History of Horror

History of Horror 

The horror genre has been around for far longer than anybody can expect, stories of monsters, demons and ghosts have been told ever since people could talk. Legends and mythology have inspired many horror films. However, the roots of the first horror film was developed from a literature genre of the 1700's, this was called: Gothic Horror. One of the first writers was Mary Shelly who wrote arguably the most famous Horror story to date, Frankenstein, although the first film was made in 1910 by Edison studios. Most if not all of these stories took place in eerie forests and dingy castles with dungeons and secret passage ways as this was the perfect setting to create a gloomy atmosphere which would hope to evoke fear from the audience. Horror films of today have gone a long way in settings and characters. A simple location is now used as the audience have a strong fear of the familiar, for instance a demon in their own home.

Horror in film has been created ever since the beginning of films, particularly in the silent era. (The term horror did not come into use for films until the 1930's) Early film makers such as Auguste and Louis Lumiere showed an interest in the macabre as it is shown in the film: Le Squelette joyeux

Nosferatu 1922

In the 1910's - 1920's the Weimar period developed a sense of freedom and inspired German Expressionist's to significantly influence later productions. The first vampire film was made during this period, this was called Nosferatu. This was the film which influenced the Dracula films and inspired many film makers to make the modern horrors that we see today. In this time many films were considered dark melodramas as they had emotion-heavy plots which focused on romance and violence.

Frankenstein 1931

The 1930's to 40's was the era which started to mix science fiction with Gothic Horror. Film had now developed and talking on camera could now be heard, many of the original horror films came from this period such as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932) and The Wolf Man (1941).

Godzilla 1954

    The 50's to 60's had many advances in technology and this resulted in a shift from Gothic Horror to more contemporary concerns. The horror genre split in half to reveal two subgenres: Doomsday film and the Demonic film. Doomsday films suggested the collapse of Earth's technological civilization whereas Demonic films suggested that the world was miserable because of evil forces the constantly undermining the quality of existence. The nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki influenced Godzilla (1954) this featured the effect of nuclear radiation.

Poltergeist 1982

In the 1970's - 80's slasher films became the new trend although horror children also became a big hit, this was born from films such as The exorcist. In the mid 70s Italian film makers developed giallo films (strong mystery and crime genres within the horror) However by the 80s Psychological and supernatural horror became popular in cinemas with films such as Poltergeist(1982) being ranked #20 in the scariest movies.

Scream 1996

Due to the over use of gore and slasher films in the past in the 90s people began to be bored of this and a movement of sci-fi horror became the next trend. Films such as Species (1995) used CGI to include the sci-fi/fantasy elements. By the end of the 90s slasher films were back but this time with more of a comedic element, which made fun of the horrors of the past. Wes Cravens Scream is an example of this. In 1999 the 'Blair Witch Project' was a huge hit and this began a movement of horror films being filmed on camcorders.

Evil Dead remake 2013

Horror took a break in the early 2000s however when it came back return of the zombie horrors came alive again. Remakes of the early 'greats' came in as now the developing technology could make the special effects better and create a terrifying  experience for the viewer, however, most adults will argue that the old films are better. As well as remakes, they also continued on the idea of popular franchises, such as the Amityville series which to date is on its 14th film.

Insidious chapter 3 2015

Todays films are much like the early 2000s with many remakes still being made however the newer films such as Insidious get more horrific as the films go on with Chapter 3 being the most horrific. This applies to many films such as The Conjuring 2 (2016) and Woman in Black 2 (2015). Many of the actors and films from the past are now thought of as cheesy and therefore the horror genre has taken on a more realistic attitude to create the sense that its real.

American Horror Story 2012

On TV the horror genre has had a huge impact as TV shows such as American Horror story (2012-present), Supernatural (2005-pesent) and The Walking Dead (2010-present) shows repeatedly every week on TV. Horror channels have also been made so that viewers can watch horror films all day every day - this shows the high demand to watch horrors.