History Of Horror

Frankenstein, Dracula and Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde-Horror's roots in classic literature
There are three most well known horror stories of the 19th century. These three are "Frankenstein" which was written by Mary Shelley in 1818, "Dracula" which was first written by Bram Stoker and finally "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" which was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. The horror genre only started to have code and conventions towards the end of the 18th century.In the 18th century horror/gothic novels were marketed towards women and often female protagonists also horror first properly originated in England in the second half of the 18th century.

Monsters and Mad Scientists-1930During the 1930's horror was reborn and featured monsters and mad scientists as the main characters. Universal Studios emerged during this decade becoming very famous for their horrors Frankenstein and Dracula as these two monsters are recognised today. Enthusiasm for horror increased from the 1920's to the 1930's. 80 millions people (65% of the whole US population) attended the cinema weekly in the decade of monsters and mad scientists. In 1933 the year Hitler came to power, the mad scientist side of the genre had reached its peak to due his dictatorship being a bit too similar to the characters in these films.

Primal animal, within;Werewolves and Cat people-1940 In 1940's people were dying in the ward and this was the main fear factor in people's lives so they incorporated this fear within their films. They made it look like the Werewolves could be seen as the Nazi's an idea of this is that when a werewolf bites a human, they transform and pass on the 'condition'. In the film Wolf-man the werewolf dies this could be seen as Hitler can be defeated "propaganda". Women were left at home whilst the men went away to war. They experienced slight freedom which was then taken away when the men returned. They were unhappy about this and wanted rights resulting in films being released.

• Cat People: A movie where the females dominate the males and hold the power (by seducing and killing them)- The reason for cats being linked to women in films are that they can both thought to be sly gracious which links into their key motive to kill in the movies.

Alien&Monsters-1950's-The first movie to feature outer space and aliens was a low-budget movie called "Rocketship X-M"; this then started a trend of sci-fi films. In the 1950's the obsession with monster movies stems from the fears generated by co-existence with the atom bomb. Monster movies offered a vision of destruction created by non-humans;instead of generating chaos and disaster, humans represent a force of good. The monster movies of 1950's were the first blockbusters. In the 1950's peoples were worried that they were ahead of time in terms of technology and were scared that it would take over their lives. People lived in fear that the effects of technology was going to mutant and deform people. Also the race to space was also a major thing;because of the new obsession with aliens and creatures countries wanted to go to space and explore to see if there were other life form.

Hammer Film Production-
This genre was founded in 1934 focusing on many films such as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Abominable Snowman (1957), Dracula (1958), The Mummy (1959), The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) and To the Devil...A Daughter (1976). This genre have certain criteria which they stick to throughout their films such as; Colour instead of black and white, focusing on the victim rather then the creature. They use a structure in how the produce the films they call it the "Wheel of Inspiration"which goes like this Universal Project-Change Script-Audiences Like-Make Another.

Ghosts, Zombies, Satanism and Your Family- 60's/70's
During the 1970's horror film reflected the outlook on the decade, also whilst big budget, respectable horror returned. These types of films dealt with contemporary societal issues and mainly addressed genuine psychological fears. Some fear's in particular was childbirth and children. A film which focused on children in that era was The Exorcist which then became banned in the UK in 1999 which was then voted the scariest film of all time. These films reinforce that children can be unwanted which causes them to do bad things to their parents. Satanism also comes into this as the person "possessed" by the devil, and the exorcism is to get rid of the devil.
Ghosts stories started to appear in the 1960's which could be seen as a reaction against the elaborate creature features made in the late 1950's. A few films from this era were

• Rosemary's Baby (1968)
• Carnival of Souls (1962)
• Alice, Sweet Alice (1976
• The Omen (1976)
• Halloween (1978)

Slasher Movies/Body Horror-80's
Slasher is a type of horror that depicts a person/killer that mutilates a person with the use of knives, razors or other weapons whereas body horror is a genre of horror that's main feature is the graphically shown destruction and degeneration of a human body or bodies. Some famous films were

• Scream
• Halloween
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Friday 13th
• Psycho
• My Bloody Valentine
• Child Play
• Madman
• Prom Night

Slasher films first came about in the 80's due to advances in technology allowing them to use improved special effects; therefore enabled them to show much more explicit scenes which their target audience would soon come to love hence many sequels happening. 

Video Nasties-
These films where always straight to VHS which were heavily blamed for changing Britain. These films became increasingly popular due to the fact that they were refused British theatrical release. Some of these banned films were

• Absurd
• Axe
• The Beast In Heat
• Blood Bath
• Blood Feast
• Blood Rites
• Bloody Man

Gorenography and Torture Porn

Gorenography is a genre of film which focuses solely on showing brutal gore where plot, story and characters are non-existent. The popularisation of extreme graphic violence in the film came from films such as Audition 1999, Wrong Turn 2003 and the Australian film Wolf Creek 2005, took their cues from The Lat House on the Left 1972. Another strong film which was produced in 1974 was The Texas Chain Saw Massacre which helped emergence of a type of horror that emphasis on depictions of torture, suffering and violent deaths. How this genre has become popular is down to the audience. Viewers imagine disturbing thoughts in their heads which then can be represented through films, they also get a thrill out of the films giving them a fear factor and some people get a satisfaction when they are out of their comfort zone.