Todd Browning's amazing 1932 horror film Freaks still has the power to shock and scare. Browning used real, working sideshow freaks rather than rely on special effects and the results were so unsettling the film was banned in many countries. The recent DVD reissue is excellent, as it includes a feature-length documentary about the film and sideshow history in general. Watch Freaks on Google Video.

Benjamin Christensen's 1922 film Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages is another film that was way ahead of it's time. Ostensibly a documentary, this silent film depicts beautiful and grotesque recreations of witchcraft, black magic, and satanism in the middle ages and then makes a link between those accused of witchcraft in the middle ages with modern day (1922) psychiatric patients. This film was an inspiration to the makers of The Blair Witch Project, who named their production company after it. Watch Häxan on Google Video.

Via Bibi's Box, via We Make Money Not Art