A stellar compendium of clips from early horror films, KINGDOM OF SHADOWS is weighted down by narration so overwrought it verges on self-parody.
Using a broad definition of horror, the chronology of the genre begins with several sensationalistic turn-of-the-century depictions of faked executions and violent accidents. A discussion of cinema's perennial fascination with religious persecution and torture segues into a segment on the
portrayal of the medical profession and its practitioners in early fear films: as reckless experimenters, body snatchers, mad scientists. With new, popular acceptance of the precepts of psychiatry, terrors of the mind begin to show up ...
Released:
1998
Rated:
NR
Length:
70 mins