History of Horror Summary

History of Horror Summary:

A complete summary of changes and trends in horror film production over the last 100+ years.

Frankenstein, Dracula and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

One the earliest examples of the horror movie genre was seen during the 1930s when 'Universal Pictures', a well-known American movie studio began releasing multiple movies based around the Gothic horror genre. And since some of the best antagonists were those written about in classic horror novels, it only made sense that would soon appear as characters in their own films, leading to them becoming the classic movie monsters which are still talked about today e.g. Frankenstein, Dracula, etc. However, an interesting thing about horror movies at this time is that the monsters were not exactly fighting just because they were made to be evil. The plots actually focused on the emotions the monsters felt, making the audience scared yet feel empathetic towards the antagonist.

For example, in the 1931 adaption of 'Frankenstein', the creature is mute and seems to be very unaware of the effects he could have on the world around him. At one point, he throws a young girl into a lake thinking she will float. But when she drowns, he feels genuinely saddened by this event and runs away. This actually caused a lot of controversy due to the fact that they killed off a child, which was mostly unheard of in movies back then. The film also caused a lot of trouble among religious groups due to Dr. Frankenstein's classic line "It's alive! It's alive! In the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!". The religious audience saw this as blasphemous, believing that only God could have the power to bring life into the world, not by a bolt of lightning.

Monsters and Mad Scientists:

Around the same decade, other horror films were released that depicted mad scientists as the main characters as well as their creations or "monsters". And these types of movies also had the same sort of theme as Frankenstein where you felt sorry for the antagonist yet felt sorry for them. This was seen in the 1933 adaption of ' The Invisible Man', when the mad scientist (known throughout the horror universe as Griffin) begins to go insane due to multiple failed attempts to reverse the invisibility he had inflicted on himself, side-effects of the invisibility drug itself, locals asking questions, etc. Because of this, the audience feel empathy for the poor scientist and are eventually left horrified at his eventual demise (Spoilers!).

Another interesting fact is, during 1933 when Hitler came to power, his influenced caused the mad scientist genre to suddenly become much more popular. The reason for this was because his power and dictatorship were very similar to that of a mad scientist, resulting in a lot of horror films being made in that same amount of time, including the previously mentioned 'The Invisible Man'.

Primal animal within; werewolves and cat people - 1940s

Around this decade, the main horror movie monster was the werewolf and/or the cat people, yet these creatures seemed to appear more in B-Movies rather than proper productions. But as they became more popular in the horror culture, they soon became one of the most famous horror icons put to film.

And surprisingly enough, this sort of film genre was also vaguely related to the events of World War II. Around this time, the term 'wolf' was used a lot to reference Hitler's rise to power and those who were a part of it e.g. Adolf translates to 'noble wolf' in old German, he made his sister change her name to Paula Wolf, his favourite secretary was known as Joanna Wolf, etc. The reason these films were scary was because war was the main fear factor at that time and producers and companies thought that they could use this factor their films. Plus, the American film 'The Wolf Man' ends with the monster dying which could have been a secret reference to Hitler eventually being defeated, equalling to a subliminal example of post-war propaganda.

Aliens and Mutant Creatures:

Now we enter the 1950s, where mutant creatures and alien invaders were all the rage and starting to become popular in film culture. This decade featured many early sci-fi films, including the low-budget B-Movie 'Rocketship X-M'. And little did the producers know that this movie would become an inspiration for future sci-fi classics such as 'Alien' and 'The Thing'.

Around this time, mutant creatures were starting to make appearance in horror films, becoming the next great horror movie monster due to such films as 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' and 'The Blob'. The reason for this sudden addition of monsters was due to the beliefs that an atomic war would be imminent. And the resulting radiation would cause a sudden increase of mutated beings. Monster movies like 'King Kong' and 'Godzilla' relate to this theory of war, built around the beliefs that when a creature threatens their lives, humanity will put aside their differences and join together to fight back against the threat. In fact, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' refers to communism, relating the aliens' abilities to make everybody the same and referencing the fears people had of communists doing the same.  

Hammer Horror:

'Hammer Films' is a UK film production company, first founded in 1934 and is still making films today. Despite receiving moderately critical acclaim from critics, they have been known for releasing negatively reviewed films of classic horror monsters such as 'The Curse of Frankenstein', 'The Abominable Snowman' and 'The Curse of the Werewolf'. However, they have been known for releasing many horror movies which have received extremely positively reviews, especially their 2010 remake 'Let Me In', based on the original Swedish vampire horror titled 'Let the Right One in'.

This remake was praised by critics and has even received a better online rating than the original. Not only that, but 'Hammer Films' was also given praise for their visual style and melodramatic storytelling.

Ghosts, Zombies, Satanism and your Family:

Around the 1960s/70s, horror movies became more respected in their field and received larger budgets, resulting in some of the best films being produced in that era. It was around this time that the theme of supernatural possession and paranormal activities became the next big thing in the horror genre.

One of the most influential films of that time was the horror classic 'The Exorcist', a film which was banned in the UK until 1999 and voted 'The Scariest movie of all time'. It was during this time that freedom after the war was still present, resulting in religious beliefs dying out and Satanism coming in. And it was this film that created the idea to mistrust you family, hinting that your enemy is closer than you think.  Ironically, this film also caused a return of religious beliefs, causing priests to stand outside the theatres premiering the film and publically detesting it while informing others of the evils of the Devil.

Slasher movies and body horror in the 80s:

Because of the advances in horror special effects and the increasing popularity of horror films, the 80s focused mostly on the Slasher genre, consisting of multiple victims getting mutilated by various weapons, sometimes resulting in over-the-top deaths e.g. Final Destination, etc. This resulted in many well-known Slasher movies being created and released long after the decade ended such as 'Scream', 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', 'Halloween' etc.

In fact, most Slasher antagonists have become well-known members of the horror Hall of Fame, including Ghost-Face, Chucky, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger. In fact, the horror film 'Scream' challenged the common conventions of Slasher films by basing the killer's motives around other Slasher films, making him ask his victims about scary movies right before killing them.

Video Nasties:

'Video Nasty' is a term used for a number of movies, mostly horror movies which were banned in the UK during the 1980s due to vulgar footage, obscenities and graphic violence. However, they were still very popular within households due to the fact that they were unable to be viewed in cinemas. These films include 'Cannibal Holocaust' 'The Driller Killer', 'Snuff' and 'Madhouse', yet a majority of these films were usually cut down to remove the scenes deemed innapropriate.

Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' was supposedly going to become a video nasty and often believed to have been banned by the BBFC. However, it was actually Kubrick himself who denied showing the film in the UK due to receiving multiple death threats and hearing reports of copycat violence similar to that featured in the film. But the film was eventually re-released uncut in cinemas in 2000, almost thirty years after its initial release.

Gorenography and Torture Porn:

Gorenography (or "Torture Porn") is a genre of horror film which has no characters, no plot, not even a story. It mainly consisted of brutal torture, endless gore and was overall sickening to watch. But despite not being scary whatsoever, they were still classified as horror films. In fact, a genre of Japanese pornography known as Ecchi is known to show the actors cutting each other and causing serious physical damage, sometimes even involving children.

However, there are still some films that fall under this category which are scary as well as sick. These include 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', 'Wrong Turn', 'My Bloody Valentine 3D', etc. In fact, the classic horror character Leatherface was based on real life murderer, Ed Gein.