History Of Horror

Gothic Horror and 19th century horror stories

• Frankenstein, Dracula and Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde are all horror stories which evolved from the 19th century. 

The Silent era and German expressionism

• Nosferatu
• The cabinet of Dr Caligari

1930s - Monsters and mad scientists

•  Films include: The mummy, King Kong, Bride of Frankenstine and Dracula.
• The monsters and mad scientists were closely linked to Hitler and the public were therefore scared of what was to come as this was closely related to The Nazi regime.

1940s - Werewolves and cat people

• The werewolves used in 1940s horror were closely related to Hilter and the Nazi Regime. Most of the Nazi party headquarters were named after Wolves for example Werwolf in Ukraine. 
• When werewolves bite someone that person then gets the 'condition' also, this is thought to represent the Nazi Party in the way that they transformed peoples way of thinking.

1950s - Mutant creatures and alien invaders

• Films include: The Thing, War Of The Worlds, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and The Blob.
• With the end of World War 2 leaving 40 million dead, people were becoming scared of the acts of man and their involvement and use in the advances in science and technology.
• With America under constant nuclear threat from the Soviet Union, UFO sightings added fear and made an effective basis for more horror films.

 

1960s and 70s - Ghosts, Zombies and Satanism

• Films of this time also reflected 'the unwanted child'. It was shown that the children of a family can do bad things to their parents and the thought of this idea scared many people.
• Films include: The Exorcist, The Omen, The Stepford Wives and Carnival Of Souls.

Hammer Horror

• Hammer horror is a British film production company; it had its peak of success in the 1950's however during the 1960's it's popularity descended.
• Today hammer horror is not so popular but there are still successful films within the genre, for example Let The Right One In (2008) and The Woman In Black (2012).
• In the 50's the hammer horror produced was mainly low budget. For example 8 Dracula  

Slasher Movies and Body Horror

• Due to the advances in technology and Special FX, the producers of horror films were able to make things a lot my grotesque and gruesome. 
• Material wealth was important to the Western Society and people cared a lot about people knowing of the material goods they owned. These flashy special effects could be seen to relate to the materialistic 80s.
• There was a huge increase in the amount of blood and gore shown in horror films in the 80's. Although this shocked people and many found it scary and unpleasant, it was also said to take away some of the 'scare factor'. This is because part of what makes horrors scared is the element of 'the unknown'. 
• Body horror became more common as with special FX the film makers could show mutilation, maiming and modification of the human form.
• Films include: Scream, Evil Dead 2, Nightmare On Elm Street and                                        Dawn Of The Dead.

Video Nasties In The 80's

• The 80's introduced the VHS cassette. This meant that films could be made on much smaller budgets and go 'straight to video'. 
• Soon there were many complaints on the content of some of these films and 39 made it onto the 'video nasties' list. This only lasted for so long as today all 39 are now again available to watch.