God Rock Radio #272 -American Horror Cinema of The 1930’s -Part 1

Noted film historian and lover of genre movies – Jack “The Agnostic” Garcia examines the development of early talkie (1930-1939) horror cinema. With the codification of the American horror film , thanks to the success of Universal’s Dracula & Frankenstein (1931) , other studios decided to begin their own cycle of horror films culminating in the first sound Golden Age of horror cinema. First up its little known and forgotten gems – like Dracula’s Daughter (1936) an overlooked Gothic sequel to the Bela Lugosi classic in which a moon faced and beguiling Gloria Holder seeks love and eternal release. Next up its , Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) – whose sexuality was so explicit that many steamy scenes were edited out of many initial release prints and Murders in The Rue Morgue (1932) a creepy and perverse adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic short story which features Bela Lugosi as a twisted and obsessed deviant whose dream is to cross bred human beings with apes. Next up its Tod Browning’s sideshow classic Freaks (1932) a disturbing yet sympathetic entry in the disfigurement / deformity cycle that began in the 1920’s . Then its the team up  of ghoulish and strange Lionel Atwill , Fay Wray and director Michael Curtiz – Dr X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) an interesting and macabre mixture of horror and chills that would become highly influential and be remade many many times. Jack also examines many other highly stylized forgotten gems , curios and obscurities that frightened not only the audience but censors as well.