Essential Cult Cinema Drawn from the Same DNA as Kong gu yuan sheng...

Dir: Jacob Fleck

Depicts a society lady trapped under the spell of an unskilled hypnotist.

Dir: Edward F. Cline

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

A bank clerk ends up in a seemingly haunted house that is actually a thieves' hideout.

Dir: Victor Sjöström

On New Year's Eve, the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to reflect on his selfish, wasted life.

Dir: F.W. Murnau

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

In the castle Vogeloed, a few aristocrats are awaiting baroness Safferstätt. But first Count Oetsch invites himself.. Everyone thinks he murdered his brother, baroness Safferstat's first husband, three years ago. So he is rather undesirable. But Oetsch stays; arguing he is not the murderer and will find the real one...

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

When young writer Brandon McShane is left penniless by the death of his father, he is forced to rent a room in the tenement district from the Mahon family. Brandon soon becomes infatuated with the fortune hunting Mimi Gascoigne, who casts him aside for a wealthy suitor. In search of revenge, Brandon acquires a magic skin which will gratify its owner's wishes, but which exacts years from the petitioner's life in payment. Brandon wishes himself wealth and his enemies unhappiness, and then lives in terror of the penalty he must pay. One day he meets Pauline Mahon who has loved him since his tenement days. Pauline convinces Brandon to wish the skin out of his life, and then he discovers that Pauline's love is the fulfillment of this last wish.

Dir: Jan S. Kolár

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

Richard Bor brings his neighbor, the landowner Drazicky, an old book. The latter tries in vain to persuade his wife Dagmar to leave. In the book Drazicky finds the story of the Mystery of the Black Tower and he falls asleep. He goes into the tower and finds an alchemist's laboratory and the body of a man holding instructions describing how he can be revived. Drazicky successfully carries out the experiment and finds out that the man is his ancestor Jesek Drazicky who lived during the time of Rudolf II. He had become the apprentice of the alchemist Borro who had entrusted him with the mystery of the elixir of life.

Dir: George Beranger

Writer Frank Theydon goes undercover to research the criminal activity in New York City's Chinatown.

Dir: Fred C. Newmeyer

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

A man hits the streets with a scheme to keep his fiancé from losing her job, however, things quickly go from bad to worse.

Dir: Fred Stranz

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Sam Wood

Truckdriver Dusty Rhoades leads a team of truckers over dangerous roads to deliver emergency supplies before a crucial dam breaks.