Prelude (1927)
*** (out of 4)
Castleton Knight directed this avante-garde short about a man who listens to a piece of music and then dreams that he is being buried alive.
This here is loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem and like a lot of films from this era, it's a mixture of horror but done in an avant garde kind of way. Other examples that would follow include two versions of THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER and THE TELL-TALE HEART.
This one here isn't quite as good as those other films but there's no question that it's worth watching and especially if you're a fan of the these types of movies. This one here works best when it shows the man being buried in what's basically a clear coffin. When then see his horror as he witnesses more and more dirt being thrown on him. These scenes were rather claustrophobic and they worked for what they are. There's even a small glimpse into Hell, which was nice.