I do not care for horror as a genre. Even so, my curiosity got the best of me and I watched this and was relieved that it wasn't scary. That said, if you are a horror enthusiast then I can't really recommend this because it's not actually scary.
Why is this called the first horror movie? Probably because it has a bat who transforms into a man and vice versa and is (spoilers) vulnerable to crosses as its main villain (incidentally, that makes this the first film with an unambiguous villain) and he's portrayed as the literal Devil.
How does it hold up? There's a lot of static (at least there was when I watched it.) That could be because of the film being damaged rather than it being a problem when it was first released but I didn't see any such static in "The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots." Beyond that, the scenes where The Devil conjures items actually aged pretty well but the effects overall haven't. (There are scenes where the bat looks like a puppet.)
At least, the actors do a good job portraying fear and righteous anger in their clashes with The Devil, so there are things about this film which work.
So, while it's not bad by any stretch, I can only really recommend it if you're interested in the history of movies with villains in them.
Why is this called the first horror movie? Probably because it has a bat who transforms into a man and vice versa and is (spoilers) vulnerable to crosses as its main villain (incidentally, that makes this the first film with an unambiguous villain) and he's portrayed as the literal Devil.
How does it hold up? There's a lot of static (at least there was when I watched it.) That could be because of the film being damaged rather than it being a problem when it was first released but I didn't see any such static in "The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots." Beyond that, the scenes where The Devil conjures items actually aged pretty well but the effects overall haven't. (There are scenes where the bat looks like a puppet.)
At least, the actors do a good job portraying fear and righteous anger in their clashes with The Devil, so there are things about this film which work.
So, while it's not bad by any stretch, I can only really recommend it if you're interested in the history of movies with villains in them.
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