Georges Méliès' primitive, three minute, 'horror-comedy' film opens with a giant bat turning into a black-clad devil who then magically torments a couple of soldiers before the braver of the two drives the fiend away by brandishing a large cross. The film is shot from a single camera on a small set made up as a castle and there are lots of substitution-splices as the devil conjures up various imps and spirits, changes a young woman into an old hag, and produces a steaming caldron out of thin air. The old film (thought lost until 1988) is an amusing precursor of the 'haunted house' genre and includes a couple of tropes later to become core to the cinematic 'vampire' tradition: the transformation from a bat and the power of the cross over the creatures of the night. Fun but my high rating needs to be taken in context.
Review of The House of the Devil
The House of the Devil
(1896)
Fun and lively antecedent to the modern horror-comedy
19 February 2020