1920s-2000s

Nosferatu was the first ever horror film to be released

It was released in 1922 when gothic horror was the most desired genre among 1920s audiences

The earliest horrors featured a mythical monster in eerie and dark settings. They often featured scenes of mutilation. There was a focus on costume, setting and lighting to create a scary effect as the films featured no sound

The killers in early horrors reflected the audience’s fear at the time of mythical monsters that they read about in books written in the nineteenth century by writers like Bram Stoker

In the 1930’s, horrors remained of gothic style and were often set in foreign lands, especially those that featured in the horror novels that were popular at the time, like Transylvania.

This was due to the fact that in the 30s, no one really travelled around, which lead to them being afraid of foreign lands unfamiliar to them and an inaccurate perception of them

Dracula was the first horror film to use sound in the film, instead of a pianist in the cinema

Similar to the 1920s, the antagonist in horrors were monsters inspired by novels

Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi starred regularly throughout this decade starring in hit horrors such as Dracula and Frankenstein

Another hit horror of the 1930’s, The Bride of Frankenstein, made horror history by being the first film to feature a female monster. It is still known to this day as one of the greatest horrors ever. Although the name of the film centred on the female character, it didn’t provide a new representation of women as the Bride of Frankenstein was presented as delicate, vulnerable and frightened and she had very limited screen time. Despite the title, the film’s narrative focused upon the monster of Frankenstein and his search for a partner.

Dracula was a very clear example of the style of horror in the 1930s. It featured a typical vampire with a cape and fangs. The film was very gothic with mist, howling and wolves featuring throughout. It also featured eerie castles, a typical convention of gothic horror.

In the 1940s, horror films became banned in Britain due to the horrors of WW11. It was seen as insensitive to create films focused around innocent people being killed when it was a very real horror in Britain

This allowed America to take over the creation of Horror films. However, they still played it safe by recreating the style of horrors made in the 30s rather than creating something new that may have had a bad reaction

A regular occurrence in the 40’s was horrors where characters turned into animals or half men half beast and became the antagonist. This was featured in films such as The Wolf Man and Cat People

Cat People was another horror film to use a female monster. Although beautiful, Irena was a character to be feared as she stalked the streets killing and terrorising her victims. A technique this film used to scare the audience was that Irena was never shown in full cat form, but the audience were always made aware of her presence through diegetic and non-diegetic sound. It was also one of the first horror films to use methods still used today such as the emphasis of diegetic sound to build up the tension, so even an innocent object can make the audience jump as they expect something more.

After WW11, the horrors experienced were still fresh in the minds of audiences.

On-screen horrors of the past decades were no longer seen as scary compared the real-life horrors of the war; mythical monsters were no longer terrifying to an audience who had experienced something so horrible in the real world

The horror genre had to change in order to appeal to a new fear the audience had

Audience now feared nuclear war, radiation, technology and scientific experiments going wrong

The horror genre adapted to this fear creating films such as The Blob and The Fly, which featured a protagonist that was a scientist working on mutation.

The 1950’s saw the horror genre focusing its attention on the teenage audience, something which is still common today with teenagers remaining the largest audience of horror

The Fly was a typical film of the 1950s

It was focused around a scientist whose experiment went wrong, creating a mutated creature as he turned into a man with the head of a fly

In the 50s audiences feared what scientific experiments and radiation would do to the world they knew

At the end of the 50s, there had been no nuclear explosions and no horrors caused by radiation.

The fears that terrified audiences throughout the 50s were gone, meaning the horror genre needed to revamp itself and adapt to new fears

The 60s was a era of change where drugs and sex became more socially acceptable, fashion became more revealing. This led to people become frightened of monster’s closer to home; the human mind

As society became more free, audiences feared the ill-effects of this on the human psyche and, as a result, this audience saw the monstrous potential of man. This fear was reflected in 1960s horror when for the first time, the monster became human with iconic films such as Psycho emerging in the 60s

Hitchcock’s Psycho featured a psychotic killer that looked as normal as you could get, but had a monstrous twisted mind

Hitchcock specifically chose to call the killer Norman Bates because it sounds like the word ‘normal’

The film also featured and somewhat instigated a common convention of horror films today where ‘rule breakers’ are killed

Marion, the leading female who is killed stole money from her boss and had been sleeping with a man she wasn’t married to. This convention may be used to suggest to the audience that, although things like sex are now more socially acceptable, you will still be punished

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The 1970’s was the dawn of the Slasher era and is seen today as the ‘golden age’ of horror, with many classics have been born in this decade

While the 70s saw an end to the optimism of the 60s, horrors grew in quality due to new technology and new ideas and, as before, they aimed to tackle societies newly emerging fears

The introduction of a morning sickness pill called Thalidomide led to a fear of children and childbirth. This is because women who had taken the pill ended up with children being born with serious physical abnormalities. This led to a growing fear of abnormal children. The introduction of the contraceptive pill and subsequent uncertainties about its long-term effects added to this

The idyllic family of the 1950s crumbled as divorce became more common, females became more liberated and children became more rebellious. This led to the idea that the enemy could be found in your own home, which was clearly reflected in 70s horror

This meant films set in the home or involving dangerous family members, such as The Shining and The Exorcist, were born.

The slasher sub-genre was also born with hit films such as Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre

In the 1980s, there was a technological change and upsurge in all film genres, not just horror. There was an increased use in special effects to make horror films scarier and more realistic

Society in the 1980s was very materialistic which meant everything was about show, being bigger and better than others. This was reflected in the horror genre as it became all about show using brightly lit sets, lots of blood and gore and special effects

The VCR was finally made available in the homes in the 80s. This made slasher horrors based in the home even scarier, as audiences would become more sensitive to their surroundings as they watched the film, terrified similar horrors could occur in their own lives and in their home.

An example of a typical 1980s horror film was A Nightmare on Elm Street.

It used a brightly lit set to emphasis the excessive blood and gore used throughout the film.

The film made use of advancements in special effects and prosthetics.

The first victim is a girl called Tina, who is killed for having sex. This is a convention used throughout the horror genre that was established in the 1970s

Audiences were becoming bored of the same guts and gore and wanted a new type of horror

They were becoming very familiar with the typical Slasher conventions which made horrors too predictable

Wes Craven acknowledged how aware of the conventions the audience were so chose to create characters who were as clued up as the audience, but still died anyway. This lead to the iconic Scream franchise being born, a series of films that juxtaposed horror alongside humour and mockery.

Terrorists acts such as 9/11 led to the audience developing a fear of the evil that lurks in our world

Modern horrors continuously feature a race against time, a game or a supernatural force that cannot be seen or controlled

This has led to the creation of films such as The Conjuring and the Saw and Final Destination franchises

There are more sub-genres of horror available than ever, allowing every taste to be satisfied with psychological, zombie and supernatural films becoming more common

A common style of horror films at the moment is the ‘found footage’ style, seeing films such as Paranormal Activity and Grave Encounters being popular among audiences

This makes the film seem more real and ‘authentic’ which makes it even more scary.

Possession and exorcism films have become increasingly popular and appear to be the top sub-genre currently with films such as The Possession and The Devil Inside. These films are often based upon a ‘true story’ again adding to the scare factor.

It has been necessary from the 1920’s to now for the horror genre to remain current and updating itself

This is due to the fact that audiences fears are constantly changing. In order to remain current and provide the crucial need of audience to be terrified, the horror genre must adapt and keep audiences surprised and on the edge of their seats.

If horror films remained the same, they would nolongerbe able to scare audiences as they know what to expect. The horror genre has also changed an adapted with technology, to make the film as effective and realistic as possible.

Well done, Rachael. This is an excellent presentation that demonstrates you knowledge of historical developments within the horror genre.

I have the appropriate additions, adding in points throughout. Read through and you will see what I mean.

Due to the additions made, you may need to play around a little bit with the organisation of the slides, as I have had to move things up/down/across occasionally.

Add in some relevant quotes in appropriate places.

Reflect, at the end, on why the genre has had to evolve so much and at such regular intervals since the 1920s.