10 Lost Horror Movies You Can't Watch
Tales of terror that no longer exist in any capacity.
With the rampant and sometimes over-bearing film distribution services that litter our daily lives such as Blu-Ray, DVD, streaming services and internet archives, the thought of a movie being completely lost to the point where it can’t be seen anymore is almost unfathomable.
However, despite all this archiving and preservation, films weren’t as well-treated in the past as they are these days. Today, a piece of recorded media will be made, released and backed-up for re-releases and preservation, but in the past films would be shown and stored in very vulnerable areas where, if one was really unlucky, they would be subject to fire, degradation and even theft.
However, it seems that no genre was hit harder by having lost films than the horror genre. With its rich history set in stone through numerous books and archived articles, there’s a few lost horror movies that could have completely rewrite the history of the genre if they were found once again.
These are a few examples of the horror movies found only in mere mention, and if they exist, then they need to be released for the world to see.
10. A Blind Bargain
A Blind Bargain was reportedly a 1922 silent horror film that starred silent movie legends Raymond McKee, star of over two hundred movies from 1910 to 1935, and Lon Chaney, the ‘Man Of A Thousand Faces’, legendarily known for his roles in The Phantom Of The Opera, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Oliver Twist and The Road To Mandaley.
It was produced under the watchful eye of Samuel Goldwyn, founder and
owner of Goldwyn Pictures before it became the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer we all know
today.
This prestigious horror movie - or at least prestigious for its time - was about a mad scientist, played by Lon Chaney, who exploits a young man, played by Raymond McKee, with a dying mother. In return for his mother’s life, the young man hands himself over to the scientist in order to become a human guinea pig for experiments, where he befriends the scientist’s hunchback assistant - a dual-role for Lon Chaney and his horrible make-up.
Unfortunately, all that remains of this movie are a few stills, some old posters, and a few lobby cards. The original negative was purposely destroyed in 1931 by MGM themselves after the merger from Goldwyn Pictures, and the last surviving print was sadly destroyed due to the 1965 vault fire at MGM. A real shame, as this could have been a great addition to Lon Chaney’s career history.