From Cat People to Bedlam: The Horror Films of Val Lewton

If ever there was a filmmaker made for a series called Dark Corners, then it is Val Lewton. The 9 films that make up Lewton’s RKO horror cycle exist in the dark corners and it is part of Lewton’s legend that he too seems shrouded in darkness.
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Val Lewton: Born in Russia in 1904, Lewton moved with his mother and sister to Berlin in 1906, then to USA in 1909. He wrote for newspapers, magazines, novels, pornography, etc.- often using pseudonyms to disguise their origin (the name Val Lewton was one such pseudonym, used first for some novels in the 1930's, then revived later in his career to take writing credit for two movies). In 1933, he got a job with David O. Selznick where he spent many years as a story editor and jack-of-all-trades. Then in 1942, RKO hired him to head their new horror unit, where he made many famous and well-respected B-movies, for very low costs and high profits. In 1946, he "graduated" to A-movies, but increasing health problems, trouble working with big-money Hollywood, and other factors combined to force him to produce only three more movies before his death in 1951.

Cat People: Serbian fashion designer Irena Dubrovna and American marine engineer Oliver Reed meet in Central Park, fall in love and marry after a brief courtship; but Irena won't consummate the union for fear that she will turn into a panther compelled to kill her lover, pursuant to a belief harbored by her home village.

I Walked With A Zombie: Young Canadian nurse Betsy comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager Paul Holland. Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.

The Leopard Man: A seemingly tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy New Mexico town.

The Ghost Ship: Tom Merriam signs on the ship Altair as third officer under Captain Stone. At first things look good, Stone sees Merriam as a younger version of himself and Merriam sees Stone as the first adult to ever treat him as a friend. But after a couple strange deaths of crew members, Merriam begins to think Stone is a psychopathic madman obsessed with authority. He tries to tell others, but no one believes him, and it only makes Stone angry..

The Seventh Victim: Mary Gibson, a naive orphan, goes to Manhatten to find her missing sister Jacqueline. Her investigation leads her to Jacqueline's secret husband, and also to a strange cult of Diabolists who are also hunting Jacqueline.

The Curse of the Cat People: The young, friendless daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed befriends her father's dead first wife and an aging, reclusive actress.

The Body Snatcher: A gruesome tale of a reality of 19th Century medicine. Karloff portrays Mr. Gray, a dubious supplier of human cadavers for medical experimentation. When the task of digging up newly interred corpses becomes tedious and dangerous, Mr. Gray turns to other methods portending disaster.

Isle Of The Dead: On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn't enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects one young girl of being a vampiric kind of demon called a vorvolaka.

Bedlam: Nell Bowen, the protégé of Lord Mortimer, wants to help change the conditions of notorious St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum (Bedlam). Though she tries to reform Bedlam, but the cruel Master Sims who runs it has her committed there, though ultimate, it's the lunatics who've taken over the asylum.

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Written and presented by Robin Bailes @robinbailes
Directed and Edited by Graham Trelfer
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