Over the past century, horror films have evolved dramatically from black and white silent films to modern hybrid genres that combine elements of horror with comedy, sci-fi, and romance. Early 20th century horror films were based on supernatural novels and focused on monsters and ghosts. Sound was introduced in the 1930s Dracula film. Subsequent decades explored psychopathic killers, creatures, slasher films, the rise of gory special effects, and serial killer stories that emphasized plot over scares. Modern horror blends the genre with others like comedy and sci-fi in popular films such as Zombieland and 28 Days Later.

1. HISTORY OF HORROR
By Doug Macaskill

2. Over the past century, horror films have evolved dramatically to
become what they are today.
As technology improved, so did the quality of Horror films, giving us
higher quality gory scenes with realistic blood and scarier killers.
This PowerPoint will give a slight history of how Horror has evolved
over the past century.

3. FIRST HORROR FILM
The first Horror film was a French film, created by George
Melies, titled „Le Manoir Du Diable‟ (translating to The Devils
Castle). At this point in time, all films were shot in black and white
and had no sound at all.

4. 1990
These films, yet overly simple, set the basis of what horror films
should be like and what they should contain.
Later on, most films created in this period of time got recreated with
newer technology to keep old favourites new.

5. 1910
All films created up in this period of time are based on classic
novels, such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
At this point in time, supernatural horror was the main thing around,
so if you wanted your film to make money, you would need a
supernatural monster to make a cameo appearance in your movie.

6. 1920
Film producers started to drive away from the supernatural side of
horrors at this point and started focusing more on the
psychopathical side of films. This gave more room for creative back
stories giving the audience an explanation to why a mad scientist is
kidnapping people.

7. 1930
1930s was a big moment in film for every genre as we finally
developed sound to accompany our creepy films. The first horror to
actually accomplish having both sound and vision was the ever
famous „Dracula‟, leaning back into the supernatural aspect of
horror but adding more of a gothic nature.
We also developed colour to films, giving horror movies a new
edge to them.

8. 1940
Horror in the 1940‟s mainly consisted of sequels (mainly for “the
Mummy” movie), spinoffs and remakes (of the first Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde film). It also featured the first crossover movie titled
“Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man”

9. 1950
In the 1950‟s, horror started focusing on creatures as well as
leaning towards the sci fi genre a bit. One of the most famous films
from this decade is “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and it is still
regarded as a good horror to this day.

10. 1960
Psychopathical horrors became popular once again in the 1960‟s,
also bringing zombie films with them. However at this point in time,
the horrors of the 1960‟s seemed to become a bit more sexually
aware, bringing out classic films such as “Psycho” and
“Rosemary‟s Baby”.

11. 1970
At the start of the 70‟s, most horror films were still on the
supernatural/gothic side. However leaning towards the end of the
decade, horror films evolved once again and started producing
slasher films such as the famous “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and
“Halloween”.

12. 1980
In the 1980‟s, film producers starting focusing on special effects in
their movies. A good example of this is the film „Poltergeist‟ which
featured the actors falling into their TV‟s and was awarded the
BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects.
Other notable films include The Shining and Gremlins.

13. 1990
The 1990‟s inspired film makers to add story to the film, rather than
focusing on scaring people. This was the time of serial killer
horrors.
Good examples of these are Se7ven and Silence of the Lambs.

14. 2000
At this point in time, Horrors started to link with other genres to
make hybrid genres such horror comedy, sci fi horror and
horromantic.
Some famous films that fall into these hybrids are Zombie Land,
Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later.

15. THE FUTURE OF HORRORS
The list of possible ideas for horrors could go on forever. With new
technology coming out we could make horrors scarier than they‟ve
ever been, maybe even go 4D with them. The possibilities are
endless. Even recreating much loved classics with better special
effects, such as The Woman in Black and Evil Dead.