Watch The Red Spectre For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Blistering performances.

Before I go into this film, I would like to point out that it and another film by the same person entitled "Satan at Play" appear to be one and the same, though I haven't seen the latter. Still, IMDb gives both titles a page, and both titles have reviews written on them. Also, two colored prints of this film are floating around YouTube: one with a purplish grotto, and another with a milder, brownish tint which I've seen.Now to the film. It's about a mysterious spectre who puts on a diabolical magic show. Many of these tricks are something you'd see Melies doing years before, although one scene uses a closeup, which you don't see in Melies's work. There is also a subplot of one spirit constantly trying to spoil his fun, and in the end destroying him.For 1907 this was actually a full-length feature, at 10 whole minutes long. The beginning is entirely tinted red, but later other colors come into play. The demon's makeup is really quite beautiful and ghastly, and the sets are pretty good. The main problem is that the pacing is off. In Melies's work you're treated to one trick after another, but here there's lots of set-up and it does drag. That said, I would agree with those who say that while watching it it's as though you have entered another world, because it's visually astounding and has some excellent tricks. Even despite lack of story this is a very nice watch.

I must say I had expected more of this, though I did quite enjoy myself. I came across a version without music, but I'm sure it's not intended that way, so I chose some Spanish guitar songs from Pepe Romero to play as soundtrack, and it sufficed for the greater part.The 'story' was pretty hard to follow, although all there seems to be going on is a horned reaper / magician performing his black arts on some harmless, innocent women (but are they ever...?), but in the end he meets his demise through one of them.It's full of visual playfulness and ingenuity that makes it quite pleasing to the eye, though I had expected a little more in terms of different settings and such.Still, this is very much up my alley. 8 out of 10.

The Red Spectre (1907)** 1/2 (out of 4) Mildly entertaining French film from director Ferdinand Zecca was clearly influenced by the work of Georges Melies. In this film, in what appears to be Hell or something like it, a skeleton brings to life a couple women and then begins to do various tricks with them. That's pretty much everything you need to know in regards to the story as everything else is just one trick after another. There are a few good things about this film but at the same time it's just so easy to see that it's no where near the league of Melies and you have to feel that the French master was doing this type of film a decade earlier and doing it much better. I think the biggest problem is that there's really no strong pacing and after a while the 9-minute running time just feels like it's dragging along. There are several of the tricks, which simply aren't that entertaining and for one good example just check out the one where the skeleton wraps a woman up in some sort of tarp. How the trick was done is easy to spot. There are some good things however and this includes the scenery, which is quite nice to look at. The biggest highlight has to be the very good tinting and especially the reds.

"The Red Spectre" is simply a themed stage magician's routine enhanced by trick photography. One needn't trouble over any real plot line, and there isn't any point to what happens to the women in the routine; they're all Lovely Assistants assisting the magician! Notice how they pose becomingly in their pretty costumes, preen, dance and nod to the audience? Even the three shown miniaturized in the milk bottles look quite happy and pleasant, since they're just doing their job of being decorative parts of the act. The "Good Fairy/Spirit" looks more like a rival magician (notice her bat-winged cape), and far from being a contest between Good and Evil, it's more a challenge between equals. This adds a bit more narrative, an element of conflict, but really doesn't seem intended to convey any deep significance. The sorceress is almost another Lovely Assistant, just with a more active role and showing more leg. Notice that far from deploring his dark powers, she appears to absorb them herself at the last by assuming his cloak after having vanquished him. This is a charming example of stage technique of the time, and the final scenery effects and beauty pageant are quite delightful. Just watch it as an old-time magic act and it makes perfect sense!