The history of horror films began with Gothic novels like Frankenstein in 1818. Early horror films from the 1890s adapted these stories but were silent. The 1930s saw the first talking horror film, Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. Color films emerged in the 1950s while the 1960s featured psychological horrors like Psycho. Landmark 1970s films included The Exorcist while the 1980s saw advances in special effects used in films like The Shining. Thrillers dominated the 1990s such as The Silence of the Lambs. The 2000s included the popular Final Destination slasher series.

1. History of Horror
films.
George Picton-Clark

2. The history of Horror.
The Gothic Tradition - Before horror films existed, the idea of horror was presented
through books and novels. A prime example of this is the novel of ‘Frankenstein’
which was written by Mary Shelley in 1818 this was based in a gothic era and was
one of the first great horror novels of its time. The tale of a mad scientist who
creates an inhuman creature out of recycled body parts, the monster then goes on
to wreak havoc and kills people on its course. The novel has been made into
several different films, the first being in 1910 which was a silent adaptation of the
novel by Mary Shelley, in all it only lasted 16 minutes. Several other adaptations
have taken place over the years as the genre of horror has developed and
changed with popular culture.

3. Mary Shelley & Frankenstein
- Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein who lived from
1797-1851. The novel was written in 1818 and also had an 1831
remake
- Br - - Boris Karloff as Frankenstein in the
- 1931 film adaptation of ‘Frankenstein’
this shows how the image of the
monster was presented even though
it is different to the novel’s depiction.

4. The first ever Horror film.
The first ever Horror film on record is from 1896 and was called ‘Le Manor du
Diable’ it was created by one of the earliest visionary creators ‘Georges Méliès’. It
has a running time of just around 3 minutes, the reel of the film was 60 meters long.
The story packs in a lot of generic conventions of a modern-day horror film,
featuring: Devils, cauldrons, witches, trolls and ghosts.
This still screenshot from the film shows the
devil to the left of the image with a cavalier
being surrounded by spectres.
The image to the left shows
Georges Méliès the creator
of the film who lived from
1861-1938.

5. Horror begins to talk.
Horror movies were revitalised in the 1930’s and started to bring in sound,
changing the image of the films altogether. Instead of phantoms now floating
through the screen in silence, sound effects had began to accompany the film
adding a whole new thrill to the experience of horror. The film that marks the dawn
of the transition from silence into sound is ‘Dracula’ which was produced in 1931.
Instead of the film being completely based off of the 1897 novel by Bram Stoker,
the film adaptation focused more on the stage play. For example, ‘Bela Lugosi’ who
played the role of ‘Dracula’ laughs evilly throughout which added effect to the
newfound idea of sound in the film industry. Mise-en-scene again, which is present
in all present day films was used and again generic conventions like Wolves,
castles and mist was used to set the scene. ‘Dracula’ is one of the most successful
horror films which paved the way for a lot of modern day horrors.

6. Dracula
This image shows Bram Stoker the irish novelist
who wrote the original novel of ‘Dracula’ in 1897.
This image shows a still of
‘Bela Lugosi’ playing the role
of ‘Dracula’ in the 1931 film
adaptation of ‘Dracula’
produced by Tod Browning.

7. Colour Production
In the 1950’s the Horror film incorporations were busy in a widespread change to
bring colour to the film industry. Big movie stars were now starting to become more
popular, starring in many different films. In 1957, the first colour horror film was
released into theaters ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’ directed by Terence Fisher, it
was loosely based again, off of the 1818 gothic novel of ‘Frankenstein’ by the author
‘Mary Shelley’ the critical reception of the film was enormous and the public flocked
to see the new technology of a coloured film in theaters. People were happy
enough to go to drive-in theaters to go and see a horror film not necessarily caring
about the values, character development or plots.
Promotional poster
of ‘The Curse of
Frankenstein’ in
1957.

8. The 1960’s
During the 1960’s the main movie corporations and directors had switched from the
idea of thriller-horror films to chilling-horror films. Instead of popular conventions
such as witches, castles, vampires and other monsters, it had now turned to more a
more murderous scene. The iconic movie ‘Psycho’ directed by ‘Alfred Hitchcock’
released in 1960 revealed elements of how monstrous everyday people can be.
Based on the true story of ‘Ed Gein’ the film shows elements of blood and murder a
slasher and stalkerish like film, which was new to the genre of horror. ‘Psycho’ is a
defining film of the 1960’s and the genre in general, paving the way for many other
films such as ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ which was subsequently aswell
based on a true story. Promotional
theatrical
release poster
for the 1960 film
‘Psycho’
Anthony Perkins as
‘Norman Bates’ the
main protagonist and
murderer in the 1960
film ‘Psycho’

9. Horror actors of the 1960’s.
Peter Cushing was one of the lead actors in the
1960’s starring in over 20 films, most of them
being horror movies most recognisable in ‘The
Brides of Dracula’
Christopher Lee was one of the
defining actors of the 1960’s
with a career spanning nearly 7
decades. He was most
recognised for his role as Count
Dracula in a series of Dracula
horror movies.

10. The 1970’s
The 1970’s horror movie scene was a reflection of society at the time, from the
change in 1960’s which was predominantly dominated by a sexualised culture. The
1970’s were a bleak time with many things going wrong. However, the horror movie
scene was still thriving with new ideas and it birthed arguably the scariest horror
film of all time ‘The Exorcist’ released in 1973 and directed by ‘William Friedkin’.
Even by today’s standards the effects within the film are deemed as excellent and
the story was hyped by producers with ambulances waiting outside of cinemas for
petrified viewers. ‘The Exorcist’ also helped bring a new theme to the genre of
horror which was possession it is made to be one of the defining films in the genre.
Promotional poster
for ‘The Exorcist’ in
1973.
Linda Blair playing the role of the
possessed child ‘Regan MacNeil in
‘The Exorcist’

11. The 1980’s
In the 1980’s the film industry had finally caught up with special effects and visual
effects and started incorporating them into the film genre. The new special effects
could now make body deformation makeup and also realistic props. One of the
defining horror films of the 1980’s was ‘The Shining’ the set for the film was one of
the biggest of all time and the time elapsed for shooting was just over a year. ‘The
Shining’ was a horror film like the world hadn’t seen before it was based on a 1977
novel of a haunted hotel. A father of a family gets possessed by the hotel and tries
murdering his family.
Promotional film poster
for the 1980 film ‘The
Shining’
Jack Nicholson as ‘Jack
Torrance’ in the 1980 film
‘The Shining’

12. The 1990’s
Arguably throughout the 1990’s the horror movie industry was predominantly ruled
by thrillers and psychological thrillers, one of the most defining films of this era was
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ released in 1991, directed by Jonathan Demme. The film
follows the story of a special agent who attempts to track down a notorious serial
killer alongside the help of a jailed psychopath.
The film is one of many thrillers of the decade and one of the most popular.
T The promotional
poster for ‘The
Silence of the
Lambs released in
1991.
This image shows the actor
Hannibal Lecter who plays
the role of ‘Anthony Hopkins’
the cannibalistic serial killer
in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’

13. The 2000’s
The 21st century started arguably one of the most suspenseful and iconic trilogies
of all time. ‘The Final Destination’ franchise, this long running film series features
features of both pure horrific gore with a psychological element showing the
premonitions of death and how the story will unfold. However instead of most other
horror films, there is no apparent incumbent killer, however the killer is time and a
misfortunate fate. The first ‘Final Destination’ film was released in 2001 and was a
box office success, going on to make another 5 films. The film series features
generic conventions of gore, blood, death and disaster. The most recent film in the
trilogy was ‘The Final Destination’ being released in 2009 with even more
developed special and visual effects.