History of the Horror Genre By Zak Foreman
Roots of the Horror Genre ď‚— Horror films first started out as literary classics and
the ability to write about speculative fiction. Myths about demons and darkness are the early forms of horror. Mythology is full of monsters, things such as Medusa, the Minotaur and many more.
1930’s With the invention of sound in film becoming ever more
popular the horror genre was reborn. Things like monsters were now able to grunt and groan and howl, rather than just filming silent ghosts. It’s used to add extra dimensions, with the ability to create suspense and tension.
The horror films of the 1930s are exotic fairy tales, invariably
set in some far-off land, peopled by characters in period costume speaking in foreign accents.
Important films include; Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931)
and The Mummy (1932)
1940’s Wartime horror movies were purely an American product as
they were banned in Britain.
Horror movies were rolled out by Hollywood solely to
amuse the domestic audience. The studios stuck with tried and tested ideas, wary of taking risks that might backfire, causing the whole genre to collapse beneath them.
The Americans would portray America to be a safe haven,
and Europe to be full of monsters.
Important films include; Werewolf of London (1935), The
Wolf Man (1941) and Cat People (1942)
1950’s There was a massive change between the 40’s and 50’s,
where horrifying monsters had evolved tenfold.
After the war there were more recognisably human faces
attached to evil. Faces who had fought on both sides in WW2, the developers of the atom bomb, the death camp and mad scientists
After the war, people lived in fear of it, most of all the Atom
bomb.
Important films include; The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms
(1953), The Wasp Woman (1960) and House on Haunted Hill (1959)
1960’s In the 1960’s horror films became low budget and out
of the mainstream, they became used to debunk old taboos and explore new ways to perceive sex and violence.
People began to want a horror that was more rooted
in reality, more believable, more sophisticated. One that dealt with some of the issues they faced in a rapidly changing world.
Important films include; Psycho (1960), The Birds
(1963) and Night Of The Living Dead (1967)
1970’s The big budget films came back, but it was a
disappointing decade for horror.
The 70’s had a focal point on children, in particularly
childbirth. This is because of the Thalomide disaster that destroyed so many lives.
Sexual activity was then known as the pleasure and
the by-products (Children) as monstrous aberrations.
Important films include; The Exorcist (1973), Alice,
Sweet Alice (1976) and Carrie (1976)
1980’s Horror movies became coated in special effects, products
such as liquid latex meant that things like human faces could become distorted and look more sinister.
People demanded more close-up, no strings attached
action, so that they could get up close to the characters
They tended to go back to the start with creatures,
beginning to use things such as ghosts more.
Important films include; The Shining (1982), The Thing
(1982) and Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
1990’s By the end of the 1980s horror had become so reliant on gross-out gore
and buckets of liquid latex that it seemed to have lost its power to do anything more than shock and then amuse.
The 90’s presented the monsters as much more mundane than the 80’s. In the 90’s much of the horror genre was focused around the basis of
‘Serial Killers’ and the Psychological sub-genre
Many of the horrors around this time however were also easily able to fit
into the thriller genre as well
Important films include; SE7EN (1995), Scream (1996) and Silence Of
The Lambs (1991)
2000’s Due to the terrorist attack on 9/11/01 and the global film recession happening at
the time, the horror business was a meek one, everyone was more focussed on making ‘warm fuzzy films’ instead.
There were even calls to ban horror movies altogether, up until 2005! But, by 2005, the horror genre was as popular as ever. Horror films routinely
topped the box office, yielding an above-average gross on below-average costs. It seems that audiences wanted a good, group scare as a form of escapism, just as their great-grandparents chose Universal horror offerings to escape the miseries of the Depression and encroaching world war in the 1930s.
Important films include; Final Destination (2000), 28 Days Later (2002) and The
Grudge (2004)