ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by tracing the origins of Gothic cinema to the magic lantern and phantasmagoria shows that eventually travelled into the work of cinema’s first magicians, especially of Georges Méliès and Segundo de Chomón. It argues that the origins of Gothic cinema, rather than a solid attempt at developing a self-professed Gothic tradition in film, lie in the intricacies of a historical period marked by the convergence of various forms of media (photography, early moving image technology) and entertainment (theatre, magic). Medieval Europe’s associations with archaism, the fairy tale and especially alchemy and superstition made it appealing as the background for visual experiments often concerned with transformations and optical illusions. The chapter also considers the first narrative films, which took the shape of ‘féeries’ (or fairy plays) and of quality literary adaptations of Gothic novels, such as Frankenstein (1910), or of Poe’s short stories. It argues that these prestige productions, and the general direction of commercial cinema, led to Gothic films eventually becoming story-driven.
