Silent Film Saturday The Mermaid

Silent Film Sunday The Haunted Castle-A Silent Horror Film from 1896

This short film was made by by pioneering film maker Georges Melies in 1896.  It was shot in his garden in Montreuil France.  It was presumed lost until a copy was found in the New Zealand film archive.

Silent Film Sunday-George Melies The Haunted Castle

One of the earliest entertainment films with a cohesive story was the three minute horror film The Haunted Castle filmed in 1896 by Georges Melies It features several trademarks of the genre a bat who turns into a devil, a beautiful women who turns into an old crone, a vanishing skeleton, and two brave and fool hardy demon hunters.  The movie was presumed lost until 1988 when a copy was found in the New Zealand film archives.