The history of horror

The horror film genre is a type of film that tries to evoke negative reactions within the audience and play on their primal fears. It tries to frighten and scare the viewer by creating startling scenes and playing on supernatural elements. Horror films often deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Plots within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Common supernatural occurrences include Vampires, Werewolves, Aliens, Demons, Serial Killers, Ghosts and Zombies.

1890-1929

1896

The first depictions of supernatural events appear in several of the silent films that were created by the film pioneer Georges Méliès in the late 1890s, the best known being Le Manoir du diable (The Devils Castle), which is sometimes credited as being the first horror film running for only two minutes long.

1910-20

In 1910, Edison studios created the first Frankenstein film, which ran for sixteen minutes. Other notable films from the 1910’s included the first recorded editions of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from the year 1916.German Expressionists during the Weimar Republic era which brought films such as The Golem in 1920 made the first Vampire inspired film Nosefertu which was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. All of the films created up to now have one things in common they were all based on literary crafted texts (novels) unlike today where sometimes the book is made after the film.

1930-1949

Often tipped as the Golden Age of Horror Films the thirties and forties had a vast string of successful Gothic Horror films made by Universal Studios. Some of the most famous films to come out during this time included the thirties version of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Invisible Man.

In the 1930’s sound was finally able to accompany the films. The first horror to have sound was the ever famous ‘Dracula’ which came out in 1931. This was based on a stage play rather than a novel, Dracula has now become a main feature for horror movies as has vampires in general.

Sound added a completely new perspective to horror films and succeed in making them all the more terrifying. From laboured breathing to footsteps in a corridor to the screams of victims to tense music. In just two years colour/two-strip Technicolor has been introduced and the first horror to use this was Doctor X and the use of colour once again redefined horror films as people knew them.

Two main actors during this time were Bella Lugosi and Boris Karloff who were the two main actors to go to if you wanted to make a Horror Film. Lugosi’s credits include playing Dracula whereas Karloff was most famous for his performance in Frankenstein, which inspired an entire franchise and made his career.

One of the most controversial film made during this time was the film Freaks by Todd Browning which garnered so much controversy it was cut by thirty minutes and banned from the UK for thirty years. The film followed the lives of circus performers who in real life had massive physical disabilities.

During the 1940’s, B-Movie horror became a trend with low budget films such as The Wolfman which become a classic horror film in the long run.

1950-1969

Due to the advancement of technology, the main theme of horror films changed from gothic era films to contemporary concerns. Many films during this time as well as the Horror genre had themes and subliminal messages about the current situation of the world at this time. Many productions used the idea of threat that humans have not experience with invading and trying to take over. This can be seen as propaganda towards communism and films such as The Thing from another World (1951) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) were able to present the paranoia and tension of the Cold War into a disturbing atmosphere. Science fiction elements were often merged with Horror during this period. A film in particular that is considered a masterpiece during this era was The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) which has been seen as one of the most significant films ever made. The film conveyed the fears of living in the “Atomic Age” and social alienation.

British film companies started producing remakes of classic Universal Studio films in colour for the first time ever. This was also an important time for the genre as Michael Powell created Peeping Tom (1960), the “slasher” film of its type. The story followed a photographer who combined his talents with murdering his victims. Later on came the iconic director Alfred Hitchcock who was responsible for the Psycho (1960) which became one of the most renowned pictures in pop culture. He then went on to direct another ground breaking horror The Birds (the birds) which explored the themes of natural horror in which nature itself turns violent and attacks the protagonists of the film. Monsters and Ghosts were still a very popular choice but chose a more demonic, evil theme. Examples of this during this era are the Haunting (1963) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968) where a woman was impregnated with the devil as the child.

Another major film in this era was George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) which became the point in time where the zombie genre of films really started gathering momentum. It not only moved from the gothic horror trends and brought horror into everyday life, it also combined psychological insights with gore.

1970-1989

Due to the wild success of Rosemary’s Baby, many films decided to have more occult themes in them. A prime example is The Exorcist (1973) which is often tipped as one of the greatest mainstream horror movies of all time. In this film and in many others, the Devil is presented as a threat in the film often through possession or impregnating women. Another notable example is The Omen (1976) in which a couple realize that there adopted son is Satan returning to the real world. However, Horror films like in the sixties also focused on contemporary concerns with films like Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) which recalled the Vietnam War. George A. Romero Created the sequel Dawn of the Dead (1978) which satirized the consumer society. Body Horror was also a popular sub-genre in the seventies with films such as Eraserhead and Shivers which focused on physically disturbing objects and character to frighten viewers. Stephen King novels were also adapted a lot in this era with the most notable one being The Shining which became one of the most iconic films of its time.

Slasher films were also very popular during this time with films such as Halloween, A nightmare on Elm Street (1984) , Friday the 13th (1980) and Black Christmas (1974). Steven Spielberg created the genre of Animal Horror which made animals such as sharks as seen in the world famous Jaws (197 as the threat in the film.

Sci-fi and horror merged more during this time with films such as Alien (1974) and The Thing (1982)which both combined natural acting with extreme gore and violence in the films on screen. Finally B-Movies were increasing popular during this time with Sam Rami’s The Evil Dead (1981) that had a very low budget but an original storyline so it was praised by critics and became a cult classic.

1990-1999

During this era Horror films were in decline because they had worn themselves out and had used all the tricks that had been seen before. Many of the slasher films got sequels to them but were panned by fans and critics of the original films. The only exceptions to this were New Nightmare, a self-parody of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Silence of the Lambs (1991).

Films instead had be self-aware and not take themselves seriously to achieve success. A notable example was Scream (1996) which seen as more of a horror-comedy rather than a slasher film.

2000-2013

This is often criticized for its lack of originality as it involved remakes of famous films from previous generations such as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Evil Dead and Dawn of the Dead. America adapted a lot of films from Japan as well such as The Ring (1998), The Grudge (2002) and The eye (2002). Foreign films at this time were extremely popular during this time with films such as Let the Right One in (2008) and Let me in (2010) which were received well.

Another theme in this time is minimalist psychological horrors on low budgets such as The Others. Zombie films also have had a resurgence with films such as I am Legend, Quarantine and British film 28 days later. Another major theme in modern horror films is the extreme level of violence in them which is often referred as “Torture Porn” due to the ridiculous amount of violence in them. A film franchise is most notable for this is the Saw franchise which is currently the highest grossing Horror franchise in the world. It focused on a low budget in which filming takes place in less than a month. A notable example of cheap horror films in this era is Paranormal Activity which has a found footage aesthetic to it similar to the Blair witch project.