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The House of The Devil
This was considered the first ever horror film as well as the first vampire film, although it was made with the intention of being a comedy film; it is a silent french film with a running time of three minutes and was directed by George Melies. -
Frankenstein
This was the original film adaption of the famous novel by Mary Shelley it was made by Edison Studios with the director being J. Searle Dawley. This was the first ever US horror film and as well as 1920 Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it sparked much influence for the future of American horror. -
Nosferatu
German expressionist horror films of the era where the dominant force in horror cinema at this time with both Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The film was originally meant to be a direct adaption from Bram Stokers novel 'Dracula' but the film company couldnt gain the rights to certain details such as names and characters; vampire changed to nosferatu and Count Dracula was called Count Orlok instead. -
The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of The Opera is probably the most famous horror film of the era; its a silent american film that tells a story of a deformed phantom haunting the Paris Opera House and how it cause havoc in trying to make the woman he loves a star. The actor Lon Chaney did much to help in the success for american cinema in the next generation being the 30s. -
Dracula
after the success of Universals films in the late 20s and from the inspiration of the German expressionist films such as Nosferatu, Universal laid out successful monster flm after monster film...a few notable examples are Freaks, Dracula and the remake of the 1910 Frankenstein. Dracula unlike Nosferatu obtained the rights to Bram Stokers novel and was heavily based on the novel and play by H. Deane and J. Balderston. By now films had used sound technology to record the voice of the actor. -
M
M is another German expressionist film that showed that the artistic movement was still going strong, its directed by Fritz Lang and tells the story of a serial killer who preys on young children, other examples of the strength of German cinema include Vampyr; with the eventual Nazi rule and the war much of the film making talent were forced to emmigrate. -
King Kong
King Kong was one of the first ever films to use the modern special effects technology and was considered one of the universals most successful film of the era being reffered to as a "landmark special effects blockbuster", it has most definitely left its mark in the industry with influencing films for many generations after. -
The Werewolf of London
The Werewolf of London provoked a new fear into the public with that fear being half-human half-beast creatures of the night. this was the first ever hollywood mainstream werewolf film and wasnt first first of the era with the 1932 White Zombie being the first ever zombie film and of course King Kong being the first to use landmark special effects technology. -
The Wolf Man
With the start of the early 40s came the ending of Universals monster film success although the 1941 film The Wolf Man was very successful, it was unfortunately not joined by many others, the studio had to later venture into the comedy-horror genre and even attempt making multiple monster films such as Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man; both these not giving the studio much success the horror genre was open to others. -
Cat People
With the horror genre slowly fading RKO, MGM and many other film companies went to more serious affairs in the genre such as films like Cat People and the 1945 film The Picture of Dorian Gray which one an academy award for cinematography. Cat people is directed Val Lewton and is about a fashion designer named Irena who is cursed by a spirit of a panther and will emerge when ever emotions are heightened such as passion; when she is kissed by Dr.Judd she instantly morphs into a panther and kills. -
The Uninvited
The Uninvited was one of the first very serious psychological horror film although it was actually called a paranormal/romance by critics. the plot tells a story of a haunted house which is bought by a music composer from London and his sister, the tale unfolds that the ghost haunting the house is the mother of the local girl he has fallen in love with. -
Mahal
Mahal was Indias first step into the horror genre, the film directed by Kamal Amrohi was also the earliest film to feature reincarnation as the theme; mahal is a supernatural suspense thriller. -
The Thing (From Another World)
There were many happenmings in the media during the 50s that heavily influenced the horror genre of the era, such as the cold war provoking ther fear of invasion with films such as The Thing. The Thing is a 1951 science fiction film directed by Christian Nyby; the plot is based around the novel "Who Goes There?" by John Campbell. -
Ugetsu
In the 50s the horror genre was joined by many international competetants with films such as the famous french thriller "Diabolique", the first Italian horror in the sound era "I Vampiri" and Japans first full length horror film "Ugetsu". Ugetsu is directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and set in Azuchi–Momoyama period Japan. It is marked by critics as to be a masterpiece of Japanese cinema. -
Godzilla
Godzilla is another science fiction film form the 1950s; with science fiction being the basis of many of the successful horror films of the decade. With Nuclear power being used for such things as weapons of war like the "atom bomb", fear of nuclear radiation mutating creatures into deadly giant monsters ravaging the land. -
The Fly
The Fly was the outcome of another fear provoked by the media; the fear of scientists and their mad experiments produced by the fact that there were many breakthroughs in science during the decade. Directed by Kurt Neumann its a science fiction film telling the story of an scientist who ivents a teleportation like device with 2 chambers, he tests and tests it until he deems it safe to use for himself; when doing it a fly gets in the chamber and they mix atoms giving him fly like features in part -
Psycho
Directed by the famous Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho is often placed within the best movies of all time, the screenplay was based on a novel that was loosely influenced by the Wisconsin murders. Psycho is one of the fist slasher films and is often reffered as the base of the sub-genre and has influenced many slasher films of the following decades with the level of violence and sexuality suitable in horror. -
Blood Feast
Blood Feast was an example of the more edgy films of the era with the social revolution happening during the decade many more of "extreme violence" based films were being made. Blood Feast is considered one of the first splatter films and is renound for its amount of blood and gore, its about an insane food caterer who stalks and kills virgin girls to sacrifice to the Egyption god Ishtar in the hope of returning her to life. -
Night of the Living Dead
This film directed by George Romero changed the face of zombie films forever, it also sparked Romero's the 5 part Living Dead series of films which lasted from 1978-2010 and inspired two remakes. The plot tells a story of 7 people who are held up in an old farm house in Pennsylvania which is attacked by a large group of undead monsters refferred to as zombies. -
The Exorcist
Aswell as the the birth of the modern slasher film a new dawn for a sub-genre within the horror appeared in the 70s; this genre was psychological horror. The Exorcist changed the way these films were made and influenced many possession based horrors for decades. -
Black Christmas
The 70s were the real brith of the modern day slasher film; inspired by the previous decade whith films such as Psycho, the slasher film thrived due to social issues such as many serial killers around at the time. Black christmas for example was influenced by the Quebec killings around Christmas time. other notable slashers of the era include Halloween (1978) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). -
The Omen
The Omen is the first part of a four part suspense horror series about a prophecied anti-christ named Damien, who unknown to his adopted parents; is the son of Satan and his mother died giving birth. The Omen was later remade and directed by John Moore; the release date was 6/6/06. -
Friday The 13th
The majority of the 80s was defined by slashers; most notable being Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), My Bloody Valentine (1981) etc. Friday the 13th is an American slasher film directed by Sean Cunningham. The plot focuses on an unknown killer who is killing of a group of teens one by one, who are attempting to re-open an abandoned campsite; the film is considered one of the first true slasher films. -
The Shining
Stephen King made a good contribution to the horror genre within the 80s; with film adaptions being made Kings novels such as The Shining, Pet Sematary (1989) and Fatal Attraction (1987). Directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, The Shining is renound for its input to modern day pop culture horror and is considered one of the most influential horror films ever. -
The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs was one of many critically acclaimed horrors of the decade, winning many major Academy awards in 1992. The Film isnt a pure horror but a great blend of both the Crime and Horror genres to make an outstanding new formula to inspire many more films after its release. It was also the third film to win an Oscar in all the top 5 categories. Another great blended success was Ghost (1980) with Whoopi Goldberg winning best supporting actress. -
Scream
Scream was the film that re-ignited the slasher flame, it inspired the creation of two similar films of the decade like I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Urban Legend (1998). The story follows a group of people being stalked by a sadistic unknown caller which turns out to be a mysterious masked killer known as Ghostface. -
The Blair Witch Project
Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, Blair Witch is a unique psychological horror film made up of amatuer footage filmed by three student film makers who mysteriously disappeared and were never seen from again...there footager and film equipment however was found a year later after the studetns set off to make a documentary on the local legend that was the Blair Witch in 1994. -
Scary Movie
With a new decade comes new ideas, comedy-horror films have been made in the bucket full with films such as the Scary Movie series, Zombie Land (2009) and the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost series with the film Shaun of The Dead (2004). Scary Movie is basically a massive parody of lots of horror films, the first for example was a parody mainly based on the film Scream. A more occuring theme is with the genre mainly focusing on zombies as a comedy foudation for the newer films. -
The Ring
The new era brought in a lot of US remakes of both American classics such as Friday the 13th (2009) and Halloween (2007) but also foreign films such as The Ring and The Grudge (2003). The Ring is the remake of highly acclaimed Japanese horror Ringu (1998) which tells the tale of a cursed video-tape that kills the viewers 7 days after watching it. -
28 Days Later
Moving away from the US there have been the most highly praised films made by many outsiders such as Asia with Shutter (2004), France with High Tension (2003) and Canada with Ginger Snaps (2000). possibly one of the most successful British horror films for many years would be 28 Days Later, the film was appraised by both public and critics with many saying that the film ressurected the zombie sub-genre; a sequel was made in 2007 being 28 Weeks Later. -
Saw
withing the 21st century there have been many new innovations made by the American horror directors, one of the most notable of such is the torture porn of films like Saw and Hostel (2005); the main objective of these films is to creep you out with obscene amounts of gore. -
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Acticity written and directed by Oren Peli is a psychological horror film from the creators of the late Insidious (2010). It was originally developed as an independant film but after given screenings at Screamfest Film Festival in 2007 it was picked up by Paramount Pictures and slightly modified one big change being the ending. The Film made $108 million in the US and $194 million world wide making it the most profitable film ever made.
