History of horror filmsand iconic film in the genre

Sujata Gurung 4342

Intro:

Definition of horror: an intense feeling of fear,

shock or disgust

As human beings we seek adrenaline or the thrill

for life which makes living exciting and fun. Just

like how we seek adrenaline from roller coaster

rides we seek this as well in horror films.

Background

historyEarly creation of myths in all cultures are populated with demons and darkness. The early mythologies resounds the tales of a world beyond the physical reach, a realm of spirits to be feared of.

These mythologies which include monsters are Cereberus the minotaur, Medusa, the hydra, the sirens and cyclops. This is when the interest in the horror genre is dated to have started.

Following this centuries later great horror classic novels were released such as ‘Frankenstien’ (1818 then 1823) by Mary Shelley. ‘The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) seminal novella by Robert Louis Stevenson (Great book to read!) and Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker, which is where the Dracula series originated from.

The very first !

The very first horror film to date is ‘Le Manoir du

Diable (1896) which was created by Geroges

Melies.

Below is the link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw8bzC33CGY#

t=39

Another early horror genre debut film is ‘The Cabinet

of Dr Caligari (1920):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrg73BUxJLI

1920s to 1930s

The early 1920s marked the start of film, and also marked the beginning of the horror genre films.

These are some of the films made in the 20s to 30s: Nosferatu, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The mummy

1930s to 1949 it was the golden age for the string of successful Gothic horror films e.g.. Frankenstien, Dracula, the invisible man. Two main actors who gained a lot from franchises made from theses films were ‘Bella lugosi and Boris Karloff

The very first genre of horror films was ‘Ghotic horror’, this was derived from gothic literature which dated back to early 1900s

1940s

In the 1940s there was a decline in horror films

as a result of world war 2 however classic horror

films were made such as Wolf man, House of

Dracula, and house of Frankenstein

1950s

1950s was the end of war and people were more willing to spend money on cinemas to forget the horror of the war. Example of 1950s horror films are ‘It came from beneath the sea”

1950s-1960s due to the advancement of technology the main theme of horror films changed from the gothic genre to more horror films that concerned the current situation of the world at this time. Many of the films had subliminal messages and idea of threat that humans have not much experience with e.g. the invasion and taking over. This is similar to the real life situation of the war.

1960s

1960s brought a new genre to horror, this was

influenced from Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Pyscho’.

Example of films are the birds, carnival of souls, Night

of the living dead, blood feast.

1970s

1970s had a surge in horror films, this is because

horror films were thought to represent the time

and the problems and compared to the 60s, the

70s was a more depressing era. Really good

horror films came around this time: The Exorcist,

Jaws, Texas chainsaw massacre, Carrie, the

omen, Halloween and these films are still making

sequels and building a franchise of the films.

1980s

1980’s new types of technology was introduced

to develop better graphics, quality of production

and better costumes/makeup. Some films that

came out around this time are Nightmare on elm

street, the Fly, the Shining

1990s

By the 1990s the monster genre films had gotten boring and a bit cliché, this called for a re-boost of new things that the people would be excited by. There this new ‘hype’ for psychological films. Films would follow the narrative of brutal murders of ordinary humans, twisted on killing others-this was much more realistic and believable narrative. Example of films were Se7en, Sixth sense, Misery.

2000s20th century introduced many new genres and some

revival of old classic horror films.

Here are a list of iconic horror films of 2000s:

Scary movie (2000)

Final destination(2000)

Spiders(2000)

The human centipede (2010)

Insidious (2011)

Most recent and upcoming horror

film list:

Annabelle (2014)

Magi (2015)

Muck (2015)

Poltergeist (2015)