Aims over the next two

lessons:
• To be able to understand how horror
films emerged and progressed in
history.
• To compare and contrast historical
horror films to those of modern
society
• To understand the “draw” horror has
for audiences throughout history.
Horror Films

A Quick History!!!
 The Horror -
What is it?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDc2aIunnr0

• The word “Horror” is described as an intense and

painful feeling of fear, shock or disgust.

• Horror films are designed to panic, cause dread,

alarm and to invoke our worst fears, often in a
shocking finale while captivating and entertaining
us in a cathartic experience.
 Horror Films -
Why do we watch them?

• If horror films scare audiences so

much, why do they watch them? List
your reasons.....

• What type of audience would

generally watch horror films?
 Why Watch them?
• They deal with our fears and anxieties
• They transport the audience into a world of fantasy and
imagination
• They deal with the unknown and unexplained
• They allow the audience to “see” things we would not see in
everyday life.
• They make you confront aspects of your own life that are
difficult to face.
• It allows you to face fear without being in danger yourself.
• Uses the visual medium effectively
 Horror Film
The common elements
• What do you think the common elements of a horror film are?
• Write your ideas down:

• Mad Scientist obsessed by an idea

• Creature created by an accident
• Crippled assistant
• Threatened inncocents

• Generally pre 1960 film is dominated by science

• Post 1960 film shows the rise of psychosis.
 The Start of the Horror Film:

• The first depictions of supernatural events

appeared in 1896 in Georges Meliers silent short
film “Le Manoir du diable” ("The House of the
Devil"). This contained some elements of later
vampire films.

• Early horror films were dark surreal pieces, very

Gothic in style, normally set in old mansions or
castles.
 The cabinet of Dr Caligari
1919
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrg73BUxJLI

• An eerie exploration of the mind of a mad man.

• The audience are never clear on who is mad and
who is sane.

• TASK: What mise-en-scene similarities does it

have with the horror films we watch today?
 Nosferatu 1922
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i531ae6yPuU
• (from 18 minutes)

• Orlok stares from his window at the sleeping Ellen. She opens her
window to invite him in, but faints. When Hutter revives her, she
sends him to fetch Professor Bulwer. After he leaves, Orlok comes
in. He becomes so engrossed drinking her blood, he forgets about
the coming day. A rooster crows and Orlok vanishes in a bit of
smoke as he tries to flee.

• This was the first vampire film that copies the Dracula story.
They still drew on novels from the 1900’s for their inspiration.
 1930’s Horror
• Horror films were re-born in the 1930’s. Diegetic sound was
added and had a huge impact on the genre.
• The ghostly dreamlike images of the 1920’s were replaced by
monsters that grunted and growled.
• The 1930’s horrors are like fairytales set in a far off land
with actors in period costume speaking in odd accents.
• Audiences flocked to the cinema to be scared by the
monsters and to be removed from everyday realities of the
approaching war.
• It was a classic period with naturalistic (realistic) and
expressionistic (exaggerated) films made. German film
makers worked in Hollywood and this aided the horror film
industry.
 The Bride of Frankenstein
1935
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSLmgaioYpo
• (from 4 minutes)

• A stylish and witty film with many moments of camp humour.

• Images are dramatically framed, and the monster speaks
for the first time!
• Use of shadows, staged settings.

• TASK: Analyse the use of sound in this piece - how does

it affect the mise-en-scene?
 Horror in the 1940’s
• Mainly made in Hollywood. Banned in Britain as the
country thought they were unwanted propaganda.

• Wolves were used in films - Hitler was linked to

iconography and legends of the wolf. Adolf means
“noble wolf” in old German.
 The Wolfman 1941
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTNQEd8D4p

• A variety of various wolf legends with some

added extras!
• For it’s time it had spectacular make up and
special effects.
 1950’s Horror
• Majority about science and technology
• Relegated to the B movie - studios were too busy
trying to introduce technicolour.
• Main audiences were teenagers who went to the
drive in to watch them. They did not care about
character, development, plot or production values.
• All about thrills, thrills, thrills and monsters!
• Mutants were introduced to the viewer - radiation
that could shrink or enlarge existing life forms.
 Attack of the 50 foot woman
1958
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2cLmbCyzhE

• About science and monsters.