Essential Cult Cinema Drawn from the Same DNA as The Monkey's Paw: ...

Dir: Wesley Ruggles

An epic of passion, intrigue, and espionage set in the African Jungle.

Dir: Jan S. Kolár

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Arrival from the Darkness 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: Fred Stranz

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Charles Raymond

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

A magician helps outwit a Chinaman's gang.

Dir: Wesley Ruggles

When newlywed Robert Ellis suspects that his missing wife is having a clandestine affair, he appeals to his friend, Pat Murphy, to find her. Pat's search leads him to the Waldorf-Astoria where he finds a woman named Edna Ellis and, assuming that she is Ellis' errant wife, kidnaps her and returns her to Ellis. Complications arise when the real Mrs. Ellis arrives home and discovers another woman. After several comic incidents, Pat falls in love with Edna and Ellis learns that his wife's secret rendezvous was with her sister.

Dir: Ernest C. Warde

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

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: F.W. Murnau

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: Wesley Ruggles

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

Anne Winchester is acquitted in court of murdering her husband, and leaves her Nashville hometown for a small community on Long Island, NY. She moves into a boarding house and changes her name to Wharton. She soon falls for David Brinton, a widower who owns the place, and her affections are reciprocated. Alan Woodward, who is after David's daughter Julia, recognizes Anne and threatens to expose her if she tries to interfere with his pursuit of Julia, as Anne knows he is only after her money. Anne nevertheless warns Julia about Alan, but Julia refuses to listen. Anne decides that stronger measures must be taken to save the daughter of the man she loves.

Dir: Jacob Fleck

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

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.