The Grand Guignol, Paris: Theatre of Horror and Gore

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/ @geographicstravel
This video is #sponsored by World of Tanks.
Our sister channels:
Biographics - / @biographics
TopTenz - / @toptenznettop10
Credits:
Host - Simon Whistler
Author - Arnaldo Teodorani
Producer - Jennifer Da Silva
Executive Producer - Shell Harris
Business inquiries to [e-mail]
Source/Further reading:
Grand-Guignol: The French Theatre of Horror By
Richard J. Hand and Michael Wilson www.scribd.com/book/419732161
Extended article:
www.scribd.com/article/457961970
History, essays and lists of plays:
www.grandguignol.com

[@geographicstravel]

Get started with World of Tanks today: tanks.ly/3eR3lgn

[@Nipplator99999999999]

Every time you say "The Grand Guignol" my CC posts "ta Grandma Y'all" and "ta Grinding Yawn".

[@jwenting]

I just uninstalled WoT again after giving it another try. The toxicity of the players is still the same if not worse, reducing any fun I might have had.

[@MarsLonsen]

@@jwenting that's online videogames for yah

[@Solv3nt9]

You guys should do Derinkuyu

[@aceminer26]

I appreciate that you may be busy but the videos about tintagel Castle has a map that points out wales not Devonshire or cornwall

[@MoonyPoet]

This is the quality content that has been keeping me sane.

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

Meh, sanity is overrated.

[@socialistprofessor3206]

Hear hear.

[@stevencoardvenice]

This dude has so many channels. I thought he only had one

[@nielfindlay705]

Absolutely...not only Geographics but also BioGraphics and TopTenz as well as Today I found out...all of Simon's videos keeps me sane...lol

[@samuelfajcik5105]

So uh...Blacksouls anyone?

[@yewsongkit4001]

Wheres Alice

[@shikikan_kanchou]

Same

[@scrapyarddragon]

Alice!

[@ceo-of-ecchi4092]

cringe

[@yewsongkit4001]

@@ceo-of-ecchi4092 You need some Alice in your life

[@SergioRatz]

those mid roll adds pull you out of the story sooo much!! i dont mind watching them in the beginning or the end but in the middle... now thats a hard fast forward!

[@connorbutler5900]

I truly cannot begin to explain how much these videos have helped me get through quarantine. Bravo Simon and the ‘graphics team, and thank you!!

[@woulddragon]

Rod Serling gave "a nod and a wink" to the Grand Giuignol in an episode of the Twilight Zone called "The New Exhibit".

[@jonathanallard2128]

Never heard of Rod Sterling.

[@thereisbeautyinthisworld7251]

@@jonathanallard2128 Realty? Are we being wooshed? If not, then, Rod Serling was the man behind the original "Twilight Zone". Creepy old Television.

[@lynnphillipi3536]

Coming from a background in theatre, this was an excellent display of theatrical history through the ages. Love the photos and of course, your witty comments. :-) Thank you.

[@dyveira]

The French were making video nasties before video nasties were even a thing.

[@ThePhantomSafetyPin]

France has never been one for half-measures, has it? We can see it in the influence of what's called New French Extremism, a film technique that is basically to film what Grand Guignol was to theatre. Hostel, Saw, and to a point The Human Centipede all are examples of this horror technique.

[@vis_viva]

The story of this place would actually make an AWESOME movie.

[@duffmason734]

And you could rightfully say it gave birth to the splatter/slasher movie genres today.

[@jyggalagdaedricprinceoford6239]

I woke up to seriously gore filled nightmare. I’m blessed to have Simon in my KZbin life:

[@iagosevatar4865]

As a French passionated by History ... I never heard of it! Thank you for making me learn new things about my capital. Will you do someday the Mont Saint Michel ?

[@southpaw3473]

This way really well written, Simon. Thank you for being an articulate voice.

[@iam3gion204]

Its kind of surreal how often i find a new youtube channel and then bam Simon Whistler is running it

[@skookumdanger]

THANK YOU, for continuing to produce content for us during this crazy time. You are appreciated!

[@Ruby321123]

An outstanding Geographics, from an outstanding spree of them! Keep up the great work - this is easily my favourite Simon Whistler channel! Mad props to the rest of the team as well - especially the writer & researcher! Good luck & much love to you all!

[@ehellstrom7127]

I discovered your videos just a few weeks ago. I absolutely love how you present these snippets of history!

[@sixstringedthing]

Fascinating video on a topic I knew nothing about (beyond it being exactly the kind of thing I expected would have gone on in that part of Paris during the early twentieth century). And wonderfully well presented as always, with just the right amount of subtle humour against the macabre backdrop. Well done Simon and team!

[@alfiehaigh8412]

Good horror/thriller theatre is some of the most visceral dramatic experiences I've ever had, much more so than any film or video game. There was a performance of Dracula going around England maybe a year or two ago that was one of the scariest things I've experienced. You are plunged into genuine darkness, the flashes of light can be blinding, the noises and shrieks defeaning and blood curdling. Good horror theatre can be an insane sensory experience

[@billhardy7870]

Thank you for this enlightening and informative production. I'd known a little about Grand-Gugnol but now know much, much more. Thank you!

[@Zeldarw104]

I believe this is the same blood theater portrayed in the movie: Interview with the Vampire, oh, I see very interesting, so, it is based in history. Wow!!👀😲

[@richardaubrecht2822]

Theatre des Vampires is obviously based on the Grand Guignol, with the obvious twist - the torture is real and owners are vampires.

[@carolcrone9387]

The Grande Guignol is featured in “Penny Dreadful” on Netflix, season 1; but it has been moved to London!

[@arnaldoteodorani277]

There have been a Grand Guignol in London and also one in Rome, but the Parisian one was the original and the best!

[@melissaboshears2161]

I was hoping I'd see a penny dreadful comment Awesome show

[@ThePhantomSafetyPin]

@@arnaldoteodorani277 If I could go back in time, I'd absolutely go back to the time of the Grand Guignol and catch a show after sipping absinthe at a local bar.

[@johnnymacf1]

Penny Dreadful was brilliant. Mind you i could watch Eva Green paint a wall all day. 🤣

[@redpillhead2487]

I love simon's narration i can watch all the videos many times even especially biographics!

[@edward.jcoleman2977]

Excellent job again Simon ..simply put, Love it☺👍👋👏

[@ignitionfrn2223]

2:05 - Chapter 1 - Pushing the boundaries 7:05 - Mid roll ads 8:15 - Chapter 2 - Haunting the chapel 12:30 - Chapter 3 - 1804 1/2 18:20 - Chapter 4 - Curtain call 21:15 - Chapter 5 - A fleeting experience

[@bobbieleveline3207]

I LOVE these kinds of videos... BRILLIANT & I love the history of places like this, & WHO the people were that worked there, plus WHO were patrons. Just absolutely wonderful video...

[@davesmith1199]

Your narrating was reason I subscribed and it is the reason I always check out latest vids.....Peace.

[@sigma4131]

Mightbbe a sensitive subject, but as I was a small child at the time, I'd love to some day see a video of the world trade center, handled with your usual professionalism and tact. I'd like to learn more about the history, what lead to the tragic attack, and the US' response.

[@connorbutler5900]

Not to rain on your parade my friend but I doubt they’ll do a video on 9/11, simply because there are so many videos and documentaries about it already!

[@flatplant]

@@connorbutler5900 They could make an interesting video about the '93 world trade center bombings and then the eventual 9/11 attacks, I think it could work. They could also talk about how so many people thought it was an inside job and the many many conspiracy theories around 9/11. Then they could also finish with how the first responders were horribly treated (by the government) after the attacks and and how their relief fund was and still is insanely underfunded.

[@kristinradams7109]

I'm glad you have an interest in the world trade center. This is, indeed a sensitive subject, but definitely worth discussing anyway. Cheers!

[@sofosanthropos6531]

If not here, maybe in Megaprojects. It was a pretty tall building, after all.

[@thereisbeautyinthisworld7251]

I think that's a great idea. It is part of our history after all. An important part. They treated first responders HORRIBLY and seem to continue to do so. There was a lot going on, I think, that we will never know about. What e do know about is reciting enough.

[@plinkitee]

15:45 I'll admit Simon reading that did something to me

[@jarrodbarker5050]

You've been on a rampage with these video releases! 😊👍

[@blenderbabysrevenge]

Amazing video!

[@80budokai]

Awesome video! Enjoy your week!💯🙏👐

[@jacquesdemolay1307]

Haunting the chapel, raining blood...you guys show no mercy!

[@holdadoor722]

I learn every day from you. Thank you!

[@stadoo9372]

it's ironic that the horrors of the times contributed to the demise of a horror house more proof that reality is often times worse than fiction.

[@tonywhite8476]

another great video, i'm glad I stumbled upon this channel. do you have one concerning the troubles or any irish history along those lines?

[@ianmcnulty799]

Great video! You should do one on Cabaret de L'Enfer

[@karlduckett]

Awesome as always

[@shaneeceshauer6049]

Awesome video!!! More like this please

[@grandthanatos]

Thank you so much for doing this video! I've been suggesting the Grand Guignol for months! Tell me, what books did your researchers use for this video? Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go share this video on my social media.

[@arnaldoteodorani277]

Hi Rami the sources are in the description area below the video. I highly recommend the book by Hand and Wilson. Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for suggesting it!

[@barneymiller7894]

Wow Gwar really owes these guys alot.

[@Succubus2Angel]

Oh man, what a kick-ass place! I'd have been a patron every evening! Pity we don't have places much like this anymore. I wonder if it'll ever have a reemergence...?

[@cagrant4472]

Thanks for this video experience. I've been looking for information on the Grand Guignol since I was 12, and I'm now 78. For a long time, people just looked at me funny and told me not to mention such disgusting things, and then it was as if nobody really knew anything about it anyway. So, now I at least have a general idea. I would like to know more about the stagecraft, though.

[@pamelamays4186]

This was quite an interesting installment. Hearing Simon talking about "getting busy" made my morning. This episode should be re-loaded for Halloween.

[@thereisbeautyinthisworld7251]

Good idea.

[@Cujo2447]

"including Ho Chi Min, who worked as a pastry chef" WTF? Cool!!

[@jpbean]

Simon done a Biographics video on Ho Chi Minh. Definitely worth a watch. There is a lot about his early life that is interesting.

[@sabbyd1832]

Fascinating

[@brookemiranda9052]

Simon I watch toptenz and geographics and the way the tell the information that I’m into history that I can’t get enough when u tell us the info in the way u do TY TY TY xoxoxoxo

[@spectreshadow]

This place sounds awesome!

[@68cbrooks]

In the mid 2000s I worked with a theatre company in Columbus, OH that performed adaptations of classic Guignol scripts. MadLab would perform The Grand Guignol once a year for about 5 years. The style also influenced some of our other, original scripts.

[@zackrentz8228]

Could you do an episode on the “eye of the Sahara” which some believe to have been the location of Atlantis?

[@joeyr7294]

White Rock Copper Works in Swansea South Wales would be awesome for a vid! As always keep up the hard work!

[@RickBanerjee1313]

I really love how you present! You are like a tamed version of Jeremy Clarkson..

[@TheJoeSwanon]

This is just plain disturbing. It makes the most protest scenes in “saw” movies look like a children’s nighttime story

[@frieza1679]

These videos are fun. Highly recommend

[@dRealNayon]

If ever I can go back in time, I'd drop by Paris and watch a play in this place

[@SlobZombie]

Here because of Winter 1989 issue of HorrorFan. An article on Argento mentioned "Grand Guignol" , had to do some digging Thanks for the history lesson

[@tiffanyeyoung1800]

This is absolutely interesting and incredible! This is literally where horror began! Awesome! Slasher and make up effects too! People like violence and craziness and have ever since!

[@nicolasadriansmithvaldes4942]

Now this is the good stuff

[@leafpool2014_gaming]

that was one hell of a opening

[@neilgoodman2885]

Mr. Whistler: What could be more commodious than a romp through a cannibals' cupboard -- Realism? I think that is what put the theatre out of its misery. As usual, you and everything else was top notch. Thank you again.

[@jordanoswald8648]

Paula Maxa, the female Sean Bean

[@ambercrombie789]

Looks like Marilyn Manson to me.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Horror? I guess Spooktober arrived early this year

[@bdrenfro]

You guys should produce something on the Halifax explosion.

[@annescholey6546]

Or Texas City 1947 in which everything blew up.

[@barneymiller7894]

Or Texas city 2005, the other time everything blew up 🤣

[@bdrenfro]

@@barneymiller7894 🤣🤣

[@akoilady9097]

I just watched a Halifax video by Simon.

[@michealkelly9441]

They have

[@dongray9852]

Thanx Simon, quality production, in this age... who'da'thunk'it?👍

[@ckilgore3983]

Interview With The Vampire 's Theatre

[@flatplant]

There were so many cool art/theatre movements that came out of 20th century France

[@christophermerlot3366]

The Torture Garden is a great decadent novel. Read the Dedulus translation. Mirbeau also wrote Diary of a Chambermaid.

[@joansmith3296]

I've heard about this theater but I never investigated what went on there. Fascinating. I wonder if Oscar Wilde went there. It sounds like something he'd like a lot. Thanks.

[@ThePhantomSafetyPin]

I don't doubt Oscar Wilde did attend a few of these shows. He absolutely would be the type to enjoy it. I can't blame him - humans have had a fascination with sex and violence as long as we've been on earth as a species.

[@harryobriensmith40]

You post two videos at the same time... witchcraft

[@LukesYuGiOhChannel]

Pretty great story.

[@Serutje]

Simon, could you make videos about the battlefields or famous places of WW 1 (Verdun, The Somme, Paschendale, Ypres, Douaumont Ossuary,...) or WW 2 (Dunkirk, Stalingrad, El Alamein,..)? I think these would be very interesting.

[@kinghoodofmousekind2906]

Funnily enough, I knew a bit about the Grand Guignol thanks to an Italian metal band, Death SS...glad to see someone exploring this in depth!

[@SKSolomon1]

So, THAT'S where "Interview of a Vampire" scene came from...! 13:48

[@JennRighter]

It’s a much, MUCH larger part of the book than the movie and she describes it in great detail. Although it’s fiction, she describes it exactly as it historically was.

[@jimmyp9105]

How does this man find the time to keep dropping videos?

[@leaho3731]

James Wan and Leigh Whannell of "Saw" fame may have paid homage to the original theatre in their movie Dead Silence- Ravens Fair's theatre (home of the spectral antagonist Mary Shaw) is called the Guignol Theatre.

[@muyiadonri5404]

Hey Simon, could you do a video on the Black wall street?

[@dsolosan]

In the Los Angeles area, a company called Wicked Lit has been adapting and performing classic tales of horror at a cemetery/mausoleum in Altadena (near Pasadena) every Halloween season for the past several years. The audience is divided into three groups and led around the grounds/buildings to see three different stories. Then they rotate and do it all again, until all three groups have seen all the stories. In between, everyone gathers in a courtyard where there is additional entertainment and refreshments. Sadly, they will not be able to perform this year...

[@charlespawl364]

Creepy stuff! Could you do a GeoGraphics on the Red River Rebellion?

[@alonjudkovsky5137]

This is actually going to be helpful for my thesis

[@arnaldoteodorani277]

What’s the thesis about?

[@alonjudkovsky5137]

@@arnaldoteodorani277 Popular reference of gore theatres.

[@solidacid5]

The first two minutes just sounds like my private Friday nights with friends.

[@unkemptjargon91]

You are my main source of random facts around work now. Lol

[@BossPenguin]

2:10 My business blaze trained brain immediately went to 'allegedly' instead of 'a legendary'.

[@stephjovi]

And it doesn't react to please press the like Button? Smash that dislike button 😂😂😂

[@ThePhantomSafetyPin]

Allegedly legendary... XD

[@dogface701]

We did a black box Grand Guignol performance in college, a ridiculous raunchy French comedy followed by a fairly gruesome adaptation of The System of Dr Goudron and Professor Fether. It was Awesome!

[@UlshaRS]

Shocked you didn't mention it's influence on Lucio Fulci. A man so in love with eye gouge horror he has an entire trilogy based around eye mutilation.

[@polignac]

do a video on poverty point, its an ancient native mound in louisiana and is a unesco heritage site

[@christophergjor5399]

hey Simon, could you make a geographic about Macedonia, or one of the many cities that are in the country such as Ohrid or Bitola?

[@ethano2673]

I'm here early again, omg so premium

[@retohaner5328]

It's a really wacky John Zorn album too

[@honeysucklecat]

I saw him live after he released it, and Torture Garden . Awesome show

[@awittypseudonym2520]

As a Frenchman (and soon to be Parisian student) I cannot emphasize how I am that you feature french locations (this, the catacombs, the Hotel de Ville, etc), as well as other non-US places, despite the fact that your viewers are mostly from the US.

[@gilded_lady]

As an American, I watch *because* so much of the content is about places outside the US! :)

[@Urmum3469]

Can you do a video on lake George. It's in New York and was carved out by a glacier. A lot of native American history is there, the French and Indian war and revolutionary war were both around the lake and the lake was used. I'm sure you could do another great video on this lake.

[@meghan2680]

Lake George is beautiful! I used to go on vacation there as a kid. The steam boat "Minnie ha ha" is historic too!

[@ashoat2388]

At least they’re not vampires pretending to be humans pretending to be vampires. That would be too avant-garde.

[@theobserver9131]

It's hard to imagine enjoying horror when you've lived through real horror.

[@martinfawkes595]

Actually I think that’s why it was so popular. It was essentially what people had just lived through turned up to 11.

[@stevenbrown1225]

Wonder if it was inspiration for Chamber's The King In Yellow?

[@ThePhantomSafetyPin]

Interesting that you mention Chambers' The King in Yellow here. Robert W. Chambers was American, but did spend some time in Paris as an art student in, I believe, the 1880's when the Decadent Movement was getting started. Influenced heavily by works of another American author, Edgar Allen Poe, the Decadent movement was a sort of art style characterized by an emphasis on darker, baser subjects and the idea that man was greater than nature, to put it bluntly. It was sort of an offshoot of Dark Romanticism. Oscar Wilde (which is probably where the Repairer of Reputations' Mr. Wilde gets his name from) is associated with this time period as well. It's pretty possible actually that the Grand Guignol did coincide with Chambers' time in Paris, and may very well have been some of the inspiration for the concept of a wicked, mind-shattering play full of decadent things like murder and court struggles and the like. It's also very likely that the Masquerade scene ("No mask? No mask!") was inspired in part by Poe's "Masque of the Red Death", which would dovetail nicely with Decadent Fiction and its tropes anyway. tl;dr: Yes, it probably did inspire Chambers a bit, and yes I probably am too interested in the Yellow King for my own good...

[@augsdoggs]

I’m getting a strong impression that a Geographics writer is a big Slayer fan!First, in the Pompeii episode, the Raining Blood lyrics “from a lacerated sky” were used to describe the aftermath of Vesuvius’ eruption. And here at 8:12 the segment is titled Haunting the Chapel. Any fan of early Slayer knows that’s the name of their 1984 e.p. Google that title and I’m sure that’s the first result you’ll see. Also, at 10:28 “The audience thought it was raining blood”.🩸🗡🤘🏼

[@arnaldoteodorani277]

See if you can spot the Slayer references in the Geographics video “Palermo’s crypt of the mummies” ...

[@augsdoggs]

Arnaldo Teodorani Thanks for the tip!

[@tenhirankei]

Were not the Lon Chaney Sr. movies The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera and The Unknown as well as Todd Browning's Freaks influenced by the Grand Guignol?

[@khushiandparth2376]

i just searched the grand guignol because of tom felton and did not knew i would see this

[@ryanpinkus1338]

I'm glad there are still some groups keeping this alive.

[@honeysucklecat]

John Zorn has both a Grand Giugnal and Torture Garden album

[@romaneberle]

it has been claimed that the demise of the Grand Guignol was partly due to the Nazi personnel visiting the place, and the theatre being unable to shake off that association after the war had ended. that makes a lot of sense to me.

[@GlenHunt]

Ha! I knew the IQ test was messed up! Alfred Binet, the French psychologist you mentioned who contributed to the plays, was the inventor of the first practical IQ test, a derivative of which we still use today. I'd love to see a Biographics piece on him!!

[@lauramazzucatoops4225]

Thrilled to be directing a grand Guignol play (The Guillotine) for a community theater!