reveurdart’s Reviews > Theatre of Fear & Horror: Expanded Edition: The Grisly Spectacle of the Grand Guignol of Paris, 1897-1962 > Status Update
reveurdart
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"The Theatre of the Grand Guignol was one of several offshoots from the Naturalist movement on the Parisian stage that began in the late 1880s. The Théâtre Libre, founded by a twenty-nine year-old gas company clerk, Andre Antoine, heeded Emile Zola’s call that the theatre must become naturalist or nothing at all."
— Sep 30, 2020 02:41PM
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reveurdart’s Previous Updates
reveurdart
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I finished 100 plots from the Repertoire of the Grand Guignol, Color plates, and now I'm reading the essay Fear in Literature by André de Lorde.
"André de Lorde was the dominant figure in the Grand Guignol’s history. Dubbed the “Prince of Terror,” de Lorde wrote many of its most popular plays..."
— Oct 03, 2020 11:42AM
"André de Lorde was the dominant figure in the Grand Guignol’s history. Dubbed the “Prince of Terror,” de Lorde wrote many of its most popular plays..."
reveurdart
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"He discovered the further away the sound source was from the audience, the more effective (or chilling) it was."
— Oct 03, 2020 11:34AM
reveurdart
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"In Hollywood, the “old dark house” mysteries of the silent era, like Paul Leni’s The Cat and Canary (1927) and horror spectacles like Phantom of the Opera (1925), owed much more to the Grand Guignol than Expressionism."
— Oct 03, 2020 11:33AM
reveurdart
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"The Grand Guignol’s most significant influence on world culture can be found in the popular sub-genres of the Hollywood film. While the scary phantasmagoric style and primitive psychological thriller existed from the very beginnings of the European motion picture industry, the Grand Guignol had a major impact on their look and development by the end of World War One."
— Oct 03, 2020 11:32AM
reveurdart
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"The most celebrated performer during the Grand Guignol’s heyday was Maxa, known in the newspapers as “the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror.” A glamorous actress with an instinctive understanding of the macabre, Maxa was said to have played all of her roles as if she “were carrying a torch.” During her relatively brief career, she was murdered more than 10,000 times and in some 60 ways."
— Sep 30, 2020 02:53PM
reveurdart
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"This formula would attract the French public that slaked its blood lust and fascination with the morbid by devouring pulp novels and unlikely tabloid exposés. This clientele, in other times, flocked to country freak shows and wax museums that featured chambers of horror and sensational crime."
— Sep 30, 2020 02:51PM
reveurdart
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"It was said that he called it the Grand Guignol after the name of “Guignol,” the popular Punch and Judy puppet character from Lyons, which had become a generic name for all puppet entertainments. It was to be a “Grand” (large) “Guignol” (puppet show) since the intended audiences were to be adults and the characters live performers."
— Sep 30, 2020 02:49PM
reveurdart
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"(...) Using real criminal types to play themselves in minor parts and an actual circus strongman, the violent sketch unfolded in a cheap dance hall, recreated in naturalistic detail."
— Sep 30, 2020 02:47PM
reveurdart
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"No less disturbing were the Théâtre Libre’s documentary plays that recreated slices of life from Paris’ underworld. Called rosse, or “crass,” plays (from the street argot for a nasty or malicious person; literally “old horse”), these productions revealed a different, more primitive thought process, a universe of pure animal passion."
— Sep 30, 2020 02:44PM
