History of Horror

Cinema has evolved alongside technology from the silent black and white features of the early 1900's to the CGI filled movies of today. Horror has also made this transition not only through technology, but in character and theme as well.

The first horror movie filmed was from France titled “La Manoir du Diable” (The Devil’s Manor) in 1896 and was centred around a devil vampire called Mestipholes. Only three minutes long, this film’s main intention was to amuse the audience rather than scare them and was not only the first horror film, but the first vampire  focused horror as well.  This was followed by the first adaptation of “Frankenstein” in 1910, which was a longer 16 minutes, and directed by Thomas Edison. 

1920’s – 30’s: Gothic Horror

Themes/Conventions: Horrific Monsters, damsels in distress, castles, ancient curses (Vampires, Werewolves)

About: The horror films of this genre generally drew inspiration from classic literature such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. These horrors proved to be effective as the books themselves were based on deep rooted urban myths of monsters lurking in the shadows. Without the mainstream media as it is today, people were more susceptible to believing what they saw in the cinema. The 1920’s saw Nosferatu, widely considered to be the first intentional horror film, a movie loosely based on Dracula which was introduced in the 1930’s as the first horror ‘talkie’.

1940’s: Comedies, Sequels and Re-makes

Themes/Conventions: Use of suggestion, light-hearted, horrific monsters, damsels in distress

About: As Britain fought in WWII, less focus was put onto the film industry and so America took their place. The movies began well enough with a sequel to The Mummy (The Mummy’s Hand) and a new adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, however soon the whole horror genre of the decade consisted of remakes and sequels, before the industry lost the element of horror almost entirely and put Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man and Dracula in a crossover movie multiple times alone, and with two American comedians for the first horror-comedies. Although, some fairly reputable titles were released, and horror did make a big step towards the horrors that we watch today by utilising the element of suggestion to scare people. “Cat People”, released in 1942, used this throughout the movie to build tension. This film also incorporated the ingrained fear of American’s of foreigners and their own fables and urban myths and what they would bring to their land.

1950’s: B-Movies

Themes/Conventions: Science fiction horror, low-budget, scientific research gone wrong, animals/aliens attacking

About: The end of WWII saw the first use of nuclear warfare against Hiroshima and Nagasaki and scared the world, making them fear radiation and science in general. Also, the space race was beginning with the launching of missiles and satellites into space creating a fear of life beyond our planet. This was reflected in the horror movies of the time; The Blob was an alien life form consuming all in its path, The Thing from Another World was an Alien life-form attacking everyone and the famous War of the Worlds. Them! featured the fear of nuclear radiation that the Cuban Missile crisis enhanced, and Tarantula featured a giant spider escaped from laboratory that had been experimenting. The latter half of the 1950’s saw the reintroduction of classic horror by the British studio Hammer’s adaptation of Frankenstein title The Curse of Frankenstein, The Mummy and Dracula. The success of these movies made Hammer studios popular and also the interest in focused horror films dedicated to a single character.

1960’s – 70’s: Psychological

Themes/Conventions: Normal looking people with psychological tendencies, intense killings for bad behaviour

About: With the introduction of the pill in the early 1960’s, there was a sexual revolution with the free love movement meaning that people were deemed to have looser morals and put less importance on family ideals. People feared society would break down with these looser morals, and so horror featured people being viciously killed for their wrong doings. Psycho is a prime example: after embezzling money from her employers, she flees and stays at a rundown motel after a rainstorm hits. After watching Marion undress in her motel room, the owner, Norman Bates, stabs her to death in the shower. As this was one of the first portrayals of a woman in such a sexual light, the message was clear. Movies such as The Amityville Horror reflected the fear of family ideals breaking down by using the patriarch as the antagonist through psychological means. With the effects of Thalidomide coming to light in the form of children being born with deformities, this only enhanced this idea of family ideals being 

1980s: Gore

Themes/Conventions: Lots of special effects, gore/ unnecessary violence, household items being used to kill

About:  With the creation of special effects, with the 1980’s came the creation of gory slasher films such as Angst, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and The Step-father. The 1980’s contained elements of the other decades, but with a step up; The Fly, first made in 1958, was remade, the Alien centric view of the ‘50’s was brought back in Alien, the destruction of family ideals was focused on in The Shining, and the classic B-Movies are relived in The Night of the Werewolf and An American Werewolf in London. The Halloween movies were continued in the 80’s and Friday the 13^th was introduced beginning a new chapter in horror movie creation; the franchise. Whilst there were sequels before, they were generally with different actors or very far apart and not on such a scale.

1990’s: Intelligent Horror

Themes/Conventions: A more intricate narrative, more realistic circumstances

About: As culture began more in tune with conventions of horror, they didn’t want to watch them as they knew what would happen. In return, the film industry began to appeal to a smarter audience by making the films much more intricate, much more realistic and in turn, scarier. Movies such as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer paired this new view on horror with famous faces rather than the usual lesser known actors to draw in the larger audiences. The 90’s churned out more remakes of successful horror movies such as the previous, Chucky and Carrie with Bride of Chucky, The Rage: Carrie 2, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2. The main aim of these movies was to recall past greats, remake them for money and make them less predictable.

2000's and onwards: Modern Horror

Themes/Conventions: An evil spirit, religious imagery, exorcisms, possessions

About: As the horror industry has gone through such an evolution, the audience feel like they have seen all that they have to offer, so in response they have brought something new to the table: supernatural. It has already been touched upon in the 50's with B-Movies and the 60's and 70's with psychological horrors, but with the technology and effects that the film industry have today, the supernatural elements are much more terrifying than ever before. The element of the unknown is almost always present with the antagonist either being an evil spirit or something that lurks in the dark; horror uses the notion of suggestion to it's limits by convincing the audience that the evil spirit or demon in the movie is actually possible and may be haunting them. This realistic nature to the movies proves them to be the most terrifying of all.

Below I have included a video that shows the evolution of horror through excerpts of notable horror films.