Horror films have existed since people first started communicating by attempting to scare and frighten others. The 1920s and 1930s saw the first films truly intended to scare audiences, including remakes of Dracula and films like Nosferatu and Frankenstein. The 1940s saw a decline in horror films due to World War 2, but films like Cat People and House of Frankenstein were still produced. The 1950s brought "mutant" films featuring oversized monsters wrecking havoc, like The Wasp Woman. The 1960s introduced psychological thrillers exemplified by Psycho. The 1970s was a boom for horror with films reflecting the depressing era, such as The Exorcist and Halloween. New technology in the 1980

1. History of horror films
By George Sulaiman

2. Brief information on Horror
• Since people have been able to communicate, horror has
been used in attempt to scare and frighten others.
• In our own human nature, it makes us desire horror novels,
stories or movies because it gives us an adrenaline rush
when we feel fear.
• Horror can be expressed in different ways, such as novels,
comics, stories, television shows, however, we will mostly
focus on horror within movies.

3. 1920’s and 1930’s
The 20’s and 30’s were the first decades to really show films
intended to scare the audience. Usually, the 20’s and 30’s saw
remakes of classic stories such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
However, there were many other films made in the decades.
Here some of the following films:
• Nosferatu
• Frankenstein
• Bride of Frankenstein
• The Mummy

4. 1940’s
The 1940’s unfortunately saw a steep decline in the horror
movie industry, mainly due to the fact of the World War II taking
place at the time. However, the 40’s did see a few classic horror
films make it out of the decade, including:
• Wolf Man
• Cat People
• House of Dracula
• House of Frankenstein

5. 1950’s
With the war finished, people returned to the luxuries in life
such as cinema. Rather than return to the classic gothic horror
scene though, the 50’s brought “Mutants” on the movie
scene. Many 50’s films featured gross, oversized mutants that
would reek havoc across cities. Horror films of the 50’s
include:
• The Wasp Woman
• The Beast from 20,000 fathoms.
• It came from Beneath the Sea

6. 1960’s
The 60’s brought about a new aspect to horror films, and it
was in the 60’s the word “thriller” was first properly seen. This
mainly came about from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”. Other
movies made in the 1960’s are:
• The Birds
• Carnival of souls
• Blood feast
• Night of the Living Dead

7. 1970’s
The 1970’s saw a surge in horror movies. Many people think it
is because the movies were made to reflect the time, and as
the 70’s was seen as a depressing decade, especially
compared to the 60’s it produced many classic films, such as:
• The Exorcist
• Jaws
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• Carrie
• The Omen
• Halloween

8. 1980’s
The 80’s brought many new aspects to horror movies,
especially as the technology in filming increased dramatically.
The new technology was able to bring about better costumes,
and better graphics, producing films such as:
• Hellraiser
• Nightmare on elm Street
• The Fly
• The Thing
• The Shining

9. 1990’s
The “Monster” cliché had gotten old by the 1990’s and many people
were no longer scared of “vampires” or “zombies”. The new craze
that had swept across horror movies were “psychopaths”. Films
would follow brutal murders of ordinary humans, twisted on killing
others, adding a more believable twist to the films. Films from the
90’s are:
• Se7en
• Silence of the Lambs
• Misery
• Candyman
• Sixth Sense

10. 2000’s
Finally we enter the 00’s era which started in the year of 2000.
Also we get introduced to a new genre of horror movies, called
“teen horror” or sometimes closely linked to “slasher” movies.
These would follow a group of adolescents being picked off one by
one by either monsters, killers or even on occasion “fate”. Some
horror movies made in the 00’s include:
• Final destination saga
• The Ring
• The Grudge
• The descent