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A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss

Mark Gatiss

John Das

Michael Poole

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss: Episode 1: Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood

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Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood

Episode 1

Episode 1: Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood

BBC Four - A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss, Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood

Mark Gatiss explores the early horror era of Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.

Mark Gatiss celebrates the achievements of horror cinema, beginning by exploring the early era of Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.

Three-part series in which actor and writer Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who, Sherlock) celebrates the greatest achievements of horror cinema.

A lifelong fan of the genre, Mark begins by exploring the golden age of Hollywood horror. From the late 1920s until the 1940s, a succession of classic pictures and unforgettable actors defined the horror genre - including The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney, Dracula with Bela Lugosi, and Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff. 

Mark explains just how daring and pioneering these films were, and why they still send a chill down the spine today. He also traces how horror pictures evolved during this period, becoming camp and subversive (The Old Dark House and Bride of Frankenstein, both directed by Englishman James Whale), dark and perverse (films like Freaks, which used disabled performers), before a final flourish with the psychological horror of RKO Pictures' films (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie), which still influence directors today. However, by the early 1950s the monsters were facing their biggest threat - the rise of science fiction films in the post-war atomic era.

Along the way, Mark steps into some of the great sets from these classic films, hears first-hand accounts from Hollywood horror veterans, discovers Lon Chaney's head in a box and finds out why Bela Lugosi met his match in Golders Green.

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Actor and writer Mark Gatiss celebrates the greatest achievements of horror cinema

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