Kingdom of Shadows (1998) Online HD

Kingdom of Shadows

Creative Work

Director:

Bret Wood
Category:

Creative Work / Documentary / Horror
Writer:

Bret Wood
Time:

1h 10min
Year:

1998

Explores the sources of our fears and reveals the birth of the frightful conventions from which the modern-day horror movie has evolved, including the menacing shadows of the German Expressionists.

Casts

Credited cast:
	Rod Steiger	-	Narrator (voice)

Kingdom of Shadows (1998)

Goktilar

This film provides a fascinating look at the silent era of Horror, luring you into its dark and shadowy domains. The vast almost immeasurable influence of these films upon the Horror, Science Fiction, Film Noir, Fantasy and even Mystery genres cannot be discounted and this film provides you with glimpses and details sure to convince you of the full worth of the films from this era. Narrated by the deep voiced Rod Steiger, along with the haunting music of Joseph Turrin, this film feels like an hidden canvas being uncovered before your very eyes..a journey within the worlds of silent era Horror itself!

Glei

Kingdom of Shadows (1998)

** (out of 4)

Extremely disappointing documentary that discusses the horror films of the silent era. Instead of trying to teach you anything director Bret Wood instead just has old movie clips playing with Rod Steiger narrating what's going on in them. To make matters worse, Steiger is giving some sort of Lugosi impersonation, which comes off really bad and makes it hard to understand what he's even saying. The documentary brings up how religion had an influence on horror entertaining cinema but they never dig into the subject. You get clips from the known films like Nosferatu but also some rarer Melies films and Griffith's The Avenging Conscience.

Zulkishicage

A look back on the early, silent era in horror...

Another reviewer criticized this documentary for Rod Steiger's narration on two fronts -- one, because he says the narrator does little more than explain what is on the screen. And two, the "Bela Lugosi impression" he does. The second point is completely accurate -- why must he talk slow and in a weird accent (though it comes and goes)? That is not helpful in being educational for the viewer.

As for the first point, there is some accuracy in that. I found the documentary enjoyable, but would like to have known more about the creators -- Wiene, Dreyer, and others. We were really offered nothing in the way of biography or history.

The film goes into a bit of depth on "Leaves From Satan's Book" and examines the overlap of Satan, evil and religion. We see how in early years of film, the Inquisition was a popular theme, and therefore good and evil frequently were hard to tell apart. This could have been explored more...

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