The Man Who Laughs (1928)

The Man Who Laughs (1928) poster
Rating: ★★★★
Historical Horror/Man With a Frozen Grin

Adaptation of a Victor Hugo historical novel about a man with his face surgically altered into a grin – an image that later inspired Batman’s The Joker. This has clearly been intended to imitate Lon Chaney’s grotesque performances of this era and is exquisitely made by the great Paul Leni

The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) poster
Rating: ★★★½
Silent Edgar Allan Poe Adaptation

Early silent adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe story that treats the story liberally, drops Poe’s mood of desolation and despair for one more of melancholy, but holds an undeniable style

Un Chien Andalou (1928)

Un Chien Andalou (1928) poster
Rating: ★★★
Surrealism

Famous surrealist short film made as a collaboration between Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali, full of the shock juxtapositions and symbolism you associate with either

Alraune (1928)

Alraune (1928) poster
Rating: ★★
Evil Artificially-Birthed Woman

A classic German Expressionist film where Metropolis‘s Brigitte Helm gives a sizzlingly seductive performance as a woman born via artificial insemination who grows up as an emotionless man-eater

L’Age d’Or (1930)

L'Age d'Or (1930) poster
Rating: ★★★
Surrealism

This collaboration between Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali is not much more than a plotless series of surrealistic images, which are frequently calculated to outrage