The History of Horror

The History of Horror

 

Where did it originate from?

The horror Genera has evolved over time starting with ghosts tale told from the beginning of time. These then developed in to novels such as Frankenstein but finally came to life in the late 18^th century in France through the technological advance of the Phantasmagoria. This was a form of theatre where adjusted magic lanterns projected visions of skeletons and demons on to sheets and smoke screens and with the magic lanterns free to move around the images would magnify and move on the screens. It did make its way across Europe by the early 19^th century.

How it developed and evolved:

However in 1896 the French director and producer Georges Melies created the first horror movie ‘The Devils Castle’, it was a silent movie and only 2 minutes long. This shows how basic the technology was in the 19^th century. Furthermore the story lines were very basic with Monsters being defeated by house hold items (Vampires vs. Garlic) and there were only good or bad characters, unlike the ones we have today who seem to walk the grey line.

In the 1910’s films seemed to develop their story lines by basing them on Horror movies which became classics and were remade on various occasions. Films like, ‘Frankenstein’ only 16 minutes long, ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ 12 minutes.

Yet during the 1920’s these films finally began to reflect and relate to the worries of the time and of the audience members themselves. For example in 1925 ‘The Monster’ which was 64 minutes long, was released; it was about a doctor in a mental asylum who was kidnapping patients. During the 20’s many people knew someone in a mental asylum and this would have played on some very real fears. 

In the 1930’s Sound was introduced to the horror genera, ‘Dracula was the First Horror movie to use sound. The films plot was based on the stage play and had a more gothic nature. ‘Dracula’ set the trend when it came to sound and horror, introducing heavy breathing, footsteps, high pitch screams and of course the tense music. In 1932 colour was also quickly added in the horror movie Dr X

As the quality of film developed so did the story lines. For example in the 1940’s horror movies were based on psychological horror. The film ‘Cat people’ is a perfect example, the heroin is terrifies of consummating her marriage because she believes she will turn in to a cat. Not only did the storylines develop but so did the Themes. In 1943 the film ‘Walking with a Zombie’ incorporated horror, drama, thriller and Romance.

During the 1950’s we enter the domain of creatures and sci-fi. ‘The Creature of the Black Lagoon’ released in 1954 was about a mutant creature that kills a crew of scientist but falls in love with one of the female ones.

In the 1960’s Horror movies became more sexually aware with films like Rosemary’s baby based on how she is impregnated with Satan after her husband joins a cult.

In The 70’s Horror movies looked at the issue of broken families and the horrific potential of children, in such movies as ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Halloween’.

During the 80’s film had developed yet again further, this time in the way of special effects. The evidence of this is in the films, ‘The shinning’ and ‘Gremlins’.

In comparison the 90’s focused on the theme of serial Killers in films like Se7en and the silence of the lambs.

As we come up to the millennium anything goes we see the horror genera encroach on comedy, romance, thrillers and everything else, anything goes.

The Cutting edge example of The Horror Genera:

The most cutting edge horror movie of our time at the moment for me would be ‘The Women in Black’ it was brilliantly remade in 2010 staring Daniel Radcliff. I think that the success of this movie comes down to the director James Watkins adoption of the Psychological horror of the children actually killing themselves and the 80’s special effects that allowed the woman in Black to suddenly appear.