A History of Horror (with Mark Gatiss)

[AvP]

A History of Horror is a three-part documentary, by British writer and actor Mark Gatiss. It is a personal exploration of the history of horror films.

Disc name: A History of Horror (with Mark Gatiss)
Film studio name: N/A
Edit crew name: AvP Productions
Date Original Film Was Released: N/A
Date Disc Was Released: December 16, 2010
Total Preservation Runtime: approximately 183 minutes

Disc specs

Type…………………….: dvd x3
Video Format…………: ntsc
Aspect Ratio…………..: 16:9
Audio Format…………: Dolby Digital AC3 – 256 kbps
Language……………….: English only
Subtitles………………: none
Dvd authoring………..: AvP

Disc contents

Frankenstein Goes To Hollywood

In the first episode, Gatiss explores the Golden Age of Hollywood horror, or the Universal era, the 1920s to 1940s. He looks at the silent film Phantom Of The Opera (1925), starring Lon Chaney, the first great horror talkie, Dracula (1931), starring Béla Lugosi, and the later release of James Whale's Frankenstein (1931), featuring Boris Karloff. He focusses in particular on Son of Frankenstein (1939), a personal favourite which he feels has been neglected.

The episode includes interviews with John Carpenter, Sara Karloff, Carla Laemmle and the late Frankenstein star Gloria Stuart, at the age of 99.

Home Counties Horror

The second episode focusses on the British Hammer Films of the 1950s and 1960s which inspired Gatiss's childhood passion for horror. He meets key figures from Hammer to discuss the series of Frankenstein and Dracula films which made stars of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, both of whom Gatiss argues are underrated talents. He also identifies a short-lived sub-genre of British "folk horror", drawing on paganism and folklore, including Witchfinder General (1968), his personal favourite Blood on Satan's Claw (1973), and The Wicker Man (1973).

This episode includes interviews with Barbara Steele, star of Black Sunday (1960), American director and producer Roger Corman, John Carpenter, and actors Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Barbara Shelley and David Warner.

DVD ROM : “The Rise and fall of the House of Hammer” (BBC radio 2 broadcast 08/07/1997)

The American Scream

In the third and final episode, Gatiss looks at American horror movies of the late 1960s and 1970s, including Night Of The Living Dead (1968) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). As well as the emergence of slasher films, Gatiss examines the other great horror film trend of the era, the theme of Satanism in films such as Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen.

This episode includes interviews with directors Tobe Hooper and George A. Romero, who also made Martin (1978), another personal favourite which Gatiss considers neglected. Gatiss meets John Carpenter again to discuss his films on Edgar Allan Poe starring Vincent Price, and accompanies Carpenter on a tour of the set locations for Halloween (1978). He also visits the Bates Motel, the set location for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).

tools used

* Adobe Photoshop CS5
* Adobe After Effects CS4
* BeSweetGUI
* cce sp v2.7
* dvd-lab pro 2
* Mpeg Video Wizard dvd
* PgcDemux
* Sony Vegas 7
* tmpgenc 4.0 XPress
* VirtualDub-MPEG2

Persons involved: AvP

Special thanks to el_silloneb

 

[el_silloneb]

This is looking great.

It was a good series and I love the cover art!

 

[AvP]

All finished and ready to be uploaded soon.

 

[el_silloneb]

Yay!

Thanks for this.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

woot!!! can't wait for another awesome AvP disc

 

[AvP]

Available.

 

[el_silloneb]

This is a great set, thanks for your efforts!

 

[AvP]

No problem.

 

[Ripplin]

This looks really interesting. Thanks! I'm not really into horror as far as gory slasher-type movies go, but I've certainly enjoyed things like Psycho, old monster movies, etc...

 

[Ripplin]

Finished watching the series tonight and enjoyed it, especially the first part. Makes me want to see more of the classics. (I am getting to see more all the time thanks to TCM, though!)

I did experience something that I've never heard with any other edit/preservation before, and it happened on all three discs; the audio sounded as if it was being played through a turntable. Constant crackling and popping throughtout, which became even more apparent during louder scenes. I tried them on my other stereo upstairs on a different DVD player and same thing. Weird.

 

[AvP]

Ill re-check them when i get some free time, but thanks for replay. My favorite was the second part, im really glad they are back making films now.

 

[Ripplin]

I haven't seen much in the way of Hammer Films, so that section, though very interesting, didn't really resonate with me as much. It was nice to see Cushing and Lee so much, though. The only Hammer production I know I've seen is Herbert Lom's "The Phantom of the Opera" and I liked it. Wouldn't mind seeing some more.