History of Horror

German Expressionism German Expressionism refers to a number of creative movements that started in Germany before the start of the First World War, it reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s, these developments in Germany were part of a wider expressionist movement in northern and central parts of European culture in fields such as architecture, painting and cinema. One of the most famous German Expressionist films and arguably one of the first ever horror films is Nosferatu, essentially it is the story of Dracula as the Director (F.W. Murnau) could not secure the rights to make a film adaptation of Bram Stockers Dracula. Nosferatu is considered the first ever vampire film and one of the first ever horror films, even in an early horror film such as this we can still see many of the codes and conventions modern day horror films use to this very day. Early horror films such as Nosferatu created a lot of the codes and conventions that have been used throughout the history of the horror genre, these early films established these conventions and later on audiences became familiarised with them and associated them to the horror genre. 1930s In the 1930s the horror genre began to use Monsters and Mad Scientists, it also earned one of the first classifications in cinema, the H classification which stood for Horror. Films within this era included things like Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Mummy. The H classification was created in 1932 in response to films like the ones named above, many people had fears and worries about these sort of films, they thought that these films would have a negative effect on adolescents and society in general. However in the years after this H classification was created the production of horror films didnt cease, in fact the number of horror films produced increased as they became ever more popular with the general public and the horror genre became very well established with audiences. 1940s The 1940s saw the arrival of Werewolves and Cat people within the horror genre in such films as The Wolf Man, Cat People and She-Wolf of London. 1950s Mutants and Aliens were used in the 1950s horror genre as films played on the fears of the general public, communism was on the rise and this was illustrated within the horror genre. These sort of films included productions like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Them! and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

1960s The 1960s was all about ghosts, zombies, Satanism and your own family and friends turning against you, the horror genre had a new evil and it was us, it was all about how evil exists within our own society. Some of the films that illustrated this point very well at the time were productions like Psycho, Village of the Damned and The Tell-Tale Heart. 1970s By the 1970s the British film industry was dealing with financial hardship and there was a decline in British cinema as it was losing a lot of its funding from the industry. However not all was lost, as one the leading British production companies continued to have success at the box office, Hammer Film Productions found a lot of success with productions such as The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Omen. 1970s - 1980s The 1970s and 1980s saw the birth of the slasher films, these included Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and Halloween. This was also part of a new era for the horror genre as these new gorier blood bathed films earned the title video nasties, they were brought about after the decline in cinema and were made on a low budget. During these times the horror genre began to develop sequels of its more successful productions, sequels such as Halloween 2, The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the Friday the 13th franchise. These video nasties were not well received by everyone though, as it caused a state of moral panic as people began arguing the point that these sort of productions would have a negative effect on the younger generation and society in general. During this era of horror a lot of productions were either banned or released but with various and extensive cuts from some of the more explicit scenes. Campaigners such as Mary Whitehouse and various religious organisations caused uproar and saw the BBFC ban many titles, notable productions that were banned at this time were things like The Trip, The Last House of the Left, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and many more. 2000s In the 2000s the media labelled the more grotesque and obscene horror films as torture porn. These movies referred to as torture porn are productions like Saw and Final Destination, were the only enjoyment the audience receives is seeing the elaborate and sadistic ways the film companies find to kill off characters. Despite all of these setbacks like the video nasties era and the recent labelling of such films as torture porn the horror genre seems to be thriving and more popular than ever. Throughout the history of the horror genre there has always been set codes and conventions that are followed throughout all these films, whether it be from the 1930s German Expressionist productions or the 1950s communist fear mongering films or even all the way up to the slasher and video nasties era of the 1970s and 1980s, there has always been similarities. The horror genre has become well established and noticeable by all audiences regardless of age, gender or location, everyone knows the classical horror genre conventions and they have become instantly recognisable throughout the film industry.