Horror through the decades...
Before the 1930s horror was not called horror it was described as gothic or melodramatic.
1889-1900s: The first aspects of a supernatural genre appear in the silent shorts created by the French filmmaker Georges Méliès in the late 1890s. One of his horror projects was La Caverne maudite, which is translated into The Cave of the Demons. Japan were making ghost story films during this time too. In 1908, Selig Polyscope Company produced Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
1910s-1920s: The first filmed adaption of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was made during this period. The first vampire-themed movie was also made here too, it's known as Nosferatu. The macabre nature used in these films is what makes them synonymous with the horror genre. Many of these early films were considered dark melodramas because of their emotion-heavy plots that focused on romance, violence, suspense, and sentimentality.
1930s-1940s: This period produced the Hollywood horror classics, Dracula and James Whale's Frankenstein, which were both distributed by Universal Pictures. B movies became more popular within the genre with the development of Val Lewton's The Body Snatcher and I Walked with a Zombie. Furthermore, in terms of context and what was happening in reality at the time, filmmakers began to merge themes such as war and the past atomic age with the horror genre. This sense of realism is what truly frightens people.
1950s: This decade oversaw the height of Hammer Film Productions, a company dedicated to Gothic horror. However, with advances in technology, films were able to shift from gothic to more contemporary concerns - thus, the doomsday film genre began to emerge.
1960s: The horror genre changed because of the release of Hitchcock's Psycho, as it cemented the 'slasher' subgenre. Hitchcock also introduced natural horror with his The Birds. Another film, Rosemary's Baby, was released this decade, and is considered to be quintessential to the psychological horror genre. The influential film Night of the Living Dead became the template for all future zombie movies, and began to combine subgenres like gore and psychological.
1970s-1980s: Prolific time for horror - it was the era of the 'slasher.' Not only that, 'evil children,' occult and reincarnation became popular subjects. Works of the horror author Stephen King began to be adapted for the screen, beginning with Carrie, and then the ultimate classic The Shining. During these two decades, psychological and supernatural horror started to take over cinema - murder and violence were no longer the main themes as they had their time in the limelight. As the world began to get more corrupt with The Cold War, for example, people began to realise that what happens in reality is the most frightening. Other famous films that were made during this era include Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
1990s-modern day: Low turnout of production of horror in the 1990s and 2000s, again people's ideas of horror are changing - films based in truth or within a realistic setting become popular e.g. Paranormal Activity.
1889-1900s: The first aspects of a supernatural genre appear in the silent shorts created by the French filmmaker Georges Méliès in the late 1890s. One of his horror projects was La Caverne maudite, which is translated into The Cave of the Demons. Japan were making ghost story films during this time too. In 1908, Selig Polyscope Company produced Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
1910s-1920s: The first filmed adaption of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was made during this period. The first vampire-themed movie was also made here too, it's known as Nosferatu. The macabre nature used in these films is what makes them synonymous with the horror genre. Many of these early films were considered dark melodramas because of their emotion-heavy plots that focused on romance, violence, suspense, and sentimentality.
1930s-1940s: This period produced the Hollywood horror classics, Dracula and James Whale's Frankenstein, which were both distributed by Universal Pictures. B movies became more popular within the genre with the development of Val Lewton's The Body Snatcher and I Walked with a Zombie. Furthermore, in terms of context and what was happening in reality at the time, filmmakers began to merge themes such as war and the past atomic age with the horror genre. This sense of realism is what truly frightens people.
1950s: This decade oversaw the height of Hammer Film Productions, a company dedicated to Gothic horror. However, with advances in technology, films were able to shift from gothic to more contemporary concerns - thus, the doomsday film genre began to emerge.
1960s: The horror genre changed because of the release of Hitchcock's Psycho, as it cemented the 'slasher' subgenre. Hitchcock also introduced natural horror with his The Birds. Another film, Rosemary's Baby, was released this decade, and is considered to be quintessential to the psychological horror genre. The influential film Night of the Living Dead became the template for all future zombie movies, and began to combine subgenres like gore and psychological.
1970s-1980s: Prolific time for horror - it was the era of the 'slasher.' Not only that, 'evil children,' occult and reincarnation became popular subjects. Works of the horror author Stephen King began to be adapted for the screen, beginning with Carrie, and then the ultimate classic The Shining. During these two decades, psychological and supernatural horror started to take over cinema - murder and violence were no longer the main themes as they had their time in the limelight. As the world began to get more corrupt with The Cold War, for example, people began to realise that what happens in reality is the most frightening. Other famous films that were made during this era include Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
1990s-modern day: Low turnout of production of horror in the 1990s and 2000s, again people's ideas of horror are changing - films based in truth or within a realistic setting become popular e.g. Paranormal Activity.
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