The Auteur's Selection In the Shadow of Fantômas: In the Shadow of ...

Dir: Louis Feuillade

Satanas, having committed suicide in prison, Venenos becomes the head of the Vampires. He learns that Philip is engaged to be married and orders Irma Vep to take an apartment in the same building and watch the girl. Irma learns that the betrothal dinner is soon to be celebrated. Venenos is advised and tells the caterer that the dinner has been postponed one day. The Vampires impersonate the caterer and his assistants. They poison the wine, and the janitor, who has been given some, drinks it and dies. His wife rushes into the banquet just in time to save the guests, who are about to drink to Philip and the girl. The Vampires switch off the lights and escape. Philip writes in code to his fiancée and tells her to go with her mother to a villa at Chailly. Irma Vep, accompanied by her maid, lies in wait for the limousine. It arrives with a wardrobe trunk strapped upright on the running board. Irma is at work spraying the interior of the automobile with a powerful anesthetic when Normandin steps out of the trunk. The women overpower him and Irma hides in the trunk. On arrival at Chailly, Irma telephones to Venenos, and is afterward captured by Philip Guard, who is soon joined by Normandin, who has escaped from the Vampires. Venenos rescues Irma and the pair escape in an automobile and escapes as the men continue after Venenos, who jumps from a bridge to a moving train and elude Philip and Normandin.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

Having committed murder in Belgium, Fantômas is sentenced to life imprisonment. Juve conceives the idea that if Fantômas is set free, he can follow him back to France and capture him and the remaining members of his gang once and for all.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Fantômas: The False Magistrate perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

The efforts of lawyer Jacques Varese and journalist Raoul de Nerac who attempt to expose and destroy the criminal organization led by a sadistic banker Rudolph Strelitz.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

Movie serial "Vendemiaire" depicts a registering nationalist and regionalism concerns about the effects of the First World War.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Barrabas perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

Is a continuation of the film series "Judex" the masked fighter for justice.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

'Les vampires' Episode Six 'The Eyes that Mesmerise'

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Vendémiaire perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

After Phil Guard and Normandin capture two Vampires, Irma Vep and Moreno, the latter is guillotined and the woman is condemned to life imprisonment. The authorities as well as Philip, good reporter that he was, were lulled into security, thinking the Vampires were now powerless. They did not even know about Satanas, who was now leader of the band. Before her incarceration for life, Irma Vep is sent by the authorities to Algeria to testify regarding a crime committed there. Before leaving the detention home to board the vessel, she receives comforting information from a priest. The man is really Satanas in disguise. Satanas tells her that once on shipboard she must feign illness and be sent to the infirmary near the stern of the vessel, with his wonderful electric gun Satanas will destroy the ship, the projectile striking near the bow. Thus Irma will have a chance to regain her liberty. Even if she dies, that will be better than a life spent in prison. The ship is destroyed and Irma Vep is saved. She does not find Satanas, being afraid to disclose her identity in Algeria. She works her way back to Paris, whither Satanas has also returned. The head of the Vampires plans to destroy Philip Guard. The reporter is bound and gagged in his room and left to wait for the explosion of a bomb which will destroy him and those dear to him. Fortunately Normandin arrives, hears the clock-work tick of the infernal machine, and throws it into the garden just in time to save Philip. Satanas is living as a wealthy man in a new apartment, but the faithful Normandin penetrates his disguise and finds one of the shells for the electric gun. Normandin is accompanied by his son who enters the apartment upon a pretext. When he thinks he is alone he admits his father. Normandin hides in a chest, a fact known to Satanas, who has been watching through a mask on the wall, which is really a peep-hole from another room. The boy and Satanas struggle, after the former sees the chest locked and fears that his father is to be smothered. The fight is going in favor of the Vampire, despite his young adversary's revolver, when the door is broken and Philip and the police enter. Satanas is overcome and Normandin is released. He is suffering from a slight wound. His own son has shot him, grazing his big nose! The Vampires hold a meeting to discuss the capture of their chief. Irma Vep appears for the first time after her return and is loudly welcomed by the band. Venenos, the "man of poisons," takes from his pocket directions Satanas left with him in case he was captured. The request is for a certain letter to be smuggled to him in prison. This is done. Satanas chews the letter into a pulp and drops dead. The paper has been steeped in a deadly poison.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The New Mission of Judex perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

A cine-roman following the fates of a Portuguese nobleman, a Carmelite nun, and a mysterious lookalike.

Dir: Louis Feuillade

Two small girls whose father is in prison are collected by their grandfather after losing their mother in a shipwreck.