Films I think make good inspirational viewing for Ravenloft

[Ken of Ghastria]

Pan's Labyrinth is on my "Must See Now!" list. I love del Toro's work.

No titles that haven't been mentioned previously, but I'll give my rationale for citing them:

1) Brotherhood of the Wolf: As Jasper said, it's the perfect Ravenloft film: secret societies, a mysterious murdering beast, corrupt officials, gypsies, seductive poisoners ... and it's a good movie to boot! Awesome.

2) The Others: A tragedy-soaked manor cloaked in fog, through which loved ones, invisible threats, and other figures wander. That's a damn good pocket domain!

3) Black Sunday: Hmmm, I'm not sure if this one was mentioned.... Mario Bava's best film, with the great Barbara Steele as a vampiric witch who seeks to destroy the innocents around her. Very creepy.

4) Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter: It hasn't aged well, but damn, I still get the biggest kick out of this movie. I pounced on the DVD when it came out two years ago. Variant vampires and a fighter who duels his enemies!

5) Dracula Has Risen From the Grave: It's not even the best of the Hammer Draculas (Horror of Dracula still gets the nod there), but this is the quintessential Hammer film: great sets, beautiful cinematography, terrific music, a spectacular climax, Christopher Lee, and gorgeous, swooning women. Replace Dracula with the vampire of your choice (or even the Phantom Lover from Darklords) and you've got a module!

--Ken

[Brandi]

I'll take a moment to clarify, for any new readers of this thread, that I was recommending the original Wicker Man, not the remake.

This is why I don't recommend the remake (at least not for anything but an MST3K party).

[LordGodefroi]

For atmosphere:

Black Sunday Dir: Mario Bava

The Whip And The Body Dir: Mario Bava

The Howling

Dracula (1931 Univ Studios - Spanish version w/ Carlos Villar)

Bram Stoker's Dracula Dir. Coppola

Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead series.

Brides of Dracula (Most of Hammer's Gothics, really)

The Call of Cthulhu (short film)

A number of films from the HP Lovecraft Film Festival DVDs

More as I think of them . . . .

[LordGodefroi]

One I almost forgot to mention:

The Devil Rides Out
A knowledgable occultist (Christopher Lee) nobleman must save his friend from a group of Satanists led by the evil Mr. Moccata (Charles Gray).

One of the few horror films in which Christopher Lee plays the hero! (And one film in which two Bond villains star in the same film!)

[Catman Jim]

Vidocq...

I had heard of this one for some time, but it only recently became available in the USA. Released as "Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidoq", I rented it this last weekend. I saw it once dubbed in English & again in the original French with English sub-titles (it was better that way, but it totally re-enforced the fact that my French is not as good as I think it is!). I'm not sure if I think this is a good example of Ravenloft-like cinema, I think perhaps it would fit better as a "Book of Vile Darkness" type setting, but then I tend more towards the old Universal & Hammer horror films. It was certainly a very stylish movie, and I did like the Alchemist as the villain, but some of the extreme close-ups, & camera angles and movements were a little too manically "Moulin Rouge"-like for my taste. Eh, I'll probably still end up buying it.

EDIT: Totally with Brandi on The Wicker Man mentioned above. The remake was awful, the original was ahead of it's time.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

For a niche-topic recommendation, I've become convinced that Dead & Buried, a low-budget horror flick from the early 80s, was the actual inspiration for certain events in Ship of Horror. It's not a period movie, but it has an ambience that suits that module, and the creatures and their agenda are reminiscent of the ones in SoH also.

The film's twist ending is pretty vicious. Oh, and 80s trivia-buffs can spot a pre-Elm Street Robert Englund among the minor cast members.

[Jack of Tears]

For all that I'm not a fan of Anne Rice, I would have to say the "Interview with a Vampire" movie had some very good material, capturing the feel of the era and delivering some very fine character performances. Claudia is obviously the inspiration for Merilee Markuza - and say what you will about Kirsten Dunst's adult career, she embodied that character beautifully.

I am glad people mentioned Ginger Snaps, while each sequel was a little worse than its predicessors, they were all, nonetheless, good movies. (The use of lycanthropy as a metaphor for puberty in the first film was beautiful ... and the evil girl in the second film made it entirely worth while)

"Lost Souls" was a great movie about emerging evil handled on an intimate scale - no great events fortelling the coming of evil ... just a quiet little coup in the making, and the salvation of mankind won on a lonely street with no one to see.

"Dark City" for its atmosphere and themes ... claustrophobia, doubt in even one's own mind, maddness, the battle to overcome boundaries, etc ... ignoring the terrible pulp science fiction duel at the end.

"Body Snatchers" ...

[The Giamarga]

Cyrano de Bergerac w. Gerard Depardieu

[HuManBing]

It's mentioned in its own thread but Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources is tangentially related to Ghotic horror. It has themes of jealousy, revenge spiralling out of control, and finally redemption.

As well as a nice scene with Emmanuelle Beart in a waterfall.

But that's not strictly relevant to the movie's success.

[Sylaire]

Van Helsing (a movie I genuinely like...I consider it the second-best James Bond film, after Live and Let Die ) always reminded me of the original I6 module...and, would remind me even more of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. Seriously, though, it's excellent in terms of appearances (I love how every house in Vaseria is just slightly off-kilter so that nothing looks quite...right...).

More seriously:

Universal's Son of Dracula (1943; Lon Chaney Jr. as Drac) is a good example to Ravenloft plot-writers of how to set up a story with a twist. I mean, you see Dracula in the title, you figure he's the big, bad monster--and he's actually getting played throughout the movie.

For those of you into anime, Le Chevalier d'Eon just screams Ravenloft/MotRD with its occult conspiracy thriller storyline set in pre-Revolutionary France.

My favorite version of Dracula is the 1977 Count Dracula BBC mini-series starring Louis Jourdan. Good acting, largely sticks to Stoker's plot, excellent scenery.

Sleepy Hollow was not only good, but the plot (as in, there genuinely was a plot beyond "nasty monster runs around killing people") again shows what can be done to combine supernatural creatures with non-supernatural plots (and simultaneously as an example of setting up a situation where there's a different solution to a supernatural problem than just applying sufficient force to the Big Bad).

The BBC "Cadfael" mini-series is excellent for medieval atmosphere; I personally find the second season ("The Virgin in the Ice," "The Devil's Novice," "St. Peter's Fair") the best, though later seasons (especially "The Raven in the Foregate," 3rd season, and "The Potter's Field," 4th season) do a good job of portraying the cruel brutishness and ignorance of medieval life.

[JinnTolser]

Yes! It's been a long time since I've seen them, but Cadfael is brilliant!

[Georg Kristianokov]

Has anyone thought about organizing these by Domain?

Darkon: As I'm typing this, I'm watching "For a Few Dollars More". This is a really good movie! I can see this as a very good starting adventure. The old Arak badlands can really set the scene for most Western movies. The proximity to Nova Vaasa, with its great horses, can help. You even have the typical televangelist, organizing a holy army to smite the unholy (Raines)!

Mordent: For some odd reason, Sleepy Hollow was playing on TNT all Christmas night, and I couldn't get Mordent out of my head.

Souragne: The Serpent and the Rainbow is an "all right" movie, and I always think of the Voodoo cult from "The Call of Cthulhu" when thinking of Sandover.

Nocturnal Sea: Maybe "The Fog", and other films that deal with coastal undead. Meredoth is much like Herbert West, but is more magical.

I'll post more when I think of it.

[maraudar]

My favorite version of Dracula is the 1977 Count Dracula BBC mini-series starring Louis Jourdan. Good acting, largely sticks to Stoker's plot, excellent scenery.

Has it been that long? I remember watching that, it freaked me out big time. The cut scenes where they show the negatives of Jourdan's was creepy as hell. I slept with a wooden crucifix for days...


Maraudar

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Nocturnal Sea: Maybe "The Fog", and other films that deal with coastal undead. Meredoth is much like Herbert West, but is more magical.

Actually, if you're looking for movie inspiration about the Grabens, check out Dead & Buried if you can find it. I swear, that movie's gotta be what inspired the Ship of Horror module, in the first place!

[LadySoth]

Cyrano de Bergerac w. Gerard Depardieu

How about his Count of Monte Cristo? That was pretty good.

I'd say the 2nd Vampire Hunter D film would be a great place to get inspiration, or the original horror films of Universal from the 30s and 40s. Lugosi will always be the quintesential Dracula. Also the 1922 "Nosferatu" with Max Schreck is good.