Along with Enrico Guazzoni’s epic Quo Vadis? (1912, It.) - often considered the first successful feature-length motion picture and one of the first films with over two hours running time, the influential three-hour Italian silent film from Giovanni Pastrone, Cabiria (1914, It.), was an early example of spectacular and monumental epic film-making. It laid the pattern and groundwork for future big-budget feature-length films (by the likes of D.W. Griffith - for his Judith of Bethulia (1914), The Birth of a Nation (1915), and later his Babylonian sequences in Intolerance (1916) - and Cecil B. DeMille). Its story of 3rd century BC Ancient Rome included sequences of the eruption of Mt. Etna and Hannibal's crossing of the Alps with elephants (with an early example of tracking shots). The landmark film was shot on location in North Africa, Sicily and the Italian Alps. It was also the first film to be screened at the White House.

Download Two of the Earliest Epics from Italy: Quo Vadis? and Cabiria

The first American serial was the groundbreaking 12-reel What Happened to Mary? (1912), a production of Thomas A. Edison's Company, that starred Mary Fuller (the first true serial queen), and was released concurrently with the serial story "What Happened to Mary?" in McClure's Ladies' World Magazine. Each film chapter was released simultaneously with the corresponding story in the magazine, one story per month, beginning July 26th, 1912. The series was followed with the six-episode Who Will Marry Mary? (1913), and with another twelve episode series, The Active Life of Dolly of the Dailies (1914).

Download The Earliest US Serials

Supernatural Films: These are films that have themes including gods or goddesses, ghosts, apparitions, spirits, miracles, and other similar ideas or depictions of extraordinary phenomena. They may be combined with other genres, including comedy, sci-fi, fantasy or horror. Interestingly however, until recently, supernatural films were usually presented in a comical, whimsical, or a romantic fashion, and were not designed to frighten the audience. There are also many hybrids that have combinations of fear, fantasy, horror, romance and comedy.

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Stars: Max Ryan, Maria Conchita Alonso and Chris Mulkey

Review:

One flick we've been talking about for a while now is Dana Mennie's werewolf driven love story Dark Moon Rising. Don't let the love story part fool ya, though; the movie features Sid Haig fighting werewolves! That premise alone is enough for me to get my ass into a seat to watch it.

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A controversial, explicitly racist, but landmark American film masterpiece - these all describe ground-breaking producer/director D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). The domestic melodrama/epic originally premiered with the title The Clansman in February, 1915 in Los Angeles, California, but three months later was retitled with the present title at its world premiere in New York, to emphasize the birthing process of the US. The film was based on former North Carolina Baptist minister Rev. Thomas Dixon Jr.'s anti-black, 1905 bigoted melodramatic staged play, The Clansman, the second volume in a trilogy:

* The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden, 1865-1900
* The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan
* The Traitor


Download The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Cast
Patrick Wilson ... Barry Munday
Mae Whitman ... Candice
Chloë Sevigny ... Jennifer Farley
Malcolm McDowell ... Mr. Farley
Judy Greer ... Ginger Farley
Missi Pyle ... Lida Griggs
Colin Hanks ... Heavy Metal Greg
Emily Procter ... Deborah
Jean Smart ... Carol Munday
Cybill Shepherd ... Mrs. Farley
Christopher McDonald ... Dr. Preston Edwards
Shea Whigham ... Donald
Billy Dee Williams ... Lonnie Green
Kyle Gass

Download Barry Munday

Cast
Steve Buscemi as John, a quitting gambler
Romany Malco as Virgil, an insurance fraud investigator
Sarah Silverman as Jill, John's co-worker and love interest
Peter Dinklage as Mr. Townsend, John's boss
Tim Blake Nelson as Ned, a nude militant
Danny Trejo as Bismarck
John Cho as Smitty, a carnival human torch
Emmanuelle Chriqui as Tasty D Lite, a paraplegic stripper
Aviva as Penny


Download Saint John of Las Vegas

Cast
John C. Reilly as John Kilpatrick
Jonah Hill as Cyrus Fawcett
Marisa Tomei as Molly Fawcett
Catherine Keener as Jamie
Matt Walsh as Tim

Download Cyrus

Stars: Daniell Edwards, Sami Darr and Anna Bård


Download Westbrick Murders