History Of Horror

The first horror movies made were inspired originally by the First World War, a terrible era causing many lives lost and therefore could be argued to inspire artists and producers, leading to ‘German Expressionism’, and seemingly silent horror films. This was a creative movement, beginning in Germany, which allowed citizens to express themselves through the means of art, architecture and film. It occurred due to the widespread of human activity and discordant relationship with the rest of the world. The pieces of ‘art’ which were created included extreme angles within scenery, and distorted figures and sets to show that not all is right.

 The horror that we see today however, was not always a representative of the horror that appeared within the 1920’s. It is clear that technology has dramatically increased over this period of time, therefore certain pieces of equipment, such as cameras, made it difficult for dark lighting to be filmed within the 1920’s. This lead to light horror films, such as ‘Nosferatu’, being created. This film used bright lighting throughout, and with such a variety of horror films and subgenres, it would be difficult to scare the audience todays without components such as dark lighting, heavy sound effects and technical visual effects; all of which were not available in the 1920’s.

Past the 1920’s, horror was greatly influenced by gothic horror and literature, including Frankenstein, Dr Jekyl and My Hyde and of course, Dracula. These classic novels gave producers the material to develop these gothic outlines into in depth films. In 1931, Frankenstein was made into a black and white film, directed by James Whale. This story line then gave further directors the idea to develop this into sequels, such as Frankenstein’s Bride and Young Frankenstein.  This is a perfect example of the influence of monsters and mad scientists within the 1930’s. It is obvious that films made in the 1920’s were very simplistic; therefore within the 1930’s producers enabled sound effects to create more atmosphere and tension. This ranged from music to simple howling and footsteps, all of which were able to captivate the audience’s attention more than that of the 1920’s. It was said that the use of sounds added another dimension to horror, so the audience have more elements being presented at once, and the fear subconsciously builds.

The 1940’s adopted a new vibe of horror; steering away from mad scientists, and onto the path of the primal animal within. The film industry was mainly controlled by Universal studios, a seemingly American based company.  Companies like these attempted to steer away from European ideas around horror, though this was exceedingly difficult since in the First World War, many German producers, such as Fritz Lang, evacuated German, to American, bringing with them their abstract ideas following the war. As I previously stated, the 1930’s adapted a theme of mad scientists, though European producers decided to opt for a new theme; the animal within. This lead to the creation of films such as The Wolf Man. Though it was many years from the First World War, inspiration was still driven from Hitler himself, since Adolf was seen to mean ‘wolf’ which incidentally inspired this Era. Although this is the case, the 1940’s also lead to the creation of ‘mash ups’ of films, including ‘Frankenstein meets Wolf Man’, which is seemingly a collaboration of both of these eras.

From the 1920’s to the 1940’s, man of the films had followed many literary roots of famous novels, though in the 1950’s, there was an introduction to science fiction, mutant creatures and alien invaders. Although it was apparent that the stories were getting more advanced, budgets of the film were still kept fairly low, due to the times of ‘drive-by’ cinemas. The Day the Earth Stood Still was one of the first films with the evidence of alien invasion, which stunned the audience, proving that the 1950’s took on a completely new vibe to horror cinema. Following this was War of the worlds, which took a bigger leap, and was the first colour film introducing the same ideas following alien invasion. As previously stated, the 50’s also introduced mutant created, most commonly associated with the film ‘The Blob’. Literally, the film follows the journey of a giant blob which swallowed up anyone that got in its path, though, following the on goings of the time, the films main villain, took on the role of communism, swallowing up society.

The 1960’s and 70’s adopted Hammer horror movies.  Movies such as The Devil Rides out and Maniac, both Hammer productions, really adopted the themes and creations of the 60’s, Satanism and the fear of your own family. These films were used in order to create fear within each neighbourhood. The uses of religious beliefs were able to affect a wide audience, which made them extremely successful. It was argued that The Devil Rides out was one of the most successful films ever, due to its religious emphasis on Satanism, which struck a chord with a popular fear at the time.  Although Hammer films were exceedingly popular, the 1960’s also made away for possibly one of the most influential horrors of all time; Alfred Hitchcock’s, Psycho. This film has changed the way in which horror films are made today, and was seemingly a box office smash.  This triggered the creation of slasher movies within the 1980’s.

 The 1980’s could be described as the year of the slasher. Texas chainsaw massacre, created in 1974, was seen as the godfather of the slasher films, since it inspired many producers to follow this path. Though, this is controversial since when it was first released, the film itself got banned within the UK, until 1999, due to its shocking images and intense detail of the deaths of innocent people. This year enabled the creation of another inspiring slasher horror, and the making of one of the most well-known villains of all time; Michael Myers in the film Halloween. This once again uses the idea of innocent people being able to commit sickening crimes, which allows the audience to fear everyone around them, resulting in the film being a huge success.

In 1982 the word ‘video nasty’ was coined, describing a heavily violent film, which was often criticized for its content by the press and high, authoritative figures.  It was thought that many horror films could fall into the hands of small children, and therefore cause unwanted distress amongst them, therefore the labelling of these video nasties, enabled the creation of the Video Recordings Act 1984, which had stricter limitation on these films, and the censorship that they had to undergo. The making of these ‘disturbing’ films were said to increase violence within youth’s, and were often blamed for their unacceptable actions. Although these may be seen as excuses, parents and authorities had to look into these films, and therefore caused several to be banned completely, and many others to be seriously cut down. An example of a film which particularly shocked the nation was ‘Clockwork Orange’. The name itself is particularly harmless, though the plot itself entails stories of rape, ultra-violence and a hint of Beethoven. The film made many people frown upon horror and was blamed for many acts of rape and violence within the 1980’s. This film could most definitely be described as a video nasty, along with Cannibal Holocaust and I Spit on Your Grave. Along with video nasties the 1990’s also introduced parodies. Since the horror genre is so well established, producers were able to ‘make fun’ of the typical conventions that are seen in a horror film, since in many cases, they are extremely predictable. One of the first parodies made was ‘Repossessed’ a comedy horror of the classic The Exorcist, made in 1973.

Nowadays, it is clear that the audience base of the 21^st century would take a lot more than a film like Nosferatu to be scared, which lead producers to ask, what can we do next? The answer to this is seen in films such as Saw, Hostel and Vacancy; ‘torture porn’ or ‘gore-nography’. These newly coined terms express the use of gruesome deaths and in some instances nudity, often in behalf of the female character, in order to express her weakness and incapability to look after her. After having such a diverse range of horror films already, producers have ventured towards the use of torture in order to attract its audience, and in a way this is successful, though, others feel the use of ‘creative’ deaths is simply there to cover up a boring, already seen plot, which no one wants to see again.