2. LATE 1700S
• The Gothic Horror genre began in the late 1700s.
• It was developed by writers within Great Britain and the USA.
• Gothic refers to all the medieval buildings where the stories took
place. An example of gothic is an old castle on a dark night
within a gloomy forests and dungeons and secret passage
ways within.
• The famous gothic writers include Mary Shelly, Bram Stoker
and Edgar Allan Poe.
3. SPOOK TALE
• Gothic horror films were inspired by Gothic literature.
• The term horror didn’t come into use until the 1930s however
there was certain film makers and film goers who had an
interest in this genre.
• Evidence of this is that the Lumiere brothers created a short
film called Spook Tale in 1895.
• There will be a short snippet on the next page.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNReoA8BV_Y
4. FIRST HORROR MOVIE EVER MADE
• In 1896 Georges Méliès created what we believe to be the
first horror movie called The Haunted Castle or The Manor
of the Devil – no voice included, just silence and spooky
animation.
• The film involved bats, castles, trolls, ghost and a demon
played by Georges Méliès.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmKaz3Quzo#t=26
5. Germany
• After Germany had lost the war, the UFA decided they
should turn there goals to produce films for profit.
• In 1919 The Cabinet of Dr Caligari was written by Carl
Mayer and Hans Janowitz. They wanted this film to be
one of the greatest of all horror films.
• German filmmakers then made another film ‘The
Golem: How He Came into the World. This was made
in 1920 and lensed by Karl Freund.
6. SOUND
• Universal Pictures is responsible for the first cycle of
horror films. During the silent era Universal Pictures did
have reasonable achievements.
• In the 30s, Universal really discovered horror as they made
there first hit Dracula directed by Tod Browning in
1931.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nfmh178L98#t=28
7. AFTER DRACULA…
• FRANKENSTEIN WITH NORIS KARLOFF – 1931
• THE MUMMY BY KARL FREUND – 1932
• INVISIBLE MAN BY JAMES WHALE – 1933
• WEREWOLF IN LONDON BY STUART WALKER -1935
• DRACULAS DAUGHTER BY HAMBERT HILLYER -1936
8. MODERN HORROR
• When it got to the 1990s/2000S there was a
lot more thriller and psychological horrors
other than Gothic. Such as Final Destination,
The Sixth Sense, Se7en, The Others and The
Ring.
9. COMEDY
• A lot of people decide to make fun out of thriller by turning it into a
comedy as well as thriller. An example of this is Shaun of The Dead
as it is zombie themed and they make a joke out of what is
happening.
• Evidence of the comedy elements within a horror is the actors tend
to be already famous for being in a comedy movie.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUCqPxfpMCQ#t=179
10. CONVENTIONS OF HORROR
Setting
• the setting of a horror film tends to
be in a dark and gloomy location. The
main meeting point or point of
location is a haunted house or a grave
yard during the night.
• The film tends to start during the day
and then the horror begins at night or
it starts at night. The horror
activities rarely occur in daylight.
• The meeting point so for example the
Haunted house would be away from
any sort of city or retail and just
deserted on its own.
• The setting people gloomy and spooky
during the night help create the
impression that the characters are
vulnerable.
