100 Years of Horror (TV Series) Bela Lugosi (1996) User Reviews

Bela Lugosi

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 8 April 2017]

100 YEARS OF HORROR is a 26-episode TV series made in 1996 and featuring the delightful Christopher Lee as host, his sonorous narration exploring the history of horror cinema in the 20th century. Each themed episode contains plentiful clips from the films mentioned along with brief interview footage seemingly culled from other documentaries as well as TV shows and the like.

BELA LUGOSI takes a step away from the first six episodes of this series by focusing on the horror star rather than a themed sub-genre of the genre. Lugosi's life in the movies is discussed and illustrated with many clips from his famous and not-so-famous films. Actors who worked with Lugosi are featured here alongside Bela Lugosi Jr. It's slight at 23 minutes, but a must for horror fans in general.

Bela Lugosi

[Michael_Elliott · 24 September 2010]

100 Years of Horror: Bela Lugosi (1996)

*** (out of 4)

Bela Lugosi is the subject of this episode and I'm sure even the most minor horror fan knows all about him. At just 23-minutes there's a lot of stuff that's left out but once again the documentary does a very good job at giving people the basic stuff so that newbies could certainly see some of the actor's more memorable highlights (and lows). We of course start off with Dracula, the film that would make him a star and then his immediate fall when he turned down FRANKENSTEIN. From here on out it was a pretty rough ride, although we got several classic films including WHITE ZOMBIE, THE BLACK CAT, THE RAVEN and his masterpiece, Ygor, in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. He got a few more chances to shine but for the most part he was thrown in "C" and "Z" movies before ending his career with Ed Wood for three films.

If you unfamiliar with Lugosi then this is going to be a nice place to get some basic information about the man. As with other episodes in the series, it at least gives newbies a place to start when it comes to the subject matter but I think even die-hard fans who know all about the subject can still sit back and enjoy what's presented here. Interviews include Ralph Bellamy, John Carradine, Bela Lugosi, Jr., Sara Karloff, Hugh Hefner and even Robert Wise. The film clips are presented here as are clips from a couple of the shorts Lugosi did after Dracula. Host Christopher Lee rightfully mentions that he's played Dracula more than any other actor but whenever someone tries to impersonate the character it's Lugosi's version that they do.