Brief History of Horror

A History of the Horror Genre...

The Very First Horror Film

Though the term 'horror' wasn't used to describe scary filmography until the 1930s, films that was used in attempt to scare the audience were dubbed 'Spook Tales'. The most notable example being the Lumiere brother's Le Squellete Joyeux (The Happy Skeleton); a short, lighthearted piece made in 1895 that depicted a skeleton dancing alongside humorous music.




1920s - 1930s
This era was the first time in history that saw the horror genre being developed and widely distributed for commercial success. Many early horror films were adaptations of novels, such as Bram Stroker's Dracula. However, the most memorable film of this period was F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) that saw a big leap from the cliché use of ghosts, skeletons and cauldrons in cinema to a more realistic approach intended to frighten the audience.

1940s

This decade saw a steep decline in interest not only in horror, but in cinema altogether. With World War II playing such an important role in everybody's lives, the 1940s unfortunately was a time in which families sought out to not further distress themselves by ghoulish tales as the real world was scary enough. This time is often overlooked when discussing the horror genre, however a few notable movies include Wolf Man, House of Dracula and House of Frankenstein. It is also worthy to note how horror films briefly adapted to become much more jovial to appeal to audience's during these times, with many films relying on a love interest to promote ideas of peace and tranquility during this seemingly hopeless era.

1950s

The end of the war allowed people to return to luxuries that were unavailable to them during the past decade, which included going to the cinema. With evolving technology came new innovating ways in which monsters could be portrayed in film. This brought upon animalistic looking creatures to film as audiences began to grow tired of the humanoid villain and started to catch on to the fact that it was simply just an actor in a costume, which ultimately lead to viewer's not being as frightened anymore. New technology allowed filmmaker's to begin creating mutant-esque antagonists of astonishing proportions that were capable of destroying buildings and cities in attempt to excite audiences once again and give a whole new meaning to a horror movie. Notable movies include; Godzilla (1954), The Blob (1958) and The Fly (1958). This decade also homed to many new innovations in science, which inspired producers to create films that toyed with the idea of mixing man and machine, or animal.