What about FRENCH horror movie ?

Le voyage dans le lune - George Meliès

In this blog, i chose to stay focused on Universal Horror movies that is to say American movie. We all know that cinema has always been influenced by american production BUT i'm sure you also know that French invented cinema in the small town of LYON : Lumière's brothers (Louis and Auguste) in 1895.
From the end of the nineteen century until now, we can notice the domination of American Studios who release plenty of movies of every kind (Silent,Horror,Noire,Thriller, Sci-Fi,...) Nowadays, it's still the same schema, USA is the most productive country of films in the world (Even if Indians release many movie, their production dont reach the rest of the world) I would say that it's not that bad cause i dont really enjoy bollywood movies !

So french are capable of creating machine to record images but they dont invest in cinema like the US did and that's why american studio are seen like industry in the early of cinema.
DO NOT think that french didnt try to produce Horror movie at all, it would be a huge mistake because they did and they did well !! However, we cant ignore that until the 50's it's very difficult to find a real french horror movie. From 1920's to 1940's french movies are made to show the capacity of the machines they are able to create so it's more like fantastic movie i would say..

I will present some of the first french "horror" movies and french directors i like to show you how good they are !

1. Cat People, 1942 by Jacques Tourneur

I know that you will say that i start with an american production Jacques Tourneur is a director i like and he's French so the honor is safe !

I think that this movie is a Must-see for the only reason of the pool scene! (No sexual allusion). I guess Jacques Tourneur is for me the precursor in what we call today "photography". He managed to immerse yourself in an ambiance that we could qualified of Noire or Dark, by adjusting the light and making shadows (that creep you out !!). He use all the elements of the setting to keep you "lock" into the ambiance all along the movie. For example, the pool scene is one of the best scene i ever seen because Jacques Tourneur use the light but mostly water movement to plunge you into a dark universe that make the scene so strained !
To conclude, i would say that you should see this movie in order to understand on what are based film Noire we all know, in my opinion of course !

   2. Les yeux sans visage, 1960 by George Franju

This movie is an adaptation from the novel written by Jean Redon released in 1959 in "Collection Angoisse".
It's about a famous plastic surgeon who want to transplant an entire face to his child. The kid had been disfigured after a car accident caused by her father himself.
The mad surgeon start to install an illegal surgery in his house. Then, as you can imagine he will try to seduce women to experiment on their faces!

In my opinion, its a movie to see because its the first real fantastic movie from George Franju and not a documentary as he used to make. Moreover, the director never give is opinion on what is good or bad he only suggests thoughts to his audience.

WARNING : Les yeux sans visage is a bit long and descriptive, so if you're not in the mood for a B&W slow movie, do NOT chose to watch this one !

  3.Chair pour Frankenstein, 1973 by Paul Morissey and Antonio Margheriti

The last but not least ! I wanted to show you this one because i really love all the stories about Frankenstein and because this one is FRENCH and produce by Andy Warhol. It's a US production realized by  french directors and that's why i chose this one. Warhol's Frankenstein couldn't be relased with others directors. This film is an ufo in all the version of the life of Frankenstein.From the end of the eighteen century we can see the twisted mind of warhol and especially in this movie.

The specific part of this movie is the 3D version, YES you didnt misread, 3D in the early 80's !!! i really recommend this movie because of the Technics employed and because of the completely sick/crazy scenario. Imagine a scientist who wants to create the perfect serbian race by assembling body parts from perfect male and female : That means a LOT of kills !!You're excited right ?
Try to watch this movie when you want something funny and not too darky, with monsters and scientist experiences in it! a great melting pot for a successful Saturday night!!

With these three movies you'll necessarily understand the skills and technics of french directors in the beginning of the French horror and see how powerful they are. If we like french horror movie nowadays it is thanks to them !

Man-Made Monster

Finally times to celebrate : 1st Review of the YEAR 

I did it, YES I DID IT!! The first review of the year finally comes up on Universal Monsters. Let me present to you the too often forgotten MAN-MADE MONSTER aka Atomic Monster starring the incredible and handsome Man of a Thousand Faces : Lon Chaney Jr

What you NEED to know bout' Man-Made Monster :

• Directed by George Waggner
• Produced by Jack Bernhard
• Written by Harry Essex, Sid Schwartz and Len Golos
• Release dates : March 28, 1941
• Distributed by Universal Studio
• Running time : 59 min

Man-Made Monster is NOT really a horror movie, its more like a science fiction movie for me.  You probably never heard of this movie but some of you should know this one because it's one of the first Sci-Fi/ Horror movie of Lon Chaney Jr.
We should notice that he appeared in Man-Made Monster (MMM) only few month prior the making his name as THE WOLF MAN (yes its him AGAIN !)
 In this movie the main character (Lon Chaney Jr.) is the only survior of a tragic bus accident at the totally beginning. In this scene we saw (with amazing visuals effects) that he is virtually immune to electricity : A kind of ELECTRIC MAN in fact !

(Btw you should find a  re-release of MMM under the name of Electric Man)

So, our Electric Man named Dn McCormick) sell himself in fairs as Dynamo Man like would do a tiger in a zoo. He seems all alone and depressed until 2 scientists in Electrobiology came to him to discuss of his "Power". As you can guess, one of them (Dr John Lawrence played by Samuel S hinds) is a GOOD doctor who only want to study the electricity and the other ( Dr Paul Rigas played by Lionel Atwill) is the MAD SCIENTIST who has bad thoughts of course !
The mad doctor want to study him in order to create an ARMY of electrobiologically driven zombie.(You could think that this army is not easy to command and direct but NO, for Him its seems natural to lead a zombie army ):  Dr Paul Rigas starts his experiences by giving higher and higher electric dose to McCormick until his mind explode is ruined. The poor Monster become addicted to electric doses... The charges give him THE TOUCH OF DEATH : He is capable of killing anyone he touchs by electrocution.

My favorite part is when the doctor find a brilliant idea to give more power to his subject : An ELECTRIC CHAIR !! That a fact, the electric chair give him  A LOT of power to kill A LOT of people, i wont spoil you anything about the rest of the story.

I really enjoyed the ambiance, dark and tensed all long the film. The characters are very interesting/complexes mostly McCormick and the mad Dr Rigas. The two actors show their best role in a horror/Sci-Fi  movie in my opinion. (yes, even if McCormick is so good in each movie and specially in THE WOLF MAN).

 I hope this little review give you an overwhelming desire to watch Man-Made Man by the end of 2014 !!