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The Beginning
It has been argued that the horror genre began in the 1700s, when artists began painting images of the darker side of human nature. Demons, devils and evil creatures were painted. -
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Horror Genre Development
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Frankenstein
Mary Shelley wrote the first Gothic Horror masterpiece, Frankenstein in 1815, which lead to many ghost stories. The novel has many gothic and romantic elements and is one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Since publication of the novel the name ‘Frankenstein’ has become connected to monsters. -
Ghost Stories
In the late 1800s Wilkie Collins and O. Henry published many ghost stories. Wilkie Collins produced many short stories with Charles Dickens, such as, ‘The Haunted House’, which is about friends trying to find evidence of the supernatural on Christmas Eve in a haunted house. This narrative is very similar to one found in present horror films, showing that narratives are very often re-used several times.O. Henry has also produced many short ghost stories, with one of his most well-know being ‘Th -
Dracula
Bram Stoker published his well-known gothic vampire story Dracula, in which he described the modern vampire. The novel lead to many theatrical, film and television interpretations and was used a source material for other gothic horror films, which changed cinema forever. -
Horror Begins To Talk… And Scream
The 1930s brought about sound, which changed cinema forever. It added an extra dimension of terror, from music to build suspense to monsters that howled. This meant the cinema became a very popular escapism, with 80 million people attending the cinema on a weekly basis in 1930. In the early 1930s classic novels like ‘Dracula’ and ‘Frankenstein’ were made into motion pictures and were reborn again.However, the genre faded away due to repetition of similar narratives and then the start of World -
Horror Of Armageddon
With advances in technology the horror genre saw a shift from gothic to more contemporary ideas, with many productions featuring the idea of humanity overcoming something from the “outside”. Horror films such as ‘Godzilla’ the mutation from nuclear radiation were featured. This sci-fi twist also produced films like 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' by Don Siegel -
Horror Of Demonic
‘Peeping Tom’ by Michael Powell in 1960 was the first “slasher movie”, which was about a serial killer who combined his professional photography with his murder victims. This was shortly followed by Alfred Hitchcock’s 'Psycho' (1960) and ‘Birds’ (1963). Even though ghosts and monsters continues to appear in horror films, many now used the supernatural to express the horror of demons. Psychological horror moved the genre even further away from earlier gothic horror trends and brought horror into -
The Nightmare Decade
The horror genre began to incorporate the youth, with films such as, 'The Exorcist' (1973) being produced. Also, the subgenre of comedy horror re-emerged in the cinema with ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ (1975) and many more. Next in the 70s Stephen King’s novel ‘Carrie’ was adapted for the screen. Hollywood’s idea of horror began to develop, psychological and supernatural began to take over the cinema, replacing the old violence and murder. -
Rebranded Sasher Film
John Carpenter released 'Halloween' in 1978, which changed the normal slasher film from 'Pyscho' to a more teenage audience and created the teen slasher sub-genre. This boom in slasher films created enough material for many spoofs of the genre, including ‘Saturday the 14th’ in 1981. -
Video Nasties
Through the 1980s there was a large amount of grotesque and horrific films that ignored the boundaries of decency, with examples including ‘Fright Night’ (1985) and ‘The Lost Boys’ (1987). -
Post Modern Horror
In the mid 1990s the genre began to use many existing horror conventions to produce movies like 'Scream'. The genre then began to reproduce similar movies using the same narratives. This lead to more teen slasher films like, 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'. The genre then exhausted itself again and parody movies like, 'Scary Movie' was produced.
