Timeline of Horror

Timeline of Horror – 1920’s

Silent Horror films were the earliest horror films to come as and many of them were, darkness and shadows were impossible to illustrate as they didn’t have the technology, they relied on expressionist painters and a narrative style to show their effect. However the conventions they used are still very similar to todays as they based horrors on Folklore and myths and legends in Europe. Many of the films made in this era have been lost as they were fragile and have been lost. Here are a few of some of the films that were found and can be watched today:

·         The Golem (1920) – Classed as the first monster movie as it contained a man built of clay.

·         Dr. Jekyll and Hyde (1920) – A story well known and performed in theatre today.

·         Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) – Following an Evil madman against a hero kept in a mental asylum.

·         Nosfertu (1922) – The first vampire film ever made of the character called Max Schreck.

·         Phantom of the Opera (1925) – Similar to Jekyll and Hyde this has become one of the most famous and recognised pieces around especially the upon the musical version which has been on stage for 25 years.

1930’s

Due to the success of The Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Golden Age of monster movies came through in the 30’s as sound was introduced and it opened up the cinema industry further. Sound added an extra ‘dimension’ in horror as it created suspense, showed the sign of a threat, or emphasised creepy movements and actions such as a creaky door opening. This gave the audience diversion, away from the Great Depression which occurred in this era. Horror Films consisted of myths, fairytales and mainly monsters and freaks.

·         Dracula (1931) – One of the most important films in this era as this then started this era of with other movies. Rumour was that the Spanish version was also much better than the English version.

·         Frankenstein (1931) – Another horror legend Boris Karloff played this monster.

·         The Mummy (1932) – As the idea of Egyptology came in, this film came out and is based on a mummy which is brought back to life.

·         King Kong (1993) – Another Famous film brought to life by Merian C Cooper.

1940’s

Fortunately for the 40’s, the Golden Age of monsters was fading, even though the success of The Wolf Man (1940) others failed such as Cat People and the sequel of Frankenstein called The Ghost of Frankenstein. Movies were banned in Britain due to WWII and only America were producing them but they found this difficult as they struggled for ideas and looked a Europe for ideas but this eventually dragged them in as well.

·         Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) – This was a remake of the original.

·         The Picture of Dorian Gray – Won an academy award for cinematography during this era.

1950’s

The 50’s was a very fragile time as WW2 had put fear into everyone and many people didn’t want to go to the cinema to see horror films. Moreover it was the cultural forces that influenced the horror movies, such as the Cold War gave fears of invasion and movies such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Blob (1958) came in. Due to the technology developing and rapidly changing, this was also seen throughout the war, as well as mad scientists developing experiments (nuclear) and the atom bomb, movies like The Fly (1958) and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) were produced.

·         Ugetsu (1953) – This was the first Full length Japanese film.

·         Godzilla (1954) – Another creature based film similar to many brought during the 50’s.

1960’s

During this era sexual revolution as well as feminism and homosexuality began which also lead to a big change in horror as people started to perceive different things as horror. On screen nudity and violence started to occur more recently during the 60’s, also the increasing amount of the younger generation becoming more engrossed in horror. Horror became more realistic, believable and intriguing which dealt with issues that had occurred around the world. Ghosts and serial killers grew in popularity where women became the usually victim and the monsters from the 50’s looked silly and unrealistic compared to this era. Special Effects then died out and more diegetic sounds increased to create reality but also suspense.

·         Psycho (1960) – Very famous film, most notably for the shower seen which was based upon the true story of Ed Gein.

·         Birds (1963) – Melanie a bad girl follows her love to Bodgeda bay where she is met by the strange behaviour of birds.

1970’s

As society got grim in the 70’s with events such as the Beatles split and oil and energy crisis, horror became great as bid budget films started to be produced dealing with contemporary ideas from society.  Physiological fears, children and families were the new topics for horrors and slasher horrors grew. Family units were seen crumbling in some films with the enemy forming within your house.

·         The Exorcist (1973) – Once voted the scariest movie of all time, this was about a girl in which a demon is inside causing terrifying happenings around the place. Marked the beginning of a new type of genre.

·         Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) – Madman on the loose, as warning were missed and ignored by others of this killer.

·         Carrie (1976) – A teen romance turned into terror with Carrie and her telekinetic powers.

·         Halloween (1978) – A low budget horror based on a teenage babysitter escaping the attacks of a serial killer.

1980’s

Horror movies in the 80’s were influenced by special effects as technology advanced. Companies were able to distort human bodies and parts as Aliens and Zombies grew popular. The goriness increase and this hooked many people with effects such as decapitation and explosions of body parts.  The monster genre finally came alive again and became more realistic compared to the 1950’s where this couldn’t have happened.

·         Alien (1979) – Though it was the 70’s this started off this era and type of horror with it mixing aliens with human biology and technology.

·         The Thing (1982) – Based on Howard Hawks’s film in 1952 this film offers the philosophical perspective of what makes us human compared to alien biology. An unseen force is threatening an isolated group of scientists at an ice station.

·         A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) – A scarred and bullied school kid, Freddy Krueger puts on his trademark gloves as he becomes a killer.

·         Childs Play (1988) – A doll named Chucky who was a killer in his previous life and he never sleeps.

1990’s

As alien/gore films began to die out this era focused on a more realistic style with serial killers, supernatural happenings, and fears of the unknown. Typically the killers communicated with their victims through phone calls or other messages, furthermore they could even been seen being very close and helping towards their victims but eventually this is proved not.

·         Silence of the Lambs (1991) – FBI agent’s desperate attempt to track down and Hannibal Lector with the help of an imprisoned psychopath.

·         Natural Born Killer (1994) – Mickey and Mallory work their way across America slashing many victims to death.

·         Se7en (1995) – One of the most thrilling and gripping serial killer movies at its time, twisting the normal conventions as two Cops played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt have to work together to survive.

·         Scream (1996) – Another movie which twisted conventions, but the usually slasher movie containing lots of gore.

2000’s

Many events changed the worldwide view on what is actually frightening, and this began with 9/11 following onto the Iraq War and the conflict in Libya. Many people wanted horror films to end as world peace became important again. Escapism became the main genre of horrors as realism was used as it was the scariest towards the people in this time.

·         Final Destination (2000) – Escaping an unseen force which is creating destructive happenings occurred in this film and this seemed very popular compared to the monsters and aliens used in the era before and have produced many other sequels including two of the films in 3D which add to the shock and horror.

·         28 Days Later (2002) – A zombie apocalypse occurs when a virus breaks out and this centres on a group of survivors.

·         Saw (2004) – This similar to Final Destination is about people trying to escape the hands of a murderer who plays deadly games with people where they have to rely on each other or chop their limbs off. Many sequels have been produced also.

Horror Conventions

Horror Conventions are the typical idea and concepts which you would find in a horror film in the production at the beginning but they would also be seen in the final product, being the film. These are usually split into categories:

·         Setting – Bright lit house, castle, dungeon, forested, being alone/deserted and claustrophobic places.

·         People/Beings – Monsters, Zombies, Animals, Serial Killers, Ghost, Children, possessed beings, people on their own, group of survivors.

·         Sounds – Creaking, Footsteps, Screaming, repetitive noises, high pitched noises, singing, slamming, metallic noises and smashing noises.

·         Costume – Masks, blood stained/dark clothing, scars, big/bold clothing and slimy/strange hair.

·         Other – Weapons, unknown, thriller, blood, gore, bad weather and strange characteristics of people and beings.

However, there are also conventions or rules which can be seen and explored within many horror movies. The film ‘Scream’ explores these rules and what you should and shouldn’t do. For example Randy says that ‘there are rules in which you most obey to survive, you can never have sex, never do drugs or drink, never say “I’ll be right back” because you won’t return.’ The being or whatever is going to kill you is always behind you so never look back and keep running. You should never answer the phone or trust your closest friends as anything could happen.