Narrated by Rod Steiger, Kingdom of Shadows is a haunting, sometimes shocking documentary that explores the evolution of horror in world cinema -- a danse macabre of religion, science, carnivals, nightmares, monstrosity and death.

More than fifty thrillers (the best-known as well as the most obscure) are surveyed, including Nosferatu, The Golem, Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, The Student of Prague, Electrocuting an Elephant, The Phantom of the Opera, Dante’s Inferno, The Bells, Waxworks, Warning Shadows, and Leaves from Satan’s

Kingdom of Shadows explores the sources of our fears and reveals the birth of the frightful conventions from which the modern-day horror movie has evolved, including the menacing shadows of the German Expressionists, the sympathetic monsters of Lon Chaney (“The Man of a Thousand Faces”) and the psychological terrors envisioned by Edgar Allan Poe. Essential viewing for every aficionado of silent movies or classic horrors, Kingdom of Shadows illuminates one of the most fascinating chapters of film history.