The History of Horror

The History Of Horror

Horrors Literary Roots

        Horror films have developed majorly from their birth to the present day seeing all sorts of sub genres take hold in the film industry. It has seen monsters and mad scientists, werewolves and cat people, aliens and ghosts and zombies.
        Horrors roots lie in classic literature with the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde all stemming from books from the 19th century.
        Frankenstein was written in 1818 by Mary Shelley and follows the genre of horror, science fiction and romance. Shelley created this story when her, her husband Percy Shelley and his friend Lord Byron challenged each other to see who could come up with the best horror story. This film inspired the science fiction genre.
        This film received a number of complaints from parents disgusted by some of the scenes in the film, in particular the scene where Frankenstein's monster throws a little girl into a river. Religious groups such as Christians and Catholics also complained because they believed the idea of the film to be completely ridiculous as you can't sew up body parts and create a living being through a bolt of lightning. They believed that only God can give life.
        Dracula is a world renowned film produced in 1931 about an ancient vampire who arrives in England and preys upon the people. An epilogue in which Universal stalwart Edward Van Sloan announced that there really are such things as vampires was removed when the film was reissued in 1936 in fear that religious groups would be offended by encouraging a belief in the supernatural.
        The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came from a novel written by a Scottish author named Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. The inspiration for this book came from a dream that Stevenson had.

Monsters and Mad Scientists (30s)

        During the 1930s horror was reborn featuring monsters and mad scientists. In this decade sound became a very important part of the genre with music used for building suspense and signifying threats. This time saw Universal Studios make it's name through Frankenstein and Dracula. The main characters from these films are still recognised today by people of all ages. Famous films from this era include Freaks, The Mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein and King Kong. Enthusiasm for horror greatly increased from the 1920s to the 1930s as the cinema provided an escape from the depression and the ominous war. 80 million people attended the cinema weekly during this decade. The mad scientists side of this genre died off when Hitler came to power in 1933 with these characters being a bit too similar to Hitler's dictatorship. However, those three years saw the production of some successful mad scientist films including 'The Invisible Man' and 'The Island of Lost Souls'.

Werewolves and Cat People (40s)

        The 1940s saw the introduction of werewolves and cat people in films such as 'The Wolf Man', 'Cat People' and 'Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman'. During the first half of this decade WW2 was being fought. Adolf in old German translates to noble wolf and Nazi HQ's were often named after wolves. This link between the Nazis and wolves were used in horror in order to scare people more. The thing that most people feared in this decade was dying in the war and, therefore, this was used in films. Werewolves connoted Nazis and lead to these films being used as propaganda. Cat people in films represented the female population dominating after their jobs were lost with the men returning from the war.

Mutants and Aliens (50s)

       Mutants and aliens became the main focus of horror films in the 1950s. 'Rocketship XM' was the first film to use such creatures and was a low budget production but sparked a trend in sci-fi films. Some examples of the more famous films in this genre are 'The Thing', 'The Day The Earth Stood Still', 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers', 'It Came From Outer Space' and 'War Of The Worlds'. These films saw early special effects used with existing creatures used as mutants thanks to blue screen techniques. These films became the first 'blockbusters' and caused people to crave exploring space in search of new life forms.

Hammer Film Productions

        Hammer Film Productions were a prominent force in the horror industry producing films such as 'Dracula', 'The Abominable Snowman', 'The Mummy' and 'Curse Of The Werewolf'. These films were in colour rather than the usual black and white and focus more on the victim and not the creature. Their reproduction of Frankenstein focused on his quest for knowledge rather than showing him to be a criminal. Hammer used a wheel of inspiration with the first stage being a Universal production, this then leads to a change in the script. If this film does well then they make another, which then links back to start again.

Ghosts, Zombies, Satanism and Your Family (60s and 70s)

        During the 1960s and 70s, ghosts, zombies, satanism and your family became the focuses of horror films. These years saw the return of big budget horrors. These films looked at social issues and genuine psychological fears. A common theme in these films was a fear of childbirth and children. One of the biggest films from this era was the exorcist which focuses on the fear of children. This film was banned in the UK until 1999 and has been voted as the scariest film of all time. With children as the antagonists it puts the enemy a lot closer to home, therefore, making it scarier. The 1960s was the decade in which ghosts became popular. In these films women were usually the first and often the only people to be killed by the ghosts. Other famous films from the era include 'Halloween', 'Carnival Of Souls', 'The Stepford Wives', 'Alice, Sweet Alice' and 'The Omen.

Slasher

        The slasher sub genre emerged in the 1980s. This type of horror has the killer mutilate people with knives, razors and other such blades. These films use a lot of body horror, which is where the deaths are graphically shown to the audience. There has been many successful films in this genre including; 'Scream', 'Halloween', 'A Nightmare On Elm Street', 'Friday The 13th', 'Psycho', 'My Bloody Valentine', 'Child's Play', 'Madman' and 'Prom Night'. Improvements in technology and special effects allowed this sub genre to take hold in the industry as producers were able to show much more explicit scenes than before. Audiences came to love the added realism and the success of these films led to many sequels. Tom Savini made his name through this type of horror thanks to his award winning special effects make up. He managed to bring the realism into films such as 'Dawn of the Dead' and 'Friday the 13th'.

Video Nasties

        Video nasties are films which went straight to VHS as they were considered too explicit for the cinema. These films were extremely controversial and have been blamed for changing Britain. Many court cases have been filed against these films and a law was passed to ban them, however, they were still heavily available after this law had been passed. Video nasties became popular through over advertising in shop windows and the fact that they dealt with taboo subjects. Some of the banned films were 'Absurd', 'Anthropophagous: The Beast', 'Axe', 'The Beast in Heat', 'Blood Bath', 'Blood Feast', 'Blood Rites', 'Bloody Moon' and 'The Burning'.

Gorenography/Torture Porn

        Gorenography or Torture Porn is a sub genre of horror that is extremely brutal and gorey. These films don't have a story line or a plot, their sole focus is the brutality. One of the most famous films from this genre is 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' which was inspired by the psychopath Ed Gein. This type of horror is liked by people due to the thrill of the fear factor. Eli Roth is a famous director and producer from this genre creating films such as 'Hostel'.