Le manoir du diable

"The first horror film!"

1896 0h 4m FR

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 220

FantasyHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In a medieval castle, a dark magician thought to be Mephistopheles conjures up a series of bizarre creatures and events in order to torment a pair of interloping cavaliers.

“The first horror film!”

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Cast

Georges Méliès
Мефістофель
Jehanne d'Alcy
Дама

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Georges Méliès
Writers: Georges Méliès
Languages: No Language
Countries: France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 4-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

ERA

Did you know

130 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Georges Méliès and Jehanne d'Alcy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The first horror film!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0000091 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Georges Méliès directs. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in France. Dialogue in No Language.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 4-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2130 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Georges Méliès and Jehanne d'Alcy carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "The first horror film!".
6IMDB entry: tt0000091 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Production design: Georges Méliès
Runtime: 4 min · 0h 4m
Status: Released
Original language: FR
IMDB: Le manoir du diable (1896)

Also by

Georges Méliès

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

RottenPop2017-02-21
★ 5/10
According to Wikipedia in August of 2011, Le Manoir du diable by Georges Melies is the first horror movie. Well, actually its a short film (about three minuets or so) but film was really hard to come by in that time so this counts as a film to me. The plot of the film is basic, you have your hero being tormented by demonic things in a crazy castle room... However, that plot isn't what brought the crowds. The thing that drove the popularity of these films was the fact that you were seeing motion on screen. I suggest going and seeing Hugo. That film is spectacular. It answered so many questions that I had. It really sets the scene and the tone. The film has strong christian overtones and actually ends with Christianity prevailing over the "tides of darkness". I provided a link at the bottom of this review for anyone that would like to see this pioneer in Horror Film. The movie uses very, very early "movie magic" that is an abundance of smoke and mirror trickery mixed with quick cuts. The acting is too brief to judge, somehow none of that matters I am just in awe of this being a film that is over 100 years old. That is nuts.
BrimmingTeacup2024-06-10
One of the first ever technical horror movies. While the term "horror" until the 30's, this can be considered one of the first of the genre. Hard to say if this or A Nightmare is the first film, but they do both use the same kind of jump cuts, and special props. Georges Melies is honestly crazy talented of an illusionist. I more or less covered this in my review for his film A Nightmare, but it is just so fun to see how some talents that are viewed as just basic nowadays were first ever developed.

Production companies