History of Horror Genre and what I learnt from it etc.

1. Luke Murray
Horror Genre

2. History of Horror Genre

3. The First Horror Film
 The first horror movie, only about two minutes long, was directed
and produced by Georges Melies, titled Le Manoir Du Diable
(The Haunted Castle in USA and The Devils Castle in Britain)
and it was made in 1896.
 There was no narrative in the film, it was a silent film.
 There are no accounts of any profit being made from the Film.

4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941
film)
 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was Directed by Victor Fleming and
Produced by Victor Savile.
 This film differs from “The Devils Castle” (1896) because Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has a narrative with English and also music.
It also made a profit of around $39k. The content of the films also
differ to each other because Dr Jekyll is a scarier film due to the
fact that it focuses on scaring people rather than the slight
comedy aspect in The Devils Castle also the duplicity between
Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Them being the same person). The plot
to Dr Jekyll is another difference because it is a straight remake
of the original book well as The Devils Castle wasn’t. This was
an inspirational film because before this film the idea
of split personalities hadn’t been explored. Science
was slow developing at this time as well so the science aspect
made it unique and interesting, also a them to be carried on in
films in the future.

5. Dracula (1958 film)
 The 1958 version of Dracula was Directed by Terence Fisher and
was produced by Anthony Hinds. The Narrative much like Dr.
Jekyll was English with music. It made £1,008,834 at the box
office. The content of this film changed as it was now in colour
and It also had the use of blood involved. The plot was
somewhat more scary than previous horror films.
 This is felt to be one of the most inspirational films as it
features Christopher Lee as the main character who is one
if not the most legendary Actors in the Film industry
(World record for most films). It was also nominated for 3
Oscars. Another aspect of this film is that the main
character of the film has become famous/legendary and has
produced a few other films such as Draculas daughter. The
popularity of the main character has become a blueprint for
many other future characters. It again also proved as a
blueprint for many other horror films which included
vampires, using some of the same aspects straight from Dracula.

6. The Shinning (1980)
 The Shinning was Directed and produced by Kubrick. The
Narrative was English with music. It made $44.4 million at the
box office.
 The content of the Shining is different from the older films (Dr.
Jekyll and Dracula) because they were straight remakes of the
original book well as The Shinning has a few differences
between the original book and the film. It is an inspirational film
because it had some memorable lines in the film, such as
“Here’s Johnny” which has been used in some video games etc,
keeping the legacy of the film alive.

7. Zombie Land (2009)
 Zombie Land was directed by Ruben Fleischer and was
produced by Gavin Polone. The Narrative was English with
Music. The Budget was $23.6 million and made a box office of
$102.4 million.
 The Content of this film has changed yet again from some of the
others as a bit like the first horror film it has an aspect of comedy
in the film (which quite a lot of horror films don’t have). It is also
different from the older films as it uses some special
effects within the film which the older films wouldn’t have been
able to do. It is an inspirational film as many aspects of it have
been used in films/TV shows since then, such as the
walking dead which takes the zombie apocalypse theme from it
etc.

8. What I have learned
 I learned that, the Horror genre is very old and
pretty much started at the very start of film
making so for as long as there has been films,
there has been the horror genre. I’ve also learnt
that there is a lot of Horror Films and the
successful ones have a really loyal fan base. I
prefer Horror as it is more exciting then
depressing genres etc and also is more
interesting to watch. I especially like Comedy
Horrors as it combines two of my favourite
genres.