History of horror films!

The Gothic Tradition

The term horror was first used for Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, The Castle Of Otranto, a story full of supernatural happenings and mysterious melodrama. This started a craze, making many imitators into what they call gothic mode of writing. There then went on to be better writers such as Ann Radcliffe ( The Mysteries Of Udolpho) and Matthew Gregory Lewis (The Monk) who took the genre to new heights and suspense. The first great horror classic was Frankenstein, written in 1818 by Mary Shelley.

Nineteenth Century Masters

In the nineteenth century many great novelists tried their go at horror fictions, paying tributes to the gothic traditions. Many of the novelists included Emily Bronte with wuthering heights in gothic situations, Dickens with many ghost stories, Herman Melville with many supernatural elements and so did Nathaniel Hawthorne.

End Of The Century

Sigmund Freud began exploring into the human consciousness which made the literature take on a more psychological turn, taking a toll on the boundaries we call sanity. These stories consist of slow unravelling of the mind, so the reader is left to decide whether the causes are supernatural or psychological. H G Wells then went on to make science-themed novels which have elements of horror as well as fantasy. Then the great war came, causing horrors that none of these great minds could have conceived.

The First Horror Movies

The early horror films were surreal, dark pieces. However, they did not have the technology that they do today and so they didn't turn out as well as they'd like. Many of the early horror films are lost because of the fragile quality of film and so there is only three classics left on DVD.

The Golem ( 1915/1920)

There were several versions of this film, and it was known as the 'first monster movie'.

A golem is designed to save the ghetto, but when his job is finished he refuses to cease existing, and starts causing chaos but is eventually to be confronted and defeated by a little girl.

The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (1919)

Also known as the 'granddaddy of all horror films'.

A man named Francis relates a story about his best friend Alan and his fiancée Jane. Alan takes him to a fair where they meet Dr. Caligari, who exhibits a somnambulist, Cesare, that can predict the future.
When Alan asks how long he has to live, Cesare says he has until dawn. The prophecy comes to pass, as Alan is murdered, and Cesare is a prime suspect.
Cesare creeps into Jane's bedroom and abducts her, running from the townspeople and finally dying of exhaustion.
Meanwhile, the police discover a dummy in Cesare's cabinet, while Caligari flees.
Francis tracks Caligari to a mental asylum.

Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu is the very first vampire film telling the normal story of Dracula. It is described as the vampire movie that actually believes in vampires and gives us a more frightening vampire they'd ever seen.

Horror films from 1930's - now

In the 1930's the horror movies started getting better as sound was introduced making the experience even better. Since then the horror movies have been getting better and better.

There has been remakes of the classics and even more psychological thinking added to make the audiences really get involved with the film.

During the 1940's horror films were cranked out by hollywood. They stuck with the same ideas that they knew and made variations of one theme. Within the 10 years from the 1940's- 1950's the horror genre had changed very much. As many people had their own horror stories through the war they needed to get new ideas that would scare people, creating new fantasy monsters including films such as Mutant madness and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.

In the 1950's the horror genre were dominated by the 'B' picture. These were budget films, made in a hurry and mostly aimed at teenagers which is shown through the names they used such as The Ghost In The Invisible Bikini. Also in the 1950's they started thinking about the ideas of outer space and aliens creating the idea of the unknown.

The 1960's saw a great change in what the audiences found horrible. They were used to explore new ways of perceiving sex and violence. They saw much more on-screen violence, nudity and other things that pushed society rules. They wanted to make the horror more believable, more realistic and more sophisticated.

Horror movies in the 1970's reflected on the grim mood of the decade, causing the society to go bad, making the horror films good. The big-budget films came back focused mostly on fears and society's problems.

In the 1980's special visual effects finally caught up with horror films and they were able to make less humanly figures making the monsters look much more realistic and different. However, they still remained to use the same types of monsters such as ghosts, werebeings and slimy things.

By the end of the 1980's horror films had become so reliant on gore causing the audience to be more shocked and amused rather than scared.

During the 1990's most horror films were decribed as thriller films as they didn't want to be associated or compared to them. They had seemed to run out of original ideas and started to make big budget remakes of older horror films and ideas such as Dracula and Frankenstein.

As September 11th 2001 came, it became very hard to sell horror films during that year and there were even calls to stop horrors to claim world peace. however, by 2005 horror films were even more popular than before. During the 2000's the monsters had to changed, from fate killing people in final destination to deseases spreading and causing zombies in films like 28 days later.