A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss

A trip from Lon Chaney to "Halloween", author and actor Mark Gatiss hosts and narrates the tale of Horror in film as he travels to America, Britain and Canada highlighting the films and figures that elevated the genre to an art form and box office success. Featuring the movies that defined the gory field and the individuals that made them happen, Gatiss shows the highs and lows, the hits and the duds. From subtle black and white screen beginnings based on 19th-Cenutry novels to the blood-splattered scream fests that brought on the new wave the documentary chronicles the unsettling, silly, fun and rich genre in all its different aspects. Gatiss is a grower as his hard to view features and grumpy countenance makes one wish Neil Gaiman or Stephen King were picked to do the honors but he eventually warms to one as the film progresses. Entertaining and quite informative, "A History of Horror" gives one an idea on why this undead oddity of cinema endures and has a loyal and devoted following to this day.

You can't fault Mark Gatiss's enthusiasm for the horror genre and that's something that shines through in this three-part documentary tracing the genre from the Universal Classics of the 1930s to '70s grit like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and beyond. Gatiss makes it clear from the outset that this is a personal history - note it's "a" history, not "the" - so it's a question of sitting back and letting the man talk to us about why he loves the films he does.

As something of a horror obsessive, I've already seen most of the films featured here, but even so my attention never wavered for a second. There's a good selection of discussion on what makes the films so effective, copious use of clips as well as interviews with key luminaries (Corman, Carpenter, etc.). The main topics covered are the Universal horrors, the Val Lewton flicks, Hammer and other British horror and then finally '70s classics such as The Exorcist and Halloween.

A wonderful package which, sadly, doesn't look like it will ever be coming out on DVD - Gatiss has explained that it would cost too much to license all of the film clips for such a release.

This 3 part series about the history of horror is quite entertaining, but it fails in 2 different aspects: 1. Like so many other documentaries about movies in general (even "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies" makes this annoying mistake) it spoils a lot about the movies by revealing the ending. 2. A history of horror without even mentioning "Nosferatu" and the influence of early German cinema (movies like "Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam ","Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari") on later productions like Frankenstein etc. ...please, you must be kidding me. It also leaves out other great early "horrific" movies like "Häxan", "The Unknown" or the great "The Man Who Laughs" (who later became a great influence on the "Joker" character of the infamous "Batman" comics). This series feels like it doesn't consists on part 1,2 and 3. But on part 2,4 and 5 leaving out part 1 (early films like "nosferatu" etc), part 3 (classic and highly influential 50ies horror/sf like tarantula( only shortly mentionend),"Creature from the Black Lagoon","The Thing from Another World", "It Came from Outer Space","Them!","The Bad Seed" or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers")and part 6 (80ies horror like "The Fog", "Cannibal Holocaust", "The Evil Dead", "Poltergeist", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Hellraiser" or "The Thing". And maybe some 90ies horror ("Ôdishon", "Braindead", "Nightbreed"...) and recent horror like "Versus", "Eight Legged Freaks", "28 Days Later", "(Rec)" ... would have been nice too. Also, what about classic movies like "King Kong","Carnival of Souls","Village of the Damned", "Two Thousand Maniacs!", "Phase IV" or "Alien"...? A better history of horror is "Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film"

Unfortunately, it's only a three part documentary. If you want to make a show called "a history of horror" in three hours you either try to cramp in as many "important" movies as possible, or if you wanna go into more detail you have to select a handful of examples - but by what criteria?

Mark Gatiss presents some of his favourites in these three parts (early Hollywood classics, the classic era of British horror films, and the new "post-gothic" 60s and 70s American horror movies).

Gatiss does a decent job as presenter/writer. He really seems to be a fan of these movies and has a knowledge about the development of the horror genre and (therefore) doesn't put himself into the center of attention (unlike some other TV-shows whose presenters/guests don't seem to know anything about the subject they're supposed to talk about). He really focuses on the movies, their plots, achievements, the people behind it and tries to explain why these movies or certain characters are so appealing or special. What I liked a lot were the interviews with some directors and actors. Gatiss knows the right questions to ask, so he gets some interesting/insightful answers.

Horror buffs might be disappointed, they might miss many "important" movies and there might be little new to them, but it would have been impossible to make a documentary about the history of horror films which covers every important/influential film (mainstream or independent; blockbusters, cult movies, underground cult movies, movies not just from the UK and the USA but also from Germany, Italy, Asia, etc., the entire oeuvre of certain directors, production companies, actors, etc.); the story of/behind those movies, companies, directors, writers, actors; discuss the movies and various related topics (the "monsters", the fascination of horror, the socio-political background, etc.), and include interviews and clips. Such a documentary would rather fill three days than three hours, so on the whole Mark Gatiss personal little history of horror is very well done for a three hour TV-production.

This series is absolutely essential for anyone who has a love of horror movies which Mr Gatiss obviously has. It is honest, respectful and informative, has excellent interviews with some huge names involved in the genre and brilliant film clips. The interviews with Barbara Steele and Roger Corman were outstanding. Although in three hours it only skims the surface of the subject, I still find, after years of being totally obsessed by horror films, I'm learning something new with each episode and now have a long list of more DVDs to buy. I hope there will be more episodes in the future and that it is released on DVD, there must be some excellent stuff not included in the current TV programme.