Early horror takes a massive leap forward as cinema moves from simple tricks to true storytelling. In this episode, we explore how 1901 introduces the first real narratives in horror, and how 1902 expands the genre’s boundaries with cosmic fantasy, infernal imagery, and even real‑world catastrophe. From Méliès’ supernatural experiments to the haunting recreation of the Mount Pelée eruption, these two years reshape what horror can be — imaginative, ambitious, and suddenly, deeply human.

Episode 2 dives into the turn of the century, where Georges Méliès and his contemporaries push the genre beyond simple illusions and into something stranger, funnier, and more unsettling. From demonic transformations to dream‑logic nightmares, this year marks the moment horror begins to understand its own potential.

We explore every surviving—and lost—horror and horror‑adjacent film from 1900, tracing how these early experiments shaped the genre's language. And as always, we end with our updated rankings, placing each film in both the decade list and the overall canon.

The magic tricks are still here… but something darker is starting to form beneath them.

Cinema’s first devils, ghosts, skeletons and nightmares flickered to life long before horror had a name. In this debut episode, Alex dives into the earliest supernatural films ever made — from Méliès’ playful illusions to the uncanny tricks that shaped the foundations of the genre. Across lost films, surviving classics, and the strange spiritual energy of the 1890s, this chapter traces how horror began as magic, mischief and the first attempts to visualize the impossible. This is where the genre takes its first breath.