AS media- The History Behind The Horror Genre

Rosie Ram

The Definition of HorrorHorror can have a lot of meanings as it can relate to many

feelings and experiences. It is defined as an: - An intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. A thing causing such a feeling. Informal Something unpleasant, ugly, or disagreeableIt comes from the Ancient Greek 'orrodia', which translates

to 'fear‘. It also comes from Latin meaning “shudder of hair”

The 1930’s In the 1930’s universal studios created Gothic horror films. They became a

hit as the audience were a big fan of the thrill and horror genre they brought. Dracula and Frankenstein were two famous ones. Horror movies introduced suspense, fear and tension in the film industry. Audiences felt enthusiastic about the horror genre and enjoyed them.

Horror movies introduced in the 1930’s The Dracula was the first movie created with sound, which made it such a

popular movie. In 1931 Frankenstein was one of the greatest monster of all time. In 1930s Warner brothers did gangster and waxwork horrors. In the late 1930s sadistic films were made The old dark house was produced by universal productions and directed by

James Whale James Whale had full control over the film Frankenstein's wife The film ‘Freaks’ a German film was the first film with circus people. In 1939 the ‘Son of Frankenstein’ was made

1940’sWartime horror movies were purely an American product. As

they were banned in Britain, as the film production was restricted throughout the theatre of war in Europe.

In the 1940s sequels were popular for early horror films Val Luton became head of horror to RKO studiosFilms created and introduced in 1940 The mummy’s hand (1940) In 1942 the film ‘Cat people’ was made The mummy’s tomb 1942 The wolf man 1942/1943Sequels were also made to Frankenstein and Dracula

The 1950sIn the mid 1950s horror films came to Britain and expanded there

audience as more people in Europe were watching and enjoying horror movies. Techniques were also added such as stop-motion which was used to make them come to life. However the increase in horror movies came to a fall as studios were trying too hard to modernize and adapt to the changes such as colour due to this they found it difficult to maintain focus in creating the horror movies however they were still making profit.

Monster based films became very popular. In 1951 there was a Dracula play in Broadway In the early 1950s horror cinema production ceased after two

decades in Hollywood Many horror films used Bray film studios which included an

atmosphere in 18th century house In 1957 ‘The curse of Frankenstein’ was the first film in colour and

used shocking gore and blood In 1957 the film ‘Night of the Demon’ was a psychological and

supernatural thriller by Jack Dunure

In the 1960sIn the 1960’s horror films were increasing they had some of the best

horrors to offer they more open to nudity, violence and strong language. By including these aspects teenagers felt that horror movies became more realistic and were appropriate for their age which made them even more popular.

The film industry expanded furthermore Hammer films in 1960s became popular from British film studios Hollywood stared to produce psychological horrors The horror era continued.... Films had to be made cheaper. Hammer productions shared some

cast and crew members In 1968 a film called ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ was made and it was

considered to be the scariest movie of all times This started to continue in the 1970s

1970sIn the 1970’s the horror genre was known as the “Nightmare

decades: in front of the children”Horror movies from the 1970s presented the grim mood of the

decade. The film industry based on the horror genre increased. The 1970s marked a return and was very successful and they got more popular and made a lot of profit. The films were made more realistic but also included more children, showing their fear.

Films created in 1970’s.. In the early 1970s occult horror movies became popular such as ‘The exorcist’ (1973) The film ‘The Omen’ was a popular horror that a few sequels were

made In the early 1970s gore fests became popular such as the film

‘The Texas chainsaw massacre’ Movies such as the ‘The hills have eyes’ (1977) Zombie movies continued into the early 1980s

1980s

Horror Films — Inside Out: Body HorrorHorror was losing a lot of its mainstream appeal, becoming the domain

of the teenager. The increasing realism of special effects led in one direction to movies where watching flying bits of body became the point, brutal and gruesome scenes were now more popular hence where the names for 80’s originated from “inside out: body horror”.

Films- The 1980’s saw a wave of gory movies 1980- Friday the 13th, directed by Sean S. Cunningham Nightmare on Elm street created by John Carpenter this was a

successful slasher movie 1881- Thomas Harris releases Red Dragon, creating Dr. Hannibal

Lector, one of the most successful portraits of a serial killer An American Werewolf in London, directed by John Landis. It also

received an Oscar for Best Make-up for the living and the dead.

1990s- PsychologicalIn the 1980s horror movies were based on movies that contained gore and

brutal body horror. However by the end of he 1980’s scary movies lost there ‘scare’ but became funny, this was because horror movies did not focus on their story lines, but focused to much on their realistic makeup and costumes for an example Dead Alive 1992. However there were successful horrors that were created

Films- Silence of the lambs directed by Jonathan Demme 1991- The movie is about

an FBI agent that tries to track down a serial killer with the aid of jailed psychopath. Stylish and disturbing. It won two Oscar awards

Trauma created by Dario Argento in 1993- This movie is a about a girl investigating why her parents and neighbours are missing. It is a brutal movie, that has a fascinating riddle at heart.

NATURAL BORN KILLERS directed by Oliver Stone in 1994- This film is about a serial killer couple who follow the fortunes of Mickey and Mallory as they slash their way across the Mid-West. Distasteful and violent.

Se7en directed by David Fincher in 1995 - Perhaps the most gripping serial killer movie ever made. The storyline is based on the digit 7 hence where the name aroused from.

2000’s

In the 2000’s, events that happened on September 11th changed global perceptions of what is frightening. This vigorously affected the film industry as it was already facing a recessions, film makers struggled to come to terms with what was now acceptable to the viewing public. Some people even wanted to BAN HORROR MOVIES IN THE NAME OF WORLD PEACE. The horror genre were quiet during the 2000’s and mainly made remakes of classic horror movies

FilmsZombie films made a return: Resident evil and 28 days later Final destination- This was a teen movie, the killer has no story to kill.. It has everyone in its

sights every character is in danger. The rules are clear and simple: if you are a character in a Final Destination movie, you are going to die. Contains lots of gore, disturbing and brutal scenes.

Torture films also became popular such as SAW as the audience liked the massive amount of gore they contain.

Why did the horror genre evolve in the way it did?The reason why horror movies changed, is because various things in the industry has developed

such as technology. Technology plays a vigorous role in the horror genre, for an example the quality of filming and colour getting introduced, film makers were able to make characters look more realistic and settings. By making them look more realistic horror movies were more frightening towards the audience. Real events also affected the way the genre changed such as the 9/11 film makers had to come to terms with what was acceptable to contain in horror movies.

How will this help me when planning my work?

This will give me more of an insight of what the horror genre consists of in greater detail and develops my understanding in generic conventions furthermore. By doing this research I know what convention I can include in my film opening.