Horror Movie History

1896

It was this Year that what is regarded as the first Horror Movie was released. 'Le Manoir du diable', Also known as 'The Haunted Castle' in America, and 'The Devil's Castle' in Britain. It was directed by George Melies, also known for 'Le Voyage dans la lune', also known as 'A Trip to the Moon', which is known for the iconic shot of the moon.. Its purpose however, was not to invigorate fear into the views, rather a sense of wonder. It's length of over 3 minutes may not seem impressive today, however it was innovative of the era. It is also the first film with supernatural elements released.

1898

Two other early forays in the Horror Genre are made, coming from Japan. 'Bake Jizo', and 'Shinin no Sosei'

Films from around this time were based on the works of Poe and Dante

1910

One of the first Horror movies based on a franchise we would know was 'Frankenstein', made by Thomas Edison's company, 'Edison Studios'. This film was not groundbreaking in any other ways. The Frankenstein does not look like any other Frankensteins, as Boris Karloff had not played the role at this point. This is what the Frankenstein looked like

1920's

This was the era of the German Expressionists, who made arguably the most iconic movies. Movies like The Golem, and 'The Man who Laughs' came out around this time, although the most iconic was 'The Cabinet of Doctor Calagri. However, one of the most famous ones was Nosferatu, and this was the first work based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. This film is seen as highly revolutionary, as this was the first work based off Dracula, now a Staple of the Horror Movie Genre.

1930's

When most people think of early horror movies, they think of movies from the 30's. These were incredibly popular, and still are incredibly famous. These were still early in talkies, and Universal wanted to make movies. These were all based on Gothic Horror, and the first one of these was 'Dracula', made in 1931, and this made Bela Lugosi incredibly famous, if not then, then definitely now. Also, Frankenstein was made not too long after. This made Boris Karlov famous. Frankenstein was one of the first remakes that lasted for years. Universal was followed by many other studios. MGM made an incredibly controversial movie, 'Freaks', featuring real circus workers, with actual disabilities. All of this made the studio disown the film when it was completed, and this film was banned in the UK for 30 years, until the 60's. These trends existed also in the 40's

1950's

The basing for movies changed from Gothic settings to contemporary settings. The Doomsday film and the Demonic film came to fruition. Godzilla is a notable example from this time period, being based on the Atomic Bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many low budget movies from this time period also feature Alien invasion and mutations, very Sci-Fi elements common to the Era. Many gimmiks were introduced, such as 3D in 'House of Wax', and Seat buzzers in 'The Tingler.' Great Britain also Emerged as a great producer of Horror films, with the Hammer company being a primary example. These films were primarily remakes of Frankenstein and Dracula.

1960s

The 60's saw a bit of a renassance in Horror movies. Peeping Tom was the first slasher, a film Alfred Hitchcock cemented with the classic 'Psycho.' Alfred Hitchcock was one of the most famous horror movies. Movies of this Era also use horror of the demonic very commonly. In Japanese horror of the time, ghosts were a common feature. A very influential film of this time was 'Night of the living dead, the first successful zombie movie.

1970's

After the success the previous decade of 'Rosemary's Baby', a lot of the films of this decade focused on the occult, such as 'The Exorcist,' which was a massive success, and a lot of copycat movies followed, with supernatural evil being forefront. Evil Children also became a popular subject, along with reincarnation, such as the Omen, which surrounds the son of the main characters being the anti-Christ. Hell was a very popular subject around the first half. The latter half focused on relating subjects to the 60's, such as 'The Hill have Eyes' recalling the vietnam war, 'Dawn of the dead' making fun of the consumers, body horror being reinvigorated in 'Shivers'. Comedy horror was reintroduced with 'Rocky Horror Picture Show', among others. Stephen King adaptations also began to be released, with 'Carrie' being released this decade, and 'The Shining' following 4 years later in 1980. Jaws was also released, in 1975, causing a massive spark of copycat movies

1980s

A little bit of a return of slashers came during around this time. It started in the late 70's, with John Carpenter's 'Halloween' being one of the first of the return of the slasher, released in 1978. Other movies which follow this trend include the two classics, 'Friday the 13th' directed by Sean Cunningham, and 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' Directed by the late, great, Wes Craven. Later in the decade, all the way in 1987, Hellraiser was released, by Clive Barker. This massive Boom of Slasher films caused a bunch of parody movies, such as 'National Lampoon's Class Reunion, released in 1982. John Carpenter, known for his Halloween series of movies, released 'The Thing' in 1982. It was not successful in it's time, however it was ahead of it's time, and is praised for it's special effects, being ahead of it's time. A return of popular B movies were released, not exactly praised critically, but they have their Cult Following.

1990s

Friday the 13th, Elm Street, and Child's Play all saw sequels in the 90's. Their fans and critic weren't responded very critically. A lot of the movies in the 90s, at least Horror movies, met with extreme critical response, with the exception of  'Wes Craven's New nightmare'(The first in a trend of metaphysical horror movies based on the relationship between the movie and the viewer's mind) Horror, however, was pushed seriously backwards with 2 problems. The over saturation of gore and slasher movies from the 80's wore the horror movie out. Also, the old audience for these movies grew up, and the new audience for this type of movies, were being caught by other movies due to the revolution of CGI, causing awful movies based of sci-fi, such as 'Anaconda', and 'Sleepy-Hollow'. Horror then had to make fun of itself, with 'Braindead' by Peter Jackson using Splatter effects to a comic level. Wes Craven came back with 'Scream', which used Self Aware teens as its heroes, and more ironic humour. These reignited the slasher movie genre once again.

 2000s

This was a fairly quiet period for horror movies, aside from teen movies, like Final Destination, and Jeepers Creepers. However, slightly later on in the decade, in 2003, Wrong Turn was released, one of a series of movies that brought the average rating of horror films back to R. Foreign Movies were released which were very popular in the early 2000's. After the release of 'The Blair Witch Project' in 1999, a mantra of psychological horror was that 'Less is more'. Remakes were also very common

2010s

Remakes remain popular. As do Television adaptation. However, it is hard to say what he 2010's is like, as we are only about halfway through it, so we can't say much.