History of Horror films.George Picton-Clark

The history of Horror.The Gothic Tradition - Before horror films existed, the idea of horror was presented through books and novels. A prime example of this is the novel of ‘Frankenstein’ which was written by Mary Shelley in 1818 this was based in a gothic era and was one of the first great horror novels of its time. The tale of a mad scientist who creates an inhuman creature out of recycled body parts, the monster then goes on to wreak havoc and kills people on its course. The novel has been made into several different films, the first being in 1910 which was a silent adaptation of the novel by Mary Shelley, in all it only lasted 16 minutes. Several other adaptations have taken place over the years as the genre of horror has developed and changed with popular culture.

Mary Shelley & Frankenstein - Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein who lived from

1797-1851. The novel was written in 1818 and also had an 1831

remake

- Br - - Boris Karloff as Frankenstein in the

- 1931 film adaptation of ‘Frankenstein’

this shows how the image of the

monster was presented even though

it is different to the novel’s depiction.

The first ever Horror film.The first ever Horror film on record is from 1896 and was called ‘Le Manor du Diable’ it was created by one of the earliest visionary creators ‘Georges Méliès’. It has a running time of just around 3 minutes, the reel of the film was 60 meters long. The story packs in a lot of generic conventions of a modern-day horror film, featuring: Devils, cauldrons, witches, trolls and ghosts. This still screenshot from the film

shows the devil to the left of the image with a cavalier being surrounded by spectres.The image to the left

shows Georges Méliès the creator of the film who lived from 1861-1938.

Horror begins to talk.Horror movies were revitalised in the 1930’s and started to bring in sound, changing the image of the films altogether. Instead of phantoms now floating through the screen in silence, sound effects had began to accompany the film adding a whole new thrill to the experience of horror. The film that marks the dawn of the transition from silence into sound is ‘Dracula’ which was produced in 1931. Instead of the film being completely based off of the 1897 novel by Bram Stoker, the film adaptation focused more on the stage play. For example, ‘Bela Lugosi’ who played the role of ‘Dracula’ laughs evilly throughout which added effect to the newfound idea of sound in the film industry. Mise-en-scene again, which is present in all present day films was used and again generic conventions like Wolves, castles and mist was used to set the scene. ‘Dracula’ is one of the most successful horror films which paved the way for a lot of modern day horrors.

DraculaThis image shows Bram Stoker the irish novelist who wrote the original novel of ‘Dracula’ in 1897.

This image shows a still of ‘Bela Lugosi’ playing the role of ‘Dracula’ in the 1931 film adaptation of ‘Dracula’ produced by Tod Browning.

Colour ProductionIn the 1950’s the Horror film incorporations were busy in a widespread change to bring colour to the film industry. Big movie stars were now starting to become more popular, starring in many different films. In 1957, the first colour horror film was released into theaters ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’ directed by Terence Fisher, it was loosely based again, off of the 1818 gothic novel of ‘Frankenstein’ by the author ‘Mary Shelley’ the critical reception of the film was enormous and the public flocked to see the new technology of a coloured film in theaters. People were happy enough to go to drive-in theaters to go and see a horror film not necessarily caring about the values, character development or plots.

Promotional poster of ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’ in 1957.

The 1960’sDuring the 1960’s the main movie corporations and directors had switched from the idea of thriller-horror films to chilling-horror films. Instead of popular conventions such as witches, castles, vampires and other monsters, it had now turned to more a more murderous scene. The iconic movie ‘Psycho’ directed by ‘Alfred Hitchcock’ released in 1960 revealed elements of how monstrous everyday people can be. Based on the true story of ‘Ed Gein’ the film shows elements of blood and murder a slasher and stalkerish like film, which was new to the genre of horror. ‘Psycho’ is a defining film of the 1960’s and the genre in general, paving the way for many other films such as ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ which was subsequently aswell based on a true story.

Promotional theatrical release poster for the 1960 film ‘Psycho’

Anthony Perkins as‘Norman Bates’ the main protagonist and murderer in the 1960 film ‘Psycho’

Horror actors of the 1960’s.Peter Cushing was one of the lead actors in the 1960’s starring in over 20 films, most of them being horror movies most recognisable in ‘The Brides of Dracula’

Christopher Lee was one of the defining actors of the 1960’s with a career spanning nearly 7 decades. He was most recognised for his role as Count Dracula in a series of Dracula horror movies.

The 1970’s The 1970’s horror movie scene was a reflection of society at the time, from the change in 1960’s which was predominantly dominated by a sexualised culture. The 1970’s were a bleak time with many things going wrong. However, the horror movie scene was still thriving with new ideas and it birthed arguably the scariest horror film of all time ‘The Exorcist’ released in 1973 and directed by ‘William Friedkin’. Even by today’s standards the effects within the film are deemed as excellent and the story was hyped by producers with ambulances waiting outside of cinemas for petrified viewers. ‘The Exorcist’ also helped bring a new theme to the genre of horror which was possession it is made to be one of the defining films in the genre.

Promotional posterfor ‘The Exorcist’ in 1973.

Linda Blair playing the role of the possessed child ‘Regan MacNeil in ‘The Exorcist’

The 1980’sIn the 1980’s the film industry had finally caught up with special effects and visual effects and started incorporating them into the film genre. The new special effects could now make body deformation makeup and also realistic props. One of the defining horror films of the 1980’s was ‘The Shining’ the set for the film was one of the biggest of all time and the time elapsed for shooting was just over a year. ‘The Shining’ was a horror film like the world hadn’t seen before it was based on a 1977 novel of a haunted hotel. A father of a family gets possessed by the hotel and tries murdering his family.Promotional film poster for the 1980 film ‘The Shining’

Jack Nicholson as ‘Jack Torrance’ in the 1980 film ‘The Shining’

The 1990’sArguably throughout the 1990’s the horror movie industry was predominantly ruled by thrillers and psychological thrillers, one of the most defining films of this era was ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ released in 1991, directed by Jonathan Demme. The film follows the story of a special agent who attempts to track down a notorious serial killer alongside the help of a jailed psychopath.

The film is one of many thrillers of the decade and one of the most popular.

T

The promotional poster for ‘The Silence of the Lambs released in 1991.

This image shows the actor Hannibal Lecter who plays the role of ‘Anthony Hopkins’ the cannibalistic serial killer in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’

The 2000’sThe 21st century started arguably one of the most suspenseful and iconic trilogies of all time. ‘The Final Destination’ franchise, this long running film series features features of both pure horrific gore with a psychological element showing the premonitions of death and how the story will unfold. However instead of most other horror films, there is no apparent incumbent killer, however the killer is time and a misfortunate fate. The first ‘Final Destination’ film was released in 2001 and was a box office success, going on to make another 5 films. The film series features generic conventions of gore, blood, death and disaster. The most recent film in the trilogy was ‘The Final Destination’ being released in 2009 with even more developed special and visual effects.