid, I knew exactly what he was talking about. I'll never forget the first time I saw Freaks. That movie is clearly underrated.
I have never seen it . I was always afraid it was exploitive
Mark's obvious love of the genre makes this a pleasure to watch. Great series, thanks for uploading.
yes; I'm not a horror fan, but I found this quite interesting and entertaining from his 'fanboy' perspective.
Yes , I hate it when presenters act likes it’s just kid stuff
Hearing of Lugosi's fate, I was suddenly struck by the idea of how wonderful it would have been had he been offered the chance to play Van Helsing in the Dracula stage play revival. It would have been a nice opportunity to escape the character and pass the torch along, while also creating an interesting real-world rivalry between himself and the actor who played the Count, which might have added to their performances.
A shame things didn't play out that way. I think he would have been wonderful as an obsessive, but kind hero. We almost got a glimpse of that in The Black Cat, I think.
toonbat would have been perfect!!!
toonbat it’s odd that he never worked in Spy films
@@Reprodestruxion He did make 1 or 2.
He was still playing Dracula in the early 50's onstage here and in London and his ego/machismo would never permit him to play any other role in that play. He still looked vital in 1947 w Bud and Lou and he was 65.
I am assuming that you are referring to The Black Cat from 1934 (one of my favorite films with Lugosi and Karloff) and not the later film from 1941. Am I correct?
no need to worry about Bela, no matter about his bad luck in Hollywood, he's still extremely famous and his memory and his movies will be remembered long after every body who is currently alive are long gone.
@Bub Zilla He's in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
@@GabyGibson No the presenter Mark Gatiss was in a sketch comedy show called league of gentlemen. Very funny show
@King of All Buttocks what? Mark is a total horror fanboy, and did a fantastic job with this documentary. What an ignorant and incorrect comment. Rude fuck. What's your problem? I hate people in the comments like you. Did you not get enough attention as a child or something??
@King of All Buttocks How dare you! Mark is a talented actor, writer, and producer on shows like Sherlock and Dr Who. For that alone, he gets my respect, as I love those shows, especially Sherlock.
@King of All Buttocks Always gonna be asswipes like you around.
What makes "A&C Meet Frankenstein" work so well is that, if you took A&C out, you still have a classic Universal horror film - Count Dracula, with the help of a mysterious, beautiful European scientist (who, it is hinted, may be a fugitive Nazi war criminal) is planning to resuscitate the Monster. Meanwhile, an always serious, tragic Larry Talbot is trying to thwart him. All of those actors play their parts straight, which adds to both the tension and the humor.
Boris Karloff's voice, wow makes my spine chill even now!
Fun thing, Boris earned most of his money pre-Frankenstein by reading childrens book on Radio :-)
It's really cool watching a great writer and actor like Mark, let out his inner fan boy. :)
i don't even consider myself as a horror fan but his enthusiasm has made me watch this series multiple times. league of gentlemen is class though
Lon Chaney was so great. A true original.
There was no template for what he did. He paved the way for modern horror.
U forgot Conrad Viedt😥 The man inspired so much of later pop culture, he deserves a mention. Karloff was amazing❤
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" from 1931 is my favorite horror
film of all time. For all the times I've watched it I am still
amazed that March plays both Jekyll "and" Hyde. Not only
by makeup, but also by his brilliant acting, one can't ever
tell the two apart. Simply amazing.
I absolutely love that movie. March is terrific in it and Hyde is so menacing. I watch it a few times a year.
Im only a few minutes into this and I love it. BBC has such wonderful & in depth documentaries
Well done with the prologue, Mr. Gatiss & co! I was lucky to watch the censored cut of "Frankenstein" on cable in 1974 and remember every moment. Thank you for this excellent docu
Those old actresses were so elegant and charming. It shows us what we can do aging gracefully. I always feel sad about Bela Lugosi. Somewhere he took a wrong turn in his career and couldn't go back. He's like Barbara Steele in the sense that they both wanted to work in more "serious roles" but something about them made Gothic Horror the niche they were born to play in. Karloff had the sense to embrace this for himself. Maybe his long struggle to succeed made him realize he was lucky to be in these films.
I swear half my anecdotes come from this documentary. I remember recording it off the TV and watching it repeatedly. 11 years later, I'm watching it yet again! So glad this is on here.
must be just great to be able to chat with the actors so many years later
The way Gloria Stewart slyly smiled after “ crying “ was endearing . She was laughing at her youthful self
My mum relates the story about being forced to see Phantom of the Opera, and leaping into a stranger's lap, uncontrollably screaming, when the Phantom's true face is revealed. It is difficult to pin point what makes certain horror movies memorable or otherwise. Is it the suspense, and ultimate reveal? Is it the suspense and imagined terror when it is not revealed? For me, it is the creation of mood. This is many things, obviously, but for me, it is characters portrayed in a void. Be that Space (Aliens), the Overlook Hotel (The Shining), The Ocean (Jaws), an Icescape (The Thing) or a Wilderness (The Blair Witch Project), to name but a few, the feeling you are on your own is the most powerful mood one can create in Horror.
Your mom’s reaction made me laugh. My mom, even though she was a little girl at the time, remembered hearing stories about people fainting or running screaming from the theater when Chaney’s mask was removed. It may be hard for some people to realize it now (what with all the horror and gore we have subsequently been exposed to since then) but people back then were scared out of their wits because they had never been exposed to anything like that before.
@@MsAppassionata So true. It would have been a visceral experience for them. They seem to still be referred to, even now, which is a testament to their quality and originality, I guess.
I was thinking, this Mark Gatiss guy is JUST, like me. We're approximately the same age, and obviously, the same interests😁. He may be British, as I'm United Statesian, no big deal. BUT, when he iterates about a gift, he was given as a child, and holds it up @ (36:00), low and behold, it's the same book I was given as a kid, also as a gift 😲!!!! The only difference is, I was older (12), when I received it. I STILL HAVE the book as part of my, sci-fi/horror collection. Wowsers, what's the odds, in that🤔⁉️ That book was my first reference to films, on paper with pictures!!!
Horror is the genre that can most showcase and embody the human condition, and that is what gives it such power as a storytelling genre. It is where we are given the rare opportunity to side with, not the hero, but the villain of the story.
I love the intro a great call to the intro the Frankenstein 1933 movie
Nice to hear the proper pronunciation of 'Bela'.
Anyone who could/can sit through professional golf to catch sight of a Horror Star is truly a fan, indeed!
Béla was correct, but Lugosi wasn't.
still, amazing commentary
Thou art most knowledgeable,
English Bunnies Rock.
@@TOR1Hershman I sat through pro-celebrity golf on 2 to catch a sight of the Great Man - and Telly Savalas!
Thats one thing about, Mark, he SUITS horror things, there is a certain air about him that makes him perfect for horror stuff and that voice of his sounds like the perfect voice to be as mad as a hatter in something horror all by itself.
TheLostLenore that voice, yes!
also: an Edgar Allan reference. Sweet.
Well he will be doing Dracula
TheLostLenore i would say if they ever wanted to remake hammer classic he would be a great Christopher lee
He wrote and produced a supernatural mini series called Crooked House. Three stories about an old haunted house based in three different eras... Really good, wish he'd do more.
@Sol Cutta Danny Dyer as Dracula. Thanks, now I'm *definitely* going to have nightmares!
And I’m glad he mentions, “Carry On Screaming”! I love that series! 🤣
Frying tonight
For fans of Mark Gatiss he is great in the "Crooked house" horror tale. Well worth watching.
We don’t get great documentaries like this in America. The History Channel has turned into a Goddamned joke, along with the Discovery and Learning channels. National Geographic? They’ve taken a fatal blow as well. It’s all a bunch of Goddamned reality shows.
There is NOTHING REAL with todays REALITY shows! It's all about entertainment factor and ratings! A waste of ones precious time on this planet!
History Channel: What did Hitler think of Alien horror movies?
Goddamnit.
Why is it even still called the History channel?
yes great isn't it
As I watch these wonderful documentaries, Time Burton's "Ed Wood" becomes increasingly the best and most humane film he's ever made.
Burton was at his best when he took on new material and stories no-one had done before. Sadly, the vast majority of his output is comprised of either remakes or adaptations of well-known works.
The director of "Ed Wood" would toss a drink in the face of the director of the live action "Dumbo" remake.
Hollywood has tried to remake these old classics and only Young Frankenstein came close.
LOVE Mark Gatiss💜💜💜 perfect narrator/writer. Incredibly talented man
I don't know how many times I have watched this video but its a lot . I think Gatiss and I have the same feeling about horror that we no longer see reflected in horror movies today .
Here I am a year later
The good thing about a spider bigger than a house is that it can't get inside your house.
But it might trample it...
he has such a soothing voice. it is like horror history ASMR
As a child in the 80's, I was fascinated with Karloff, Lugosi, and Chaney. Also Cushing and Lee. Am still an avid horror fan nowadays.
You will love Cinemassacres' videos on horror films. James, aka AVGN, is an avid hardcore horror film fanatic. He has quite an extensive collection of videos on the topic. He is more of a horror film nerd than a video game nerd. I love the classics too. ^_^
Thanks for the recommendation :) Will check out the channel right now.
The Dracula/Frankenstein double bill was the idea of a theatre owner who needed a cheap double bill. Universal jumped on the bandwagon when they saw his success with it.
I love the bits where Mark just sits in the cinema, watching those movies. He's such a cute and sophisticated man. I adore him. His voice isn't bad either. :)
Check out Nicholas Briggs
Yeah i like him too. Hes making a BBC Dracula this year i read.
dean mccaskill a better writer I’ve found
So many classics from Alfred Hitchcock and Steven King
Mr Karloff and Mr Rathbone as well as George Saunders , are my favorite actors along with Atwill and Zucco . Always loved the look they achieved on film . I feel like Ray Davies , feeling ennui for an older time . Thanks for posting .
I've literally only just discovered this. And I've still got parts 2 & 3 to go. Definitely going to dedicate more time to this period of horror cinema when I do my 31 days of horror next year.
Surprisingly good stuff. Well presented by Mark.
Why surprised? Mark is great at stuff like this. His passion always shines through
2 minutes in and this is already one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen
Excellent doc. Thanks.
Iv followed Mark Gatiss's career since The League of Gentlemen days & especially his supernatural endeavours. He's brilliant as The Man in Black & really creepy narration skills. Have just recently thought that hes got a bit of a likeness to Prince Harry ! 🌝
Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff... true theatrical horror actors!
pspboy7 Now Sir Christopher Lee.
You think. You re kinda going out on a limb there. I bet you think the nile and the amazon are the true longest rivers
pspboy7 legends
Nothing in this video is as scary as Papa Lazarou.
you're my wife now.
@@glumpy6079 Dave??
@@tillyhossain1049 is Dave there?
My favorite Bela Lugosi movie is Devil Bat.
I love how clearly Mark Gatiss was inspired by old horror films with the League of Gentlemen series.
Down to Tubs & Edward's noses, brilliant.
WE DIDN'T BURN HIM!!!!
Bella Lugosi still rules!! Love that guy!
HeatRayz Video he and Vincent Price are the best as far as I'm concerned 🦇🌘🎥
I concur ...
Bela lugosis dead
@@nikh7222 only his body...for now
I'm going on a massive horror movie marathon. Starting with Nosferatu, moving through the decades until I finish with The Babadook.
best to finish with Babadook. Were you to start with it you may be put off . I thought less than dazzling
Obscure Entertainment The Babadook sucks ass.
So you didn't start with The cabinet of Dr Caligari
Obscure Entertainment Maybe try All the Boys Love Mandy Lane instead of the Babadook, 85% of the way through u think it’s good but when the twist happens you’ll say oh it’s genius!
two great bookends!!
Perfect in the run up to Halloween. Always go on a horror binge throughout October 🎃🎃
Me too So whether you're dodging the blood horrifying or nervous newcomer I bid you welcome🎃
Already started...
43:55 Sherlock Holmes just dropkick Frankenstein... Awesome!
Marvelous stills, actual props from classic horror movies and a great presenter
I was worried that Lugosi's scandal sheet would be center stage of this monster history. Gatiss fine tunes the experience with a faith only found in masters of the genre.
They scored a real coup by including Carla Laemmle in this documentary. Amazing that she's still alive, and boy is she SHARP! What a treat to see her reciting the first lines from the original "Dracula".
As a big horror fan, I've found your series of documentaries on the genre both classy, insightful, and marvelously complete, a masterwork, really. Kudos!!
Bela Lugosi may be best known as Count Dracula but if you ask me his best role was that of Igor . I loved that character
Late as hell to this party, but man I can't agree with you more on this statement. He really shined in that role. He totally upstaged Karloff in that one if I have my films straight here.
Especially since Ygor was one of the few times Lugosi adopted an accent other than his native Hungarian for a role,namely Russian.
Bela was also a Methadone /Morphine addict...There is a film of him looking frail after coming out of a hospital after a 'detox'.
Yes,as well as struggling with alcoholism and disease in his later years.However,contrary to the claims of this documentary and the Ed Wood film Bela was always extremely polite even to his "rivals",true to his socialistic nature!
@@AspieMediaBobby Béla did seem a real gent.
Our dad as a teenager served Boris Karloff {Willie Pratt} in Ralph Hughes Men'sClothiers, East Sheen.... 'Boris' was also a Gentleman.
I watched a 'Dracula' ..oops, sorry, Frankenstein...film as a child on TV {1970's] and it scared me so much.. but when dad said That 'Boris' used to buy stuff from the shop where he worked and was very 'un scary', it made me feel better.
Dracula was less scary to me than Frankenstein's monster.
I saw the broadway touring company in 1978 with Jeremy Brett as Dracula. It was funny erotic spellbinding thrilling and had one huge jumps scare. Loved it
i love documentary styles like this.. i wish American docu's would take notes lol this was amazing!
Thank you Cat People for giving us the jump scare. Damn movie.
Haxan did a jump scare 20 years before.
I used to have that book, The Movie Treasury of Horror Movies. It was kind of a bible to me as well. I used it to educate myself by renting as many of the more highly recommended movies on VHS.
You make me smile, Mark.
Mark doesn't appreciate Bela Lugosi as Dracula (1931). No one will ever play Dracula as creepy as Bela. The sets, music, shadows in the 1931 classic are all the creepiest. Bela doesn't need gore, blood or fangs. He is the BEST.
Let's not forget Peter Boyle's wonderful portrayal of the monster in Young Frankenstein.
Great Overview of some of the Greatest Classics of Horror Cinema. Wonderful Documentary, Definitely Worth Watching.
I saw this when it was originally broadcast. Fantastic. I love the presentation and the fabulous interviews. A great, personal, look at wonderful movies of the past.
Lots of old horror films I want to check out now.
This is great! Max Schreck‘s Dracula was worth a mention as his appearance was truly scary. My thanks to them all for building the good scary movie to entertain us all!
Is that Van Gogh's great-great-great nephew hosting? This is gonna be good...
And of course you know, people don't scream when in utter fear - they stare or look away. True blood curdling fear is silent. That's why I prefer silence when the deed is done.
I wish Mark would do more stuff like this. I LOVED horror Europa and this. He's so wonderful!
Seen Frankenstein around 14 years old and i was shocked at how awesome it was.
oh, this is great !!
chaney, lugosi, karloff, im in heaven :))
This a great documentary. Very personal, yet very informative. A " must watch " for any fan of the genre. I am about to watch the next two parts.
Horror is truly an underappreciated genre in Hollywood. Just because it doesn't star an all A list cast or has michael bay explosions doesnt mean they aren't amazing movies. We all love these movies because I feel deep down we enjoy getting scared or seeing what's lurking in the darkness.
RIP to these fine actors! They are now immortal in these films. May our nightmare's never be worse then those they gave us!
No apostrophe in 'nightmares', and it's 'than', not 'then'.
No mention of Nosferatu? If only as a precursor to the period he's rightly interested in regarding highly in this episode, some mention would seem to be warranted. If that's just my opinion then fine, but as an early classic horror movie, especially since he later moves on to discuss every iteration of dracula there's been since, Nosferatu is at least be a footnote, surely?
+Aron Le Baron Check out Horror Europa - he covers Nosferatu and other such classics in that :)
+Lucifer Box thank you!
Aron Le Baron l agree, Nosferatu should be here, most especially as Max Schreck was in real life an unnervingly weird person who’s behaviour was extremely strange - and he wasn’t acting. This, l think, would make him more relevant to the whole horror platform.
Duly noted, good point.
Aron Le Baron The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu both should be on any list of early horror films.
"When you get to my door tell them Boris sent you!"
Every now and then UA-cam's algorithms nail it with a perfect suggestion. This entire production is fascinating and informative.
This is a great documentary to watch around Halloween season. I like that he was very respectful toward Bela Lugosi and left out any mention of his controversies including his Ed Wood period.
Anyone besides me watching this in 2018?
duh lol
Happy Halloween 2018🎃
Check when the comments were made. Gilligan
1966 for me.
No
Dude i love the grand old universal movies.And your cool.
Dude - it's spelled "you're".
I really enjoyed this documentary I didn't realize that Mark Gatiss is a horror fan.I love the way he talks and I am the same age as him so I watched the same things as him .He
explains brilliantly the story of horror and makes me want to watch one.He is perfect for this program.
These 3 documentries inspired me to create a horror-themed tv-series in 2012. 🙂
My mum calls me a "morbid child" too haha :P
Jules
There are two types of children; those who are afraid a monster is under their bed, and those who are afraid there isn't.
I always thought I didn't have a monster because it was afraid of me.
I'm 15 and have a fascination for horror, death and all sorts of things. I'm not goth or an emo, I don't wear all black all the time, but I often waffle on about monsters and serial killers, coding and horror movies. I am called strange by my peers, and adults think I'm a bit of a creepy child.
Been a horror fan since I was a kid. The hand-painted VHS horror cover art always got my attention in the video stores. I think my earliest memory was watching Maniac Cop 1 when I was 7yo, thanks to an awesome babysitter ('88), asides from that most kids meet horror monsters early through Halloween; whether they're truly aware of them; 30-odd yrs '000's of horror films later, still a fan. It is fascinating to see how the genre has evolved and grown. These^, White Zombie and Freaks were considered scary and horrifying; I'd love to see those audiences reactions to later horror:
Modern Horror: Hold my beer! - The Exorcist, The Thing, 31, Terrifier, Ju-On (Grudge), 28 Days Later, Grave Encounters, Cannibal Holocaust or Last House on the Left, Saw, Evil Dead (Feel like Pinhead "I have such sights to show you" :D) What would they think, not in retrospect, but if in like a double feature The Mummy followed by The Descent or The Werewolf followed by An American Werewolf in London (especially to Piccadilly cinema goers). It's funny those ^ could be considered going easy on them and yet PG films like Ghostbusters and Poltergeist would likely terrify them! A 1940's reaction to Sleepaway Camp and it's ending would be priceless; their mouth's would end up wider than Felissa's!! :D
50:10 - If you've got a monster, show it!! What do you know John Carpenter, not a Thing!?! :D 1otB
We love our horror in the Black Country and -Deadly- Dudley! >XD
I liked this series about the history of it, but for some reason I could never get into horror.
@@guyincognito8440 It's not for everyone
@@TheEyez187 Yeah, that's true, I just wonder why it grabs some people and not others. It seems like the kind of thing I would be into, but although I like some horror I never became a huge fan.
@@guyincognito8440 I think part of the attraction for me was seeing other people having nasty shit happen to them for a change! :D
The opening is what really sold on me.
I accidentally stood on Mark Gatiss foot once. He was very forgiving
Cool story bro