Visionary Picks In Alignment with the style of White Zombie: Cult G...

Dir: Rudolf Liebscher

A mad scientist, an Indian fakir and a Japanese conman walk into a lab - and try to resurrect a dead alchemist in order to discover the secret of creating gold.

Dir: F.W. Murnau

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

Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.

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: Julius Herska

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

France in the late 1600s, the son of a widowed lord is kidnapped by gypsies, who carve a permanent grin on the child's face. When the deformed boy grows up, he falls in love with a blind girl named Dea, and joins a touring company as a performer. Calling himself Gwynplaine, he develops an act in which he reveals his hideous face to the crowds for money. A sexually perverse, seductive socialite named Josiane becomes attracted to him and seeks to possess him.

Dir: Richard Smith

Harpo played the hero, a detective named Watson who "made his entrance in a high hat, sliding down a coal chute into the basement". Groucho played an "old movie" villain, who "sported a long mustache and was clad in black", while Chico was probably his "chuckling [Italian] henchman". Zeppo portrayed a playboy who was the owner of a nightclub in which most of the action took place, including "a cabaret, [which allowed] the inclusion of a dance number". The final shot showed Groucho "in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming". Harpo, in a rare moment of romantic glory, gets the girl in the end.

Dir: Fred Stranz

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Eugenio Testa

The Italian adaptation of the famous novel about Dr. Frankenstein and his monstrous creation.

Dir: Charles Raymond

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

A magician helps outwit a Chinaman's gang.

Dir: Edward F. Cline

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

Dir: Michael Curtiz

Edward Stephenson, the son of a great industrialist, is due to marry the daughter of another prominent business leader. But the boy prefers a modest employee of the latter, Maud Hartley, whose brother is an impossible rascal, murderer of a police officer. Maud is spurned by Edward who wrongly assumes she is unfaithful. Later, the girl is victim of a railway accident and then throws herself headlong into the easy life. Will the couple reunite again, for better or worse?