The document summarizes how the horror genre has changed over time from the 1920s to present day. Early horror films relied on Gothic monsters and non-diegetic sound, while modern films employ graphic special effects and psychological plots. Societal fears also influence the genre, shifting from vampires and werewolves to threats like radiation and serial killers. By examining conventions through history, trends emerge showing what continues to scare audiences based on the technology and events of each era.

1. Genre Research
How the Horror Genre has changed

2. Why do we watch horror movies?
• We watch horror movies for many reasons, the main
reason being we as the audience like to be scared or
to see if a movie can actually scare us.
• A lot of people crave t feeling of fear and horror.
• Catharsis states that we enjoy being scared.

3. 1920’s - Nosferatu
• Information: Released February
17th 1922, it is a silent, black and
white horror film with a running
time of 94 minutes.
• Plot Summary: Thomas Hutter is
sent to Transylvania to visit
and stay a new client, Count
Orlok, who turn out to be a
vampire.
Described as eerie and chilling.
• Famous Quote: “Is this your wife?
What a lovely throat.”

4. • I the 1920’s many people were afraid of the monsters you find in
literature and therefore were feared basic monsters such as
Nosferatu and Dracula.
• As diegetic sound could not be recorded in the 1920’s, film makers
had to rely on non-diegetic sound (music) to create a scary tension
and mise en scene elements such as costume and setting.
• Nosferatu uses a dark castle with a mythical creature based
around the idea of Bram Stokers book ‘Dracula’.
• They also use makeup and costume to make Nosferatu look like a
gothic monster.

5. 1930’s – Bride of Frankenstein
• Information: Released on April
22nd 1935, it was on black and
white but this time had sound.
• Plot Summary: In the film, a
chastened Henry Frankenstein
abandons his plans to create life,
only to be tempted and finally
coerced by the Monster,
encouraged by Henry's old mentor
Dr. Pretorius, into creating
someone for him.
• Famous Quote: It's a perfect night
for mystery and horror. The air
itself is filled with monsters.

6. • Horror films during the 1930’s also have the same aspect that they
are based around mythical monsters from literature.
• The 1930’s was the first decade to include diegetic sound within
movies and therefore movies could include dialogue to the story to
hook the audience.
• Costume and setting were still very important aspects of mise en
scene that helped to portray a gothic mood to films.
• Although the movie is called ‘Frankensteins Bride’, his bride does not
appear until the very end, playing fearful and scared towards her
husband due to the patriarchal society in the 1930’s meaning
Frankenstein is still the main character.

7. 1940’s – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Information: Released on August
12th 1941, it is a black and white
film that lasts 113 minutes.
• Plot Summary: A scientist named
Dr. Jekyll who drinks a potion
allowing him to turn into a
werewolf named Mr. Hyde.
• Famous Quote: “Quiet minds
cannot be perplexed or frightened
but go on in fortune or misfortune
at their own private pace, like a
clock during a thunderstorm. ”

8. • During the 1940’s horror films
were banned from Britain due to
the second world war and
therefore it was in America where
most horror movie’s were filmed.
• The ideas for horrors in the 1940’s
were starting to think outside of
the box and instead of just
monsters from literature, we now
started to see the idea of the wear
wolf (such as Jekyll and Hyde), sea
creatures and more paranormal
monsters.
• Women also had more dominant
screen time and bigger roles.

9. 1950’s – Creature from the Black Lagoon
• Information: released on December 31st, 1954. Its duration time is 80
minutes.
• Plot Summary: Scientists go to the Amazon river to investigate fossils,
however, as they go further down the river they come to a black
lagoon which is inhabited by a prehistoric creature, a half man, half
amphibious reptile.
• Famous Quotes: “I can tell you something about this place. The boys
around here call it "The Black Lagoon"; a paradise. Only they say
nobody has ever come back to prove it.”

10. • During the 1950’s, the main
audience for horror movies
were teenagers, horror films
were now targeted towards
teens rather than adults.
• As the 1950’s were just after
the second world war, people
were most afraid of
radioactivity, aliens and
science that goes wrong etc.
meaning that the target
audience were done with
traditional monsters and
wanting something new to
be scared of.
• Movies such as ‘The Fly’, ‘The
Blob’ and ‘Creature from the
Black Lagoon’ were very
popular and

11. 1960’s - Psycho
• Information: released on June
16th, 1960. The film lasts for
109 minutes.
• Plot Summary: A young
woman on the run stops off at
a motel for the night where
she is murdered by Norman
Bates, a man who has split
personality disorder.
• Famous Quotes: It's not like
my mother is a maniac or a
raving thing. She just goes a
little mad sometimes. We all
go a little mad sometimes.
Haven't you?

12. • The 1960’s was quite crucial for the horror
genre as Andrew Tudor, a horror historian,
claims that before the 1960’s horror films
had closed narratives meaning they all end
with the monster being destroyed,
however, past the 1960’s, horror films now
have open endings where it is not always
definite that the monster or evil character is
destroyed.
• “The old horror was either dead or dying; a
new horror was about to be born.” – Peter
Hutchings
• Things people were scared of in the 50’s
were not feared as much anymore.
• The rise of drugs, fashion, freedom and
sexual liberation occurred
• The rise of exploring the human mind and
how it can go wrong came about.
• Monsters in movies were in human form
and the idea of the killer became very
popular.

13. 1970’s – Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• Information: released on
October 1st, 1974. This film
lasts 90 minutes.
• Plot Summary: A group of
teens break down in a
remote town in Texas where
they meet an odd family
containing a serial killer
who uses a chainsaw to
decapitate his victims.
• Famous Quote: “My
family's always been into
meat.”

14. • The 1970’s was the end of optimism and therefore horror movies gained
a better quality, with better plots and more inventive ideas.
• Colour pictures were also becoming increasingly popular during this
time.
• Horrors now contained society's fears making movies more scary and
realistic and more movies contain teenagers as the main characters.
• The idea that the evil antagonist could be in your house scared people
and therefore it became a lot ore popular within the future.
• Because the 70’s was around the time the defective pill ‘Thalidomide’
came out, a lot of society's fears were based around children which is
what made The Excorcist (1973) so popular.

15. 1980’s – A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Information: released on
November 9th, 1984. It
lasts 92 minutes.
• Plot Summary: After
children accuse a man of
molestation, their parents
burn him and he
eventually comes back to
kill them as teenagers in
their dreams.
• Famous Quote: “Whatever
you do... don't fall asleep.”

16. • The 1980’s saw a huge
technological change and therefore
special effects were more
prominent making horror movie’s
look more realistic.
• SFX, brighter colours and more
gruesome killings came out during
this decade.
• The VCR was also created in the
80’s meaning people could view
horror movies from their own
homes.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street was the
decade’s most famous movie
including a lot of gore through
special effects and brightly lit sets.

17. 1990’s – Scream
• Information: released in
1996 on December 20th.
The film duration is 111
minutes.
• Plot Summary: High school
teens are being murdered
by an unknowing killer
obsessed with horror
movies who is disguised in a
scream mask and costume
who calls his victims up
before killing them.
• Famous Quote: “What's
your favorite scary movie?”

18. • By the 1990’s audiences were bored of the predictable stories
that horrors
• Therefore intelligent, physcological horror films became very
popular.
• Movies such as Scream were made where the audience has to
guess who the killer is out of all the characters. And Silence of
the Lambs (1991), a movie about a cannibal who helps a
detective catch a serial killer.
• Wes Craven says that audiences enjoy it when a character
within the film acknowledges and mocks horror conventions.

19. 2000’s - Saw
• Information: released on
October 1st, 2004. This film is
approximately 103 minutes.
• Plot Summary: A disturbed
man makes people play
deadly games with violent
choices through devices he
has made to make them
appreciate their lives more.
• Famous Quote: “He doesn't
want us to cut through our
chains. He wants us to cut
through our feet!”

20. • Because of the o0ccurance of 9/11 people were more fearful and scared of
what can happen in the real world.
• Physcological and supernatural horrors are/ were still popular and are set in
places and situations that could really happen.
• As this decade was less than ten years ago, the effects that you can get for
movies are of a very high standard making it easy to show gore and deadly
scenes that might have been more difficult to film/ present in the past.
• Movies such as Saw and REC. are especially popular due to gore and real life
situations the victims are in (REC is shown through a POV and filmedusing a
handheld camera)
• Spoofs of horror movies are especially popular today such as Scary Movie
and Shaun of the Dead

21. By looking at and researching the horror genre
through the history of film I have seen which horror
conventions have changed and also seen which
conventions have stayed the same. I have seen how
this has happened through means of technology and
also how society’s fears and events influence what
people in society are scared of at that point in time.
For our movie we have chosen to do a supernatural
horror as this seems to be becoming a popular genre
for this decade as movies we have looked at such as
Annabelle and Paranormal Activity have such high
ratings and gross a lot at the box office.