allmovie
allmusicallmovieallgame
Rovi: Powered by AMG

enter a title or name

» Coming Soon » Quick Browse
» Essays » Glossary
» New Releases » Movie Trailers
» AllMovie Blog » In the Spotlight
 
Born Today
Malcolm Williamson (1931)
Alphonse Mouzon (1948)
Marvin Loback (1896)
Elizabeth George Speare (1908)
explore by.../type
Costume Horror

A type of horror film set in a particular time period or place, usually Gothic in tone. The best examples of this form are in the British Hammer studio's films, and the Edgar Allan Poe adaptations of Roger Corman. Making up for what they lacked in cash, the Hammer films flaunted elegant costumes and a literary tone which became a trademark throughout their Dracula, Frankenstein and other monster films. Also made on the cheap, Corman's films were elegant and made great use of already standing sets and mansions to add flavor to these surprisingly solid translations of Poe's creepy dread. Nicholas Roeg even cut his cinematic teeth as cinematographer in Corman's Masque of the Red Death, lending even more elegance to the picture. Interestingly enough, this style, with it's grandiose aspirations, never caught on in the mainstream, and the few examples of what seems like an expensive subgenre that we have left are from these much-overlooked sources. Capitalizing on their recognizable stars (Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing), Corman and Hammer Films put every penny they had into the look and design of these films and let the names carry them the rest of the way.

Major Works
Rating
Year
 Title
 
 Director
  9 Stars 1925 The Phantom of the Opera   Rupert Julian
    8 Stars 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde   Rouben Mamoulian
  8 Stars 1960 Black Sunday   Mario Bava
  7 Stars 1979 Nosferatu the Vampyre   Werner Herzog
  7 Stars 1965 Frankenstein Created Woman   Terence Fisher
  7 Stars 1968 The Devil Rides Out   Terence Fisher
  7 Stars 1963 The Raven   Roger Corman
  7 Stars 1961 Pit and the Pendulum   Roger Corman
  7 Stars 1945 The Picture of Dorian Gray   Albert Lewin
  7 Stars 1964 Onibaba   Kaneto Shindo
  7 Stars 1964 The Masque of the Red Death   Roger Corman
  7 Stars 1928 The Fall of the House of Usher   Jean Epstein
  7 Stars 1958 The Horror of Dracula   Terence Fisher
  7 Stars 1960 House of Usher   Roger Corman
  6 Stars 1999 Sleepy Hollow   Tim Burton
  6 Stars 1973 Frankenstein: The True Story   Jack Smight
  6 Stars 1964 The Tomb of Ligeia   Roger Corman
  6 Stars 1966 Kill, Baby, Kill   Mario Bava
    6 Stars 1963 The Haunted Palace   Roger Corman
  6 Stars 1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula   Francis Ford Coppola
  5 Stars 1964 La Danza Macabra   Anthony M. Dawson
  5 Stars 1994 Interview with the Vampire   Neil Jordan
  5 Stars 1968 Kuroneko   Kaneto Shindo
  5 Stars 1977 Count Dracula   Philip Saville
    5 Stars 1960 Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll   Terence Fisher
  5 Stars 1963 Kiss of the Vampire   Don Sharp
  5 Stars 1969 Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed   Terence Fisher
  5 Stars 1966 Dracula - Prince of Darkness   Terence Fisher
    5 Stars 1962 Tower of London   Roger Corman
  5 Stars 1962 Tales of Terror   Roger Corman
    5 Stars 1962 The Premature Burial   Roger Corman
  5 Stars 1960 Il Mulino delle Donne di Pietra   Giorgio Ferroni
  5 Stars 1986 Gothic   Ken Russell
    5 Stars 1993 Frankenstein   David Wickes
  5 Stars 1967 The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me but Your Teeth Are in My Neck   Roman Polanski
  5 Stars 1973 Dracula   Dan Curtis
    5 Stars 1941 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde   Victor Fleming
  5 Stars 1957 The Curse of Frankenstein   Terence Fisher
  5 Stars 1971 The Abominable Dr. Phibes   Robert Fuest
  4 Stars 1958 The Revenge of Frankenstein   Terence Fisher
  4 Stars 1965 The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb   Michael Carreras
  4 Stars 1972 Dr. Phibes Rises Again   Robert Fuest
  4 Stars 1969 The Oblong Box   Gordon Hessler
  4 Stars 1959 The Mummy   Terence Fisher
  4 Stars 1990 Frankenstein Unbound   Roger Corman
  4 Stars 1979 Dracula   John Badham
  4 Stars 1956 I Vampiri   Riccardo Freda
    4 Stars 1961 The Curse of the Werewolf   Terence Fisher
  4 Stars 1969 El Conde Dracula   Jesús Franco
  4 Stars 1960 The Brides of Dracula   Terence Fisher
    4 Stars 1960 Et Mourir de Plaisir   Roger Vadim
  3 Stars 1963 The Whip and the Body   John M. Old
  3 Stars 1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein   Kenneth Branagh
    3 Stars 1962 The Phantom of the Opera   Terence Fisher
    3 Stars 1962 L'Orribile Segreto del Dottor Hitchcock   Riccardo Freda
 
 
 
Rovi About Us | Contact | Employment | Product Submissions | Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Copyright Policy
© 2009 Macrovision Corporation. All Rights Reserved.