History of the horror genre
Horror is a unique genre amongst others as there is a recognisable pattern in the narrative of most horror films. The aim of horror movies is to provoke a pessimistic reaction from the viewers by exploiting their fears. Horror films have existed for over a century and are still one of the most popular genres of film.
Horror first spiralled from Gothic literature. The genre was both popular in books and at the theatres at the time it first came about. The term 'horror genre' was not used until around the 1930s'. Amateur filmmakers and film goers assuredly showed an interest in macabre; a theme in which there is a grim or ghastly atmosphere.
In 1896 Georges Méliès created the silent film named 'Le Manoir du Diable' which is considered the first horror film ever made. Japan also adopted the idea of horror and made an early foray into the genre with two films which were made in 1898; Bake Jizo and Shinin no Sosei. This period presented an abundance of adaptations from literature with the likes of Edgar Allen Poe.
The first filmed production of 'Frankenstein' was produced by Edison Studios in 1910. In 1922, 'Nosferatu', the first vampire film ever made was released. Although the word 'horror' was not used to describe the film genre until the late 1930s, many people still adopted and relied on the idea of it.Before the term 'horror genre' came about, many of these earlier films were described as caliginous melodramas due to their routine characters and heavy emotional narratives that closely focused on things such as violence, suspense, thrill, sentimentality and romance. In 1928, Tod Browning made the film ‘The Terror’ which is the first known horror film to have sound.
The earlier films from the 1920s inspired remakes of the originals such as James Whale's 'Frankenstein' (1931). Most films in this period were a mix of science fiction and Gothic horror. Frankenstein was one of the first movies that featured a series of remakes;which lasted for years. During this time, horror films started to improve their make-up effects and began to include photographic filters.
Throughout this era, there were many advances in technology and the tones of horror films diverted from Gothic, and drifted towards more contemporary terms. At this time, two sub-genres emerged: Doomsday and Demonic. The Doomsday sub-genre is in which the Earth's industrial civilisation has collapsed or is disintegrating. An example of this is 'Godzilla' (1945) which was inspired by Japan's experience with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Whereas the Demonic sub-genre is where evil forces exist, such as spirits; witches; demons or devils which look to seek vengeance and corrupt the whole of existence. During the 1960s the first 'slasher' film emerged; Peeping Tom (1960).
Due to the success of low-budget horror films during the early parts of the 20th century, more horror films with occult themes were released during the 1970s. Possession, reincarnation and evil-children became popular themes in horror movies.One popular occult horror film was 'The Omen' released in 1976; which was one of the highest grossing films of that year. Also in the 70s many novels started to be adapted as moving pictures, this included the author Stephen King, who wrote novels such as Carrie and The Shining. This was the era where Slasher' films became more popular. Slasher films include a series of violent murders, often using a knife or sharp object by a murderer. One of the most popular slasher movies of all time is 'Halloween' (1978) which went on to create a franchise which has sprouted 7 sequels to date.
In the first half of the 1990s themes continued on from the 80s, during the second half, many films started the implicate the idea of urban legends into the plot of their stories. Films in this era were part of a small movement in which movies were more meta-fictional. Although throughout this period people started to notice that there was a proliferation in slasher and gore films in the 80s, which meant that the horror genre was worn out. In order to reconcile with their audiences, film-makers started to make their movies more parodic and insultingly ironic. This is seen in the movie of 'Scream' (1996) which mixed the genre of comedy with horror. At the end of the 1990s, the highly successful film 'The Blair Witch Project' was released; popularising the found-footage sub-genre of horror.
During this period of time, many horror video games were adapted for the screen, which meant the films were relatively successful due to the fan-base already included with those games. Psychological horrors started to become one of the most popular sub-genres for horror in the 21st century.There has also been a major restoration in the zombie genre since the 2000s with films such as 'I Am Legend'(2007), '28 Days Later'(2002) and more comedic approaches to the genre like 'Shaun Of The Dead'(2004) and 'Zombie land'(2009). An even larger trend was the return of extreme graphic violence and remakes of earlier horror films. Remakes in the 2000s included 'The Hills Have Eyes', 'Day Of The Dead' and 'Friday the 13th'.
Remakes of classical horror films still remain popular. The genre has also become common on television which series such as 'The Walking Dead' and 'American Horror Story'. In present day, horror remains one of the most favoured and well-liked genres. It is only going to become more popular with remakes of traditional movies such as 'Nosferatu', 'Day of the Dead' and 'The Mummy'
