History Of the horror genreAnthony Luongo

1890-1929 European films 1890-films were made with a low budget.

1890-directr named George mêlées from France was the first film maker to make silent horror films.

1896-Le manoir de diable ( the house of the devil ) was released.

1922- Vampire films from Germany began to emerge.

1925- A film in which the audience where drawn into looking at a horrible creature who they shouldn’t look at, this was called Phantom of the opera.

1929- wall street crashed occurred putting the production of films on hold worldwide.

Early 1930’s Hollywood films 1930- universal studios created a sub genre of gothic horror, making such

films like Dracula and Frankenstein.

1930’s- Gangster films and wax work horrors were made by warner bros.

The film Frankenstein produced and as one of the greatest make up monsters of all time.

Many films began to include more serious elements in their films, they were influenced by German expressionist films on the 1920’s.

1931- the mamoulian irritation filter was used on a film for the first time and that film being Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Late 1930’s Late 1930’s- sadistic films were created.

Universal studios produced the film the old dark house, directed by James whale.

James whale then had full control over directing Frankenstein's wife.

A German film named freaks was the first film to incorporate real circus people.

1939- the film son of Frankenstein was made.

1940’s-1950’s 1940’s- sequels to popular horror films were created.

1942- the film cat people was produced.

The ‘Lewton bus’ technique was adapted into horror films, this is when tension is created when something harmless is coming.

1945- bela Lugosi stars in the film ‘return of the vampires’.

1951- Dracula is staged on Broadway.

Early 1950’s- horror cinema production was ceased in Hollywood just after 2 decades.

1950- alien invasion style films were being to be made.

Mid to late 1950’s Mid 1950’s- horror films came to Britain, they were commonly known as

hammer horror.

1954- The film ‘the quatermass Experiment’ was created.

1957- Terence fisher directed ‘the curse of Frankenstein’ which was the first film in colour. He used lots of violence and gore which was shocking to people during those times.

Also in 1957- Jack dunure directed the film ‘night of the demon’ which was a supernatural and psychological thriller.

1958- a modernised version of ‘Dracula’ was made, in which vampires had fangs and there were images of sexual elements involved.

1960’s 1960’s- hammer horror films increasing became more popular from British

film studios.

Also in 1960’s- Hollywood began to create psychological horrors, directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Michael powell were the first directors to create these horror movies.

furthermore in the 1960’s- Alfred Hitchcock directed the film ‘psycho’, in which he was able to create high levels of tension without any blood or gore.

Specifically in 1960- Michael powell directed the movie ‘peeping tom’.

In 1963- Alfred Hitchcock also created the film ‘the birds’.

1960’s continued

1961-1963- the film ‘the haunting’ directed by Robert wise was made. The soundtrack was used very effectively as Robert wise used silence and sound to produce fear.

1968- a film named ‘rosemary’s baby’ was created and labelled as the scariest film, it was based on a couple who had moved to new York , unaware their neighbours were Satanists.

This film began to create a subgenre called occult horrors which continued on into the 1970’s.

1970’s Early 1970’s- occult horrors became popular, with such films as ‘ the

exorcist’ (1973) written by William peter blatty and directed by William friedkin.

1973- ‘the wicker man’ was set on a remote island in Scotland.

1976- ‘the omen’ was created, it was written by David seltzer and directed by Richard donner . This film became very popular as many more sequels were made.

1979- ‘the Amityville horror’ based on a family who experienced their house being overran by demons and they managed to escape.

1970’s continued In the early 1970’s gore fest films (also known as splatter films) began to

become popular, for example films like ‘the Texas chainsaw massacre’. This film was directed by tobe Hooper and within this film was an antagonist named ‘leatherface’, this idea was inspired from an infamous killer. The antagonist became the most iconic monsters since 1940.

In the late 1970’s films such as ‘Halloween’ and ‘when a stranger calls’, these types of films were called slashers.

In 1978- ‘dawn of the dead’ was created and George a romero emerged.

1980-2000+ 1980’s and 1990’s- self aware horrors were made, films such as ‘scream’ and

‘nightmare on elm street.’

In 1999 films like the ground breaking ‘Blair witch project’ which were films were footage were found began to emerge. It used a hand-held camera shot to create very realistic style as it blurred the image imitating real life in which our sense are blurred during scary moments. This worked well for film companies as it was a cheap method.

Late 1990’s- a period which saw Japanese films being produced such as ‘the ring’, which followed by American remakes.

From 2000 onwards American cinemas saw old films remade, for example ‘Halloween’.

Now the cinemas are making millions from the horror movies produced, for example ‘paranormal activity’.