Gothic literature such as Horace Waldpole's Castle Otranto (1764) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) no doubt played a part in influencing early horror films and the direction of cinematography. One of the first ever films was an adaptation of Frankenstein made in 1910. In France, director Louis Feuillade's filmed the serial Les Vampires from 1915 to 1916. While early genres such as musicals or gangster films were reliant upon sound, horror films thrived because the atmosphere could be created by visual images alone.