Monster film

Early monster films (1915–1954)

The first feature-length films to include what are regarded as monsters were often classed as horror or science fiction films. The lost 1915 German silent filmThe Golem, directed by Paul Wegener, is one of the earliest examples of film to include a creature. Wegener released a sequel in 1920 entitled The Golem: How He Came into the World, which is one of the earliest extant feature films within this category. This was followed in 1921 by the Italian science fiction film The Mechanical Man, directed by André Deed. The fragment that exists of this film features an early example of a giant monster battle, in this case involving large humanoid robots. The German ExpressionistNosferatu in 1922, and the depiction of a dragon in Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen in 1924, followed tradition. In the 1930s, American film studios began to produce more successful films of this type, usually based on Gothic tales such as Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931, both heavily influenced by German Expressionism, followed by The Mummy (1932) and The Invisible Man (1933). Classified as horror films, they included iconic monsters.