A History Of Horror With Mark Gatiss

BBC4 always does well with these personal film documentaries. The two Rich Hall ones dealing with westerns and the south were equally good.

It was a great watch, always preferred the classic hollywood or hammer horror films to anything that gets churned out today. If it was me, the series would stop after the demise of hammer with a begruding mention of The Exorcist, a few worRAB about Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a passing admiration for The Omen.

And what a knob John Carpenter came across as saying he didn't think much of Cat People. It's a masterpiece compared to most of the drivel he's churned out. ok, he made a few good eighties movies. But then he kept making eighties movies right up to the end of the nineties when we'd all moved on but he hadn't.
 
Better than nothing I suppose, if the programme makers read this though, please can yuo cover The Fog and Christine at some point?

What about the original Amityville Horror? Is that being covered? Omen would be another good one, would love to see an interview with the original kid Damien, harvey something his name is.

Saw a clip of him being interviewed as an adult on Howard Sterns radio show but wasn't related to his Omen film.
 
I think the idea behind that scene is that the monster sees the flowers as beautiful. The flowers float on the water, so to his mind, the little girl will float on the water too.
 
I think this series has been brilliant; when Mark said he go into horror films watching the double bills on BBC years ago it reminded me because I always used to love watching them too. It's disappointing they don't seem to show the old Hammer films etc any more it would be great to see them again as there seems very little else on.

One thing about this series it's made me want to watch the old black and white movies discussed in the first programme, which I've probably dismissed in the past; they look great I would love to watch them.
 
+1 disappointment for no mention of Theatre of Blood, by far my favourite.

I've tried to watch The Haunting a couple of times and fallen asleep halfway through both times, it takes too long to get going.
 
I spotted the Theatre of Blood in his collection and was disappointed it was not mention last night; that's one of my favourite films. However any of those films with Vincent Price were really scary! He was so good.
 
Here's a few more Brit Horror titles to watch out for

Horror Channel 319/320

The Mutations(Film,1974)
Wednesday, 10:55pm to 12:50am October 27th

The City of the Dead(Film,1960)
Thursday Night/Friday Morning 12:50am to 2:40am November 12th,(I assuming this is not the Fulci film of the same name and they have got the details wrong)

Torture Garden(Film,1967)
Saturday 4:00pm to 6:00pm (edited) November 13th
 
great show on a great channel. would have liked him to have mentioned "And Now the Screaming Starts" though, one of my favourites.

Re the above post, that may be the first time I've ever seen the worRAB BBC3 and excellent in the same sentence:D
 
Really really good I thought, a good introduction, but also a lot of nice little tidbits for horror aficianados (seeing the original sets, make up bags, props etc.). Gatiss really does love this subject, so that really helps when watching this, his enthusiasm is infectious.

I'm also pleased that there are a few people from this Golden age who are still alive (although very very old). It's nice to see people talk about working with Karloff who genuinely acted with him, when he was at his peak.



Well the focus of this episode was Hollywood, and Nosferatu was a German film, so I think referencing it would have been off topic. But you're right Nosferatu is a seminal horror film.
 
From what i can remember from tonight the films covered where

Psycho
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Night of The Living Dead
Martin
The Exorcist
Rosemary's Baby
The Omen
Shiver
Dawn of the Dead
and
Halloween

i think that's them all(someone will say if i missed any)

mark gatiss tweeted earlier

"Thanks for all your lovely messages re #AHistoryofHorror. Delighted. Would love to do a Euro-Horror follow up!"

so perhaps at some point if he gets allowed to do it we are going to get a series on Dario Argento,Lucio Fulci,and other European Horror Film-makers
 
Yes i enjoyed that bit too, they essentially hit the nail on the head in that bit of footage. The reason gothic horror production thrived in the UK at this time is because (in their own worRAB) 'nothing says (gothic) horror more than a old castle in the English countryside or a fog covered London at midnight'.

Out of interest how good are the Transfers of the Hammer films on DVD?. I ask because with some of the Amicus films there have been issues with poor versions, or cuts.
 
Yes - looking forward to tonight's late 60s-78 US-based programme, even though it's pricipally not my thing. After last week's Hammer & 'folk horror', top 1970s horror to me usually means Europe (late Bava, Argento, Rollin, early-70s Franco). However, in with those are also The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Halloween. The Omen, I think, tenRAB to be underrated - excellent set pieces.

I was never a big fan of Romero's zombie films, though, unlike Hammer's The Plague of the Zombies. However, my favourite film in this sub-genre has to be Jorge Grau's The Living Dead at Mancester Morgue, a genuinely atmospheric & creepy classic (Jean Rollin's Grapes of Death is also very good). Unlikely it will get a mention tonight. May get another Bava mention when the Halloween section arrives, as A Bay of Blood is such a seminal work in the history of slashers.
 
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