History of horror
Better grab that popcorn and your history books, because we're about to go deep into the history of horror. Looking at what made the horrifying horrible and where we have evolved in terms of the dark and the dangerous.
The cinema is MADE for horror, dark and quiet atmosphere, enough to make the film feel real. Enough to make the audience to jump out of their own seats whenever the main antagonist appears to attack their next victim. The cinema is another way for us to escape reality and enter a realm of collective dreams, however, these dreams are nightmares , where the evil and supernatural can roam free with no bounds. The only thing that keeps us safe from them is the screen that separates us.
The roots of filmed horror were an extension of a genre of literature that started in the late 1700s known as Gothic Horror. Developed by writers in Great Britain and the US, the Gothic part of the name refers to pseudo medieval buildings that these stories took place such as an old castle on a dark and stormy night or gloomy forests and dungeons. Gothic literature helped horror films found their inspiration. The genre was popular in both books and theatre at the time and although the term horror did not come into use for film until the 1930s, early filmmakers and film goers certainly showed an interest in the genre.
The First ever Horror film produced was "The devil's castle" in 1896, it was a French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès. It tells the story of an encounter with the Devil and various attendant phantoms within a haunted castle and was in the style of theatrical comedy. Originally, it was intended to amuse the audience rather than fear. However, because of its themes and characters, it can technically be considered the first horror film (and, because it includes a transformation involving a bat, it has even been called the first vampire film). The film is also innovative in length, with its running time of over three minutes, it was considered ambitious for its era.
However, 'The cabinet of Dr Cagliari' and 'Nosferatu' are accepted by most people to be the real first horror films. The iconic German expressionist films, which were influenced by the takeover of WW1, are known to express the reality of what has been occurring in that time, in this case war. The films were the first horror films to express and reflect the fears of the WW1 era, with the films reflecting the socio-political climate and the conflict between ourselves as people and ourselves from a political aspect.
Hollywood horror truly began in the 1930s, as sound was introduced as a factor of horror that would tense up the audience. Universal contributed to the horror genre, kicking off the Universal Gothic horror cycle with their first hit "Dracula" (1931), directed Tod Browning. At this point, the great depression of the US and the Wall street crash was affecting the economy, big time. Universal had money issues and making films would have been difficult, so they had to improvise, and that's what they did with Dracula. Having the Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi play as Dracula gave the audience a sense of conflict, the concept that a monster such as Dracula was seen as attractive but, well, monstrous.
The whole idea of a living corpse could put anyone off, but not with Dracula. The audience wanted to see more of the handsome villain, but didn't want to look at the darker sides of the film such as the blood sucking, thus making the beginning of Hollywood horror being based the whole idea of knowing that you shouldn't look, but wanting to see more. Getting more than what you need.
James Whale continued the cycle with Frankenstein, 1931. Where the concept of embracing the dark and necrophilia comes into play but also this film had the first controversial scene in cinema where critics and censors were heavily placed, yet, it was so successful. And at 1935, we saw the production of the sequel to Frankenstein, 'Bride of Frankenstein'. The film reflected the fears of the Audience at the time, in which the events leading up to WWII was occurring, where the whole concept of the Nazi party and creating 'a superior race' was illustrated in the Frankenstein franchise as Frankenstein wanted to create something of perfection, but instead a monster has come out of his doings. In this case, Hitler and the holocaust.
The time between the post World War II and the 50s was the most difficult time Hollywood had gone through. From Supreme Court rulings splitting the studios apart, Hollywood was trying to stay relevant. Horror films got restricted to B-film status as Hollywood preserved it’s A-list talent for other genres such as action. But the horror film genre was still popular amongst teens who were looking for the thrills of life even if the plot lines were out of this world.
The1950s Cold war era showed the audience's fear of invasion, where films would blend into a Science Fiction cycle, producing films such as The Thing From Another World, The Day The Earth Stood Still both from 1951, and Forbidden Planet and Invasion of the Body Snatchers both in 1956.
From the 1960s, we begin to see a supernovae of styles and auteurs into the horror genre as it gained popularity and freedom from the restrictive censorship of the Production Code that was abandoned in 1964. The films placed emphasis on the fear of people and they played with the audience from a more psychological perspective. Psycho, by the master of audience trickery, Alfred Hitchcock, illustrated the significant shift with the fears of society in the 60s. It was a huge step away from the radioactive monsters of the 50s, in which the film portrays that we as humans are the true evil, that we shouldn't trust each other and danger is in every corner of our lives. Psycho shows that a person can look normal but the human mind is far from normal, it is twisted and full of secrets. Our past sins will make us into something monstrous, something that cannot be saved and will bring death and hopelessness. And this hopelessness has been represented with the death of the protagonist halfway of the film. Pessimistic, right?
The late 60's/early 70s was all about the occult, with films about Satan and the Supernatural coming into the spotlight, starting of with Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby in 1968. However, William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973) was the peak of occult films, where it has opened up a new path of horror films looking at possession, good vs. evil and religion from a darker view. This theme was continued by Richard Donnor’s The Omen 1976 and Stuart Rosenberg’s Amityville Horror in 1979. What these films shown was how evil is omnipresence and is always battling against good; that no matter how hard good tries, evil will always be there to challenge it.
In the mid 70s a shift has been observed to the horror films produced in Hollywood, with Tobe Hooper's The Texas chainsaw massacre producing themes of cannibalistic ideals and death. However, it still follows the concept of people being the main fear seeing as the main antagonist was based of Ed Gein, a serial killer in 1954. But what made this film effective was the use of sound and not sight as a way to scare the audience, that we do not need to see what is happening to understand the story or the event, seeing as there was a lack or gore in the film. Making the film's main feature of psychological torture rather than physical.
But late 70s/early 80s is where the real gore begins, bloodbaths, knives, serial killers, slashers were "the big thing" of the time. These films were also low budget like the occults and profit was being made from these films. The sub-genre's popularity may have arisen from the idea of the amount of infamous serial killers who have appeared.
By 2000, the horror fad has died down, but that didn't stop them from being produced. Many horror films consisted of video game adaptions such as the Resident Evil franchise and Silent Hill. Modern Horror films still are quite successful, in which they are more heavily based around the supernatural and technology. There are also a few rebuilds of films such as The Blair Witch project which has just came out in September of this year. However, these have been proven to be fairly unsuccessful by many critics.
What the future holds for the horror genre, we do not know. But, one thing we know for sure is that, it will follow what horror films have been doing for years; it will represent the fears of the public.
The cinema is MADE for horror, dark and quiet atmosphere, enough to make the film feel real. Enough to make the audience to jump out of their own seats whenever the main antagonist appears to attack their next victim. The cinema is another way for us to escape reality and enter a realm of collective dreams, however, these dreams are nightmares , where the evil and supernatural can roam free with no bounds. The only thing that keeps us safe from them is the screen that separates us.
The roots of filmed horror were an extension of a genre of literature that started in the late 1700s known as Gothic Horror. Developed by writers in Great Britain and the US, the Gothic part of the name refers to pseudo medieval buildings that these stories took place such as an old castle on a dark and stormy night or gloomy forests and dungeons. Gothic literature helped horror films found their inspiration. The genre was popular in both books and theatre at the time and although the term horror did not come into use for film until the 1930s, early filmmakers and film goers certainly showed an interest in the genre.
The First ever Horror film produced was "The devil's castle" in 1896, it was a French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès. It tells the story of an encounter with the Devil and various attendant phantoms within a haunted castle and was in the style of theatrical comedy. Originally, it was intended to amuse the audience rather than fear. However, because of its themes and characters, it can technically be considered the first horror film (and, because it includes a transformation involving a bat, it has even been called the first vampire film). The film is also innovative in length, with its running time of over three minutes, it was considered ambitious for its era.
However, 'The cabinet of Dr Cagliari' and 'Nosferatu' are accepted by most people to be the real first horror films. The iconic German expressionist films, which were influenced by the takeover of WW1, are known to express the reality of what has been occurring in that time, in this case war. The films were the first horror films to express and reflect the fears of the WW1 era, with the films reflecting the socio-political climate and the conflict between ourselves as people and ourselves from a political aspect.
Hollywood horror truly began in the 1930s, as sound was introduced as a factor of horror that would tense up the audience. Universal contributed to the horror genre, kicking off the Universal Gothic horror cycle with their first hit "Dracula" (1931), directed Tod Browning. At this point, the great depression of the US and the Wall street crash was affecting the economy, big time. Universal had money issues and making films would have been difficult, so they had to improvise, and that's what they did with Dracula. Having the Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi play as Dracula gave the audience a sense of conflict, the concept that a monster such as Dracula was seen as attractive but, well, monstrous.
The whole idea of a living corpse could put anyone off, but not with Dracula. The audience wanted to see more of the handsome villain, but didn't want to look at the darker sides of the film such as the blood sucking, thus making the beginning of Hollywood horror being based the whole idea of knowing that you shouldn't look, but wanting to see more. Getting more than what you need.
James Whale continued the cycle with Frankenstein, 1931. Where the concept of embracing the dark and necrophilia comes into play but also this film had the first controversial scene in cinema where critics and censors were heavily placed, yet, it was so successful. And at 1935, we saw the production of the sequel to Frankenstein, 'Bride of Frankenstein'. The film reflected the fears of the Audience at the time, in which the events leading up to WWII was occurring, where the whole concept of the Nazi party and creating 'a superior race' was illustrated in the Frankenstein franchise as Frankenstein wanted to create something of perfection, but instead a monster has come out of his doings. In this case, Hitler and the holocaust.
The time between the post World War II and the 50s was the most difficult time Hollywood had gone through. From Supreme Court rulings splitting the studios apart, Hollywood was trying to stay relevant. Horror films got restricted to B-film status as Hollywood preserved it’s A-list talent for other genres such as action. But the horror film genre was still popular amongst teens who were looking for the thrills of life even if the plot lines were out of this world.
The1950s Cold war era showed the audience's fear of invasion, where films would blend into a Science Fiction cycle, producing films such as The Thing From Another World, The Day The Earth Stood Still both from 1951, and Forbidden Planet and Invasion of the Body Snatchers both in 1956.
From the 1960s, we begin to see a supernovae of styles and auteurs into the horror genre as it gained popularity and freedom from the restrictive censorship of the Production Code that was abandoned in 1964. The films placed emphasis on the fear of people and they played with the audience from a more psychological perspective. Psycho, by the master of audience trickery, Alfred Hitchcock, illustrated the significant shift with the fears of society in the 60s. It was a huge step away from the radioactive monsters of the 50s, in which the film portrays that we as humans are the true evil, that we shouldn't trust each other and danger is in every corner of our lives. Psycho shows that a person can look normal but the human mind is far from normal, it is twisted and full of secrets. Our past sins will make us into something monstrous, something that cannot be saved and will bring death and hopelessness. And this hopelessness has been represented with the death of the protagonist halfway of the film. Pessimistic, right?
The late 60's/early 70s was all about the occult, with films about Satan and the Supernatural coming into the spotlight, starting of with Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby in 1968. However, William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973) was the peak of occult films, where it has opened up a new path of horror films looking at possession, good vs. evil and religion from a darker view. This theme was continued by Richard Donnor’s The Omen 1976 and Stuart Rosenberg’s Amityville Horror in 1979. What these films shown was how evil is omnipresence and is always battling against good; that no matter how hard good tries, evil will always be there to challenge it.
In the mid 70s a shift has been observed to the horror films produced in Hollywood, with Tobe Hooper's The Texas chainsaw massacre producing themes of cannibalistic ideals and death. However, it still follows the concept of people being the main fear seeing as the main antagonist was based of Ed Gein, a serial killer in 1954. But what made this film effective was the use of sound and not sight as a way to scare the audience, that we do not need to see what is happening to understand the story or the event, seeing as there was a lack or gore in the film. Making the film's main feature of psychological torture rather than physical.
But late 70s/early 80s is where the real gore begins, bloodbaths, knives, serial killers, slashers were "the big thing" of the time. These films were also low budget like the occults and profit was being made from these films. The sub-genre's popularity may have arisen from the idea of the amount of infamous serial killers who have appeared.
The 90s produced sequels to iconic films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th. However, these were not favoured by critics. However, further into the late 90s, with films such as scream being produced, films had became more subjected to the relationship between real and surreal. At this point, the horror genre had become less successful in which themes became repetitive and horror films that mocked this change were being released.
What the future holds for the horror genre, we do not know. But, one thing we know for sure is that, it will follow what horror films have been doing for years; it will represent the fears of the public.
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