history of horror

Horror roots in classic literature - Frankenstein, Dracula and Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde

Frankenstein was written in 1818 by Mary Shelley who was a novelist, short story writer, and biographer whilst away with her husband and their close friend (both of which were writers too). The story was produced when they decided to have a competition who could write the best ghost/horror story. This is when Mary came up with the idea for Frankenstein. When the story was eventually put into film, there were several complaints; mostly by parents and religious people. Parents were contacting the makers of the film, complaining about the obscenities shown in the 1910 classic. A common reason that religious people complained was that they did not agree with the way that Frankenstein was given life as they argued that only god should be allowed to be seen to have the power to give life. Despite these complaints, Frankenstein is regarded as being responsible for the beginning of the Sci-fi genre.

Dracula was first produced in 1931 by Tod Browning. Along with Frankenstein, Dracula is regarded as one of the most famous films to have ever been made. The film was cut and reissued in 1936 with some censoring as the production code was being heavily enforced. There is also a missing epilogue from the end of the film which was removed which has never been found. It is assumed to be lost by most.

The strange case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde was first written in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson. The idea of the story came to him in a dream one day and when he was woken by his wife, he referred to his dream as a "fine bogey tale".



Horror of the silent era

Many 19th century audiences enjoyed seeing 'ghosts' captured in stills and going to 'magic lantern shows' so it is completely predictable that as technology evolved, the paranormal theme would progress with it too. Although the first films were usually action or comedy, soon film makers started to experiment with effects that could be done to create illusions to produce supernatural films.

The first horror film on record was made in 1896 and was called "Le manoir du diable" or "the devil's manor" and although the film was only just over three minutes long, it managed to fit in what we know now as genre stereotypes. These include bats, cauldrons, ghosts, trolls etc.

German expressionism refers to many creative movements originating in Germany before world war 2. It was most popular in Berlin in the 1920's. The developments made were part of a larger expressionist movement of European culture. This includes aspects such as architecture, painting and cinema. The film titled "The cabinet of Dr caligari" is a prime example of this movement.



Monsters and mad scientists - 1930's and Universal Studios horror

During the 1930's, horror was reborn with the main characters typically as either monsters or mad scientists. The development of sound became a large part of these films to build up suspense and to signify change in atmosphere. This became a huge part of the horror genre.

The horrors of this time period still often used the 19th century literary classics such as Frankenstein, Dracula, King Kong and The mummy. Universal studios became very well known for their production of these films. The films are still so recognised to this day that people of all ages will still be familiar with the characters involved.

From the 1920's to the 1930's, the popularity of horror films exploded as 80 million people (around 65% of the USA) attended the cinema weekly to escape the depression of post war life and the ominous war ahead of them. In 1933; the year Hitler came to power, the mad scientist side of the genre came to its peak for its likeness to Gemany's fruher.



The primal animal within; werewolves and cat people (1940)

Wolves were seen as a threat in the early 1940s. Hitler himself strongly identified with the iconography and legends of a wold. The name "Adolf" means "noble wolf" in old German. He became quite obsessive with wolves and had many Nazi party headquarters named after them. He also would often refer to the SS as "my pack of wolves". Because of all of this, Universal decided to use the wolf as a large figure of menace for the late 1930s and early 1940s.

"The wolfmann (1941)" was a largely popular film written by Curt Siodmak; a German who fled the Nazis in 1937. Within the film, the characters flee america to return to their home in wales. This could be a link to Siodmak's flee from the Nazi army.

Prior to WW2, woman were almost always housewives who would stay at home and never have a job. As WW2 began, so many men were enlisted into the army to fight the war that woman would take the jobs of those men however when the war ended, the remaining men returned home meaning the woman would have to revert back to their old roles. This enraged lots of woman as they enjoyed doing the work and wanted to continue. "Cat people (1942)" was made with the female characters being dangerous and powerful - something not yet produced. This became a popular film because it stood out.



Mutant creatures and alien invaders - 1950s - horror breaks free of it's literary roots.

With the end of WW2 leaving 40 million people dead, the public became more aware of the inhuman and cruel acts of mankind. Because people were already living with the fear of war, film producers attempted to steer away from war and so concentrated more on mutant creatures and aliens. There aid of new and improved technological advancements helped this.

The "space race" was a 'competition' between the USA and the Soviet Union. Because of the Cold war, they felt it was essential to explore space for the safety and security of their country. Because of this exploration of space, people began to believe the likelihood of having contact with extra-terrestrial beings was hugely increased.

In the film "Invasion of the body snatches (1956)" the aliens are presented as human beings. The film asks the question "what is it to be human?" The answer to this, is that it is only something humans themselves can recognise, and cannot be replicated by aliens.

"the blob (1958)" is an American sci-fi film where the blob is a 'monster' that constantly grows bigger and terrorises the people of pennsylvania. The blob is red which connotes communism as the time.



Ghosts, zombies, satanism and your family (1960s-1970s)

Technological advancements led to ghost/paranormal films being more widely produced at a better quality and new methods of editing and recording were discovered. Films such as "the haunting" and "the innocents" are prime example of early ghost films that were popular at the time of release. Zombie films also became more popular at this time due to the advancements made in special effects such as making gorey scenes more life-like or realistic. One of the most renowned zombie films from 1968 and the years to follow was "night of the living dead". This film made ground and shocked it's audience into success as it dealt with taboo subjects and personal relations which until this time had not be touched on by American culture. Although many people view zombie's as dead, some films such as "Devil doll men(1961)" perceived the zombies as humans who were merely in a trance-like state and being controlled by a "master". This theme is often used in modern films which include possession of human beings.

Although zombie films were being produced prior to the 1960s, the decade began to put zombies into a more sinister air by making them cannibals. Films such as "I eat your skin(1961)" and "The plague of the zombies(1965)" show how the outlook on zombies had been manipulated into something more gruesome than ever before.

Satanism also became a more vital part of the horror film industry in the 1960s; this too is partially because of technological advancements made it more possible to get the desired effect. "The city of the dead(1960)" was a satanic film that concentrated mostly on witchcraft. A young student is sent to a fictional town in Massachusetts to do research on a infamous witch when she discovers every year a virgin is sacrificed and that this year, was her year.



Hammer Horror - a British success

Hammer horror productions is a British film production company founded in 1934. Although the company was always popular, it peaked a huge amount as it had it's break-though; so large in fact it began to have it's own sub-genre of horror named after it. Despite this huge peak, during the late 60's it began to die down but the company is still running to this day (October 2013). One of it's biggest recent releases was "The woman in black(2012)". However successful this film proved to be, it is still not anywhere the popularity the company had in its peak.

The company reinvigorated Bram Stocker's Dracula novel written in 1897 by producing 9Dracula films. These films in chronological order are: Brides of Dracula (1960), Dracula, prince of darkness (1966), Dracukla has risen from the grave (1968), Count Dracula (1970), Taste the blood of Dracula (1970), One more time (1970), scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D (1972), the satanic rites of Dracula (1973). Actor Christopher Lee eventually played a total of 7 out of the 9 Dracula films as Dracula himself.


Slasher films and body horror (1980s)

The gore-filled slasher films being produced in the 1980s were highly reliant on special effects so the blood and wounds/injuries looked more realistic and therefore frightening to the audiences. The discovery and progress made into liquid and form latex made it possible to distort the image of the human face making close-ups a more viable shot in the films produced. Special effects also made is possible to create alien-like beings with slimy companions and out-of-this-world characters and also mutilating the human body. This played an important part of the horror genre in this time period as the western nations became "obsessed" with what was "on the inside" of the human body.

Slasher films and Splatter films were often similar however slasher films tended to have a set of conventions including a psychopathic killer wielding a sharp weapon or object. A prime example of this would be "Halloween (1978)" where the antagonist is a clearly mentally disturbed man wielding a knife attempting to kill a group of friends.



Video nasties in the 1980s

video nasties was a list of (in the end) 72 horror films that once censorship become stricter, were banned in the UK. They were heavily blamed for "changing the face of Britain" after several allegations were made against some of the films claiming to have changed peoples lives.

"Video nasties" were directly to VHS - a technological break-through allowing the public to watch films in the comfort of their own homes with almost no censorship at all to begin with. Once a law was passed against the film and the "video nasties" list was formed, it made people want to watch the forbidden films even more purely to see 'what all the fuss was about'. This meant that even post-banned, the films were so widely available from video stores but were sold 'under the counter'.



Gore-nography/ torture porn

'gore-nography' or 'torture-porn' was simply just films that did not really have a strong storyline but instead concentrated on special effects to show mass amounts of human body-mutilation. Films of this nature still exist today and frequently get released completely legally. A popular series of films that are hugely popular in western society are the "Saw" films. These films include grotesque scenes of violence for the vast majority of the film.