There were no major advances during this next five-year period, which is 1905-1910, but that doesn’t make this time completely useless. First off, two versions of the classic book The Hunchback of Notre-Dame came out, and while not really horror, as Lon Chaney was in the 1923 version, I can mention the predecessors to it. Georges Méliès only had one important movie in this period, which is semi-surprising, but we can roll with it. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cast of Amontillado” influences one of the movies that will be discussed, as well as the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde finally receives a film version. With all of this going to be talked about, let’s get started.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a very well-known book, and while it’s more drama than horror, since Chaney was in the 1923 adaption, I’ll discuss the early adaptations of the movies to lead up to that. The first version of the book is Esmeralda, from 1905. Directed by Alice Guy (one of the first female directors in the world), this ten-minute film is believed to be lost. Not all hope is gone, though as this video I’ll link has six photos from the movie, which is probably all that’s left. The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOclcQDRSUo. In 1909, another version, entitled The Hunchback, came out. Directed by Van Dyke Brooke, virtually nothing is known about this movie, except that it came out September, 11 on 1909 and Frank Keenan was in it. Naturally, it is presumed lost.

Georges Méliès had a movie come out in 1906, which was Les quatre cents farces du diable (In English, The 400 Tricks of the Devil), but it’s not exactly important. However, I did find it on YouTube, so here it is in all its strange glory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRZwYsPuyTc&feature=related. I know, it’s odd, but it’s not too far removed from the David Lynch movies of the 1970’s. It’s an interesting piece, to say the least.

Another Frenchman comes unto the plate for horror in 1906, that being Segundo de Chomón (who is actually Spanish, but he worked in France). His horror movie that year was La maison hantée (The Haunted House), which little is known about. On the flipside, two of his other films have information, plus videos. Both of them came out 1907, Satan s’amuse (Satan at Play), which is about Satan being bored, and trying to amuse himself. Actually, for a ten-minute short, it’s not that bad. Here’s a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KdIltfQQFM. The other film is Le spectre rouge (The Red Spectre), which is about a demonic magician trying to perform his act, but being confronted by someone opposing him. Here’s the link to that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7DEgrhHZc4. I love the red tint to it because it makes it feel more hellish.

J. Stuart Blackton did The Haunted Hotel in 1907, which is an early American horror movie, which actually intended to scare the audience instead of amusing them. Sadly, I can’t locate the movie online, but you can read a highly-detailed user review on this page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000553/. Actually, the ending sounds pretty cool to me, which makes it even more regrettable that no one has put it online. Blackton didn’t do much more in the way of horror, but his movies were some of the first to use stop-motion techniques.

Otis Turner, in 1908, filmed the first version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was around 16 minutes. Little is known about this version, but we do know that Turner was born in Indiana, so that makes him special. I can’t find any video online, but I’m not all that shocked. There’s a 1920 version of the movie that you can watch all of anyway, so when we get there, I’ll post that link.

D.W. Griffith, famous for The Birth of a Nation (1915), released a movie in 1909 loosely inspired from Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado”, titled The Sealed Room. Though not conventional horror, it is a pretty amusing story, and the changes in the film version work for the movie. This movie is one of the first silent horror movies to use those card things to explain what’s going on. Here’s a link to the movie, (which is in two parts, so just click Part 2 on the sidebar):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGbuQW07V4s&p=02F56F1283F63A31&playnext=1&index=5. I personally think the ending is amusing.

And with that, Part 3 comes to a conclusion. Horror starts to pick up a bit with the next five-year chunk, as the first version of Frankenstein comes out. Until then, stay horror.