During the early days of filmmaking, it was French directors who constantly tested the capabilities of the early cameras as they discovered new ways to tell stories. Le Manoir du Diable is a film from 1896 that often slips through the cracks during general film studies courses, but cinephiles know it as the world’s first horror film.
While fans might skip this film on account of more modern horror classics like The Shining or Twin Peaks, Le Manoir du Diable definitely deserves a viewing from every horror movie junkie.
The First Vampire Film?
While it’s widely been attributed as the first horror film, many viewers have disagreed with this claim, given that its intent was to amuse people rather than traumatize them. When the Devil makes his first appearance in this film, he transforms from a bat to a man, a trope that has more to do with vampires than it does devils and demons. This has led other viewers to attribute Le Manoir du Diable as the first vampire film.
Features Established Horror Motifs
A good horror film contains many recognizable horror motifs, borrowed from the films that came before it. But considering the fact that Le Manoir du Diable is the world’s first horror film, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that it has played a huge role in establishing many of these motifs in the first place.
Fans of horror will immediately recognize many common tropes, such as a damsel in distress, devious illusions, ghosts, impish figures, magic, and a spooky castle, not to mention the devil himself. While giving this film a watch, you won’t believe just how many horror motifs have been crammed into such a tiny package.
Hold The Nightmares
While many moviegoers avoid horror films altogether due to the possibility of experiencing nightmares after sitting through an entire viewing, this 1896 film was actually made to engross audiences into a narrative, and the director had no intention of inducing paranoia on the viewer. In fact, Le Manoir du Diable may even appear somewhat comical rather than scary to audiences of today.
It Isn’t Long At All
The most common excuse for not watching critically acclaimed films is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get the job done. Fortunately, Le Manoir du Diable is no The Irishman. This film is just over three and a half minutes, meaning you could watch literally watch the entire thing twice and still make it to work on time.
It Was Different For Its Time
During the early days of cinema, anything beyond a simple video clip that wasn’t just a few seconds long was considered truly innovative due to how difficult it was to shoot and edit film in the first place.
Not only did Le Manoir du Diable attempt to tell an actual narrative rather than just showing real people going about their daily lives while being recorded, but this marked an attempt to truly bewilder the audience, depicting a world that differed from their own. Audiences were given a clear antagonist, protagonists, a beginning, and an end, and although this is pretty much standard for today’s films, back in 1896, this was truly revolutionary.
Creative Special Effects
It wasn’t only the length and subject matter of Le Manoir du Diable that were truly inventive, but also the special effects that were used in the film. They’re nowhere close to the CGI that is used today, but for a movie made in 1896, we’re amazed that Georges Méliès was able to cut between clips so close that it looks like characters are not only changing form (most notably a bat changes into the Devil and a young beautiful woman turns into an old hag in an instant), but ghosts and other figures constantly appear and disappear.
Not only were these effects innovative for their time, but it truly makes one appreciate just how far the art of cinematography has come.
A Chance To See Foreign Styles Of Dress From Over A Century Ago
Today, North Americans probably won’t be shocked to find out that French people don’t dress all that different from them. While Le Manoir du Diable isn’t exactly a fashion show, its characters do adorn some truly memorable garb, from the Devil and his tights and dark-colored cape, to the uniforms worn by the two cavaliers who arrive to put a stop to his antics.
While these outfits might look silly, even to people in 1896, it is pretty cool to see just what kinds of costumes were deemed appropriate for this kind of film over a century ago. These early films can even serve as a reference point when filmmakers are choosing how to dress their heroes and villains for their latest historical dramas.
Made By Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès was a French film director who’s played a vital role in the development of cinematography as an art form. His 1902 film A Trip to the Moon is one of early cinema’s most venerated titles. It was even named one of the 100 greatest films of the 20th century by the Village Voice. After watching this film, along with Le Manoir du Diable, it’s clear that Méliès has a passion for narrative storytelling that not only draws viewers into a fictional world, but reminds audiences of the best (and worst) parts of the world they live in.
Le Manoir du Diable was filmed when Méliès himself didn’t have access to a studio, so he had to film it in his garden with painted canvas used for the background. Many fans have also made several efforts to make it known that the woman in the film, Jehanne d’Alcy, was a successful theatre actress who later became Méliès’ second wife.
It Was Almost Gone For Good
It’s always amazing when films from cinema’s humble beginnings have survived the test of time so that audiences of today can still appreciate them. Given that it’s such an old film, it’s understandable that Le Manoir du Diable could get lost, destroyed, or even forgotten about.
It was actually considered lost until 1988, when a single copy was found in a junk shop in Christchurch, New Zealand. While this film will definitely be around for years to come, cinephiles everywhere should watch it in honor of those who couldn’t for the century it was deemed missing.
A Happy Ending…
Many people steer clear of horror films for a variety of reasons, with one being that these films never really have happy endings. Even if the monster is defeated, the demon is exorcised, or the scary dancing clown is finally destroyed, the amount of terror and devastation that occurred from beginning to end usually cannot be undone, leaving the surviving characters with a darker reality.
Viewers can rest easy knowing that despite being considered a horror film, Le Manoir du Diable’s ending, while it might feel incomplete, showcases good triumphing over evil. The cavaliers successfully fend off the Devil, with the added bonus that none of them die in the process.
