The 15 Most Underrated Horror Films of the 1920s
Horror films of the 1920s were more twisted and strange than modern audiences can handle.
Horror has been a part of the human storytelling psyche for as long as humans have told stories, but the modern genre as we know it arrived on the back of World War One.
The first stirrings of the modern horror genre showed up during the late 1800s, but it was post-WWI that a true existential reckoning forced a new widespread fascination with the macabre. With millions… millions of human beings dead, the global community sought new forms of self-expression to make sense of the real-world horror they faced.
This coincided with the explosion of popularity in the new entertainment medium of film, and created an epic age of horror fiction that inspected humanity’s greatest fears and nightmares.
The 1920s were, by and large, still the era of silent films (though “talkies” were pushing in by the end of the decade in a massive way). Silent horror films, therefore, aren’t going to elicit quite the same movie-going experience that you’re used to if you enjoy modern horror and thriller experiences.
In a sense, these silent films are more participatory: they require you to focus on them and allow yourself to be immersed…
