In the first of a three part series, Gatiss explores the golden age of Hollywood horror, stretching from its early days in 1920s silent cinema through to the classic monster pictures of the 30s. His BBC backing allows him some remarkably exclusive access, from an exploration of the quite beautiful set from 1925’s The Phantom Of The Opera, which remarkably, still stands, to the make-up kit of that movie’s star, Lon Chaney Sr. The path Gatiss treads through screen history is a perhaps familiar one, at least to horror buffs, but his decision to concentrate on the characters behind the movies makes his journey far more emotionally involving than it might otherwise have been. The contrast between Karloff, who embraced his career-making role of Frankenstein with relish, and Bela Lugosi’s irritation with being typecast as a suave vampire, is poignant, and a fate that awaited many actors who later dabbled in the horror genre. Gatiss makes for an oddly stern presenter, showing some of the Edwardian gravity he recently brought to the screen as Professor Cavor in his adaptation of The First Men In The Moon, but his knowledge and passion for his pet topic is nevertheless evident throughout. A History Of Horror is by no means a mere gushing trip back through Hollywood’s early flirtation with the grotesque, however. An appreciative look back at the influence of 1942’s suggestive, shadowy Cat People is brilliantly undercut by a savage dismissal from auteur John Carpenter, who impatiently says that, had director Jacques Tourneur shot Jurassic Park, we probably would never have seen a dinosaur at all. It’s this candid insight that really sets Gatiss’ history of horror from the numerous other accounts we’ve seen in the past. Its focus is narrow, and Gatiss makes no bones about the fact that his choices of films and actors is purely a personal one, but this subjective take on the evolution of screen horror proves to be its master stroke.
