Early Supernatural Cinema

My special guest is author Murray Leeder who's here to discuss his book called The Modern Supernatural and the Beginnings of Cinema. You can add his book to your collection from Amazon.

This study sees the nineteenth century supernatural as a significant context for cinema’s first years. The book takes up the familiar notion of cinema as a “ghostly,” “spectral” or “haunted” medium and asks what made such association possible. Examining the history of the projected image and supernatural displays, psychical research and telepathy, spirit photography and X-rays, the skeletons of the danse macabre and the ghostly spaces of the mind, it uncovers many lost and fascinating connections. The Modern Supernatural and the Beginnings of Cinema locates film’s spectral affinities within a history stretching back to the beginning of screen practice and forward to the digital era. In addition to examining the use of supernatural themes by pioneering filmmakers like Georges Méliès and George Albert Smith, it also engages with the representations of cinema’s ghostly past in Guy Maddin’s recent online project Seances (2016). It is ideal for those interested in the history of cinema, the study of the supernatural and the pre-history of the horror film.

Follow Our Other Shows
Follow UFO Witnesses
Follow Crime Watch Weekly
Follow Paranormal Fears
Follow Seven: Disturbing Chronicle Stories

Join our Patreon for ad-free listening and more bonus content.
Follow us on Instagram @mysteriousradio
Follow us on TikTok mysteriousradioTikTok
Follow us on Twitter @mysteriousradio
Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/mysteriousradio
Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/mysteriousradio]