Please recommend me some good pre 1950 horror/thriller movies...

carl_rogers

Hi guys, I'm doing research for a film project at my local college and was wondering if anyone could recommend me some pre 1950 horror movies. I'm interested in the visual style and story of old films. If anyone has some recommendations that would be awesome!

superhappypanda

Off the top of my head. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It's one of the classic horror films from pre-1950's and is a silent German Expressionist film. In a nutshell, it's like a horror version with Cesare dressed like Mike Meyer's from his Sprockets SNL skits.

There's also the Universal Monster's movies like Wolfman with Lon Chaney, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy (the non Abbot and Costello version), The Invisible Man, Frankenstein (and also, yes, the Abbot and Costello version - 1948). Hell, I'm just going to link the Wikipedia page for them.

Also, check Vincent Price's filmography. He's got a couple flicks before 1950 like The Tower of London.

Mike Danger

Nosferatu came out in 1922 and is the first vampire movie ever. It's a German Expressionist thing like Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Xagarath

Haxan: Swedish Silent Docu-Drama about Witchcraft. Utterly surreal.
M: The first serial killer film ever made, by Fritz Lang of metropolis fame
Vamypr: Dreamlike, ethereal vampire story from 30s Germany
Freaks: Controversial (at the time) circus horror about performers with physical deformities. Sank Tod Browning's career after the 1931 Dracula.
Dead of Night: 1945 British ghost story anthology featuring, aong other things, the original haunted dummy

And for some well-regarded ones I've not yet seen, look at Der Golem, The Phantom Carriage and Faust.

Bagginses

The Dybbuk might work, although it's more drama than horror.

PaperPritt

Mike Danger wrote: »

Nosferatu came out in 1922 and is the first vampire movie ever. It's a German Expressionist thing like Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Cannot agree enough. That one is a quintessential horror classic.

WildEEP

Dark Shadows a TV series from the 60s had a great run for awhile. Dont know if thats too old(young?) for what you're looking for though.

Gaslight

WildEEP wrote: »

Dark Shadows a TV series from the 60s had a great run for awhile. Dont know if thats too old(young?) for what you're looking for though.

What part of "pre-1950" was hard to understand? :P