With it being Halloween (officially) I thought about those looking for something to watch so here are five of my favourite Public Domain Horror movies:
Bride of the Monster 1955:
Written and directed by Ed Wood, and starred Bela Logusi. It was released in 1955 and tells the story of a mad Doctor whos is trying to atomic Supermen (not the Clark Kent/Superman).
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 1920 (Silent Movie)
Based on the famous novel, that is a must read for horror fans and starring John Barrymore. If you haven't read the book (which this follows well...ish) it's about a charity worker who believes that every person has two sides: Good and Evil. He decides to test a potion that he thinks will bring out his other side.
The Most Dangerous Game 1932
This film was an adaptation of the original novel (which is also PB - I believe but haven't looked into that yet) and tells the story of a big game hunter who gets bored being able to hunt down all the worlds most dangerous animals and decides to go after the most dangerous animal on Earth, which as we all learned in King Kong: IT IS MAN lol.
It stars Joel McCrea, Leslie Banks, and King Kong leads Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong. It's actually a pretty enjoyable film.
Was a low budget horror film directed and written by the Famed director Roger Corman. He made it for a few reasons mostly being that he wanted to use the left over sets from one of his other films including the Haunted Palace. Some consider it to be part of his "Poe Cycle" which were films based on Public Domain works of Edgar Allen Poe (full circle lol) but fun fact: The plot isn't actually based on any Poe books.
Oh and it also starred this random actor that nobody really remembers called Jack Nicolson whoever that is.
The Phantom of the Opera 1925
Phantom is an adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (also public domain) starring Lon Chaney, Sr. who created many makeups for his characters but this one...man this one was his greatest in my opinion.
Directed by Rupert Julian and it tells the story of a deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he “loves” a star.
I remember the reveal of the Phantoms face and damn near wet myself. It is truly a great film.
All the above are great films and are in the public domain. They are free to use by all for whatever reason, I recently learned that a friend (ish) was using stills from old PD films to create posters which is a cool way to use the public domain.
Enjoy and remember to have a very scary HAPPY HALLOWEEN
(Just for those wondering - I have been unwell with a bad infection, hospital bound for a short while but now I'm back and have a few things to post).
