A History of Horror

Following his acclaimed 2010 BBC Four series A History Of Horror, Mark turns to explore the story of European horror, looking at how the genre came to reflect the continent's turbulent 20th century. Mark's voyage takes him across Europe, from the castle in Slovakia where FW Murnau shot Nosferatu (1922), to the hotel in Ostend, Belgium where Harry Kümel filmed his erotic vampire classic, Daughters Of Darkness (1971). Other highlights include a visit to Paris where Mark meets Edith Scob, the woman behind the mask in the extraordinary Eyes Without A Face (1960), while in Rome, Mark discusses Italy's distinctive brand of horror, the "Giallo" thriller, with master director Dario Argento. In Madrid he has a rare interview with the godfather of Spanish horror, Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, before speaking with today's foremost exponent of Spanish-language horror, Guillermo del Toro.

A lifelong fan of the genre, Mark begins by exploring the golden age of Hollywood horror. From the late 1920s until the 1940s, a succession of classic pictures and unforgettable actors defined the horror genre - including The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney, Dracula with Bela Lugosi, and Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff. Along the way, Mark steps into some of the great sets from these classic films, hears first-hand accounts from Hollywood horror veterans, discovers Lon Chaney's head in a box and finds out why Bela Lugosi met his match in Golders Green.

Mark uncovers stories behind the films of his favourite period - the 1950s and 60s - which fired his lifelong enthusiasm for horror. These mainly British pictures were dominated by the legendary Hammer Films, who rewrote the horror rulebook with a revolutionary infusion of sex and full-colour gore - all shot in the English Home Counties.

Mark explores the explosion of American films of the late 1960s and 70s which dragged horror kicking and screaming into the present day. With their contemporary settings and uncompromising content, films like Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remain controversial. But Mark argues that these films - often regarded as only being for hardcore fans with strong stomachs - have much to offer. Made by pioneering independent filmmakers, they reflected the social upheavals of American society and brought fresh energy and imagination to the genre. Mark gets the inside story from a roster of leading horror directors, including George A Romero, whose Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead turned zombies into A-list monsters; Tobe Hooper, director of the notorious Texas Chain Saw Massacre; and John Carpenter, whose smash hit Halloween triggered the slasher movie boom. Mark also celebrates the other great horror trend of the era - a string of satanically-themed Hollywood blockbusters, including Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen. Along the way Mark visits the Bates Motel, gets mobbed by zombies and finds out what happened to Omen star David Warner's decapitated head.