This document summarizes horror movies from the 1950s through the 2000s. It provides examples of 5 influential horror films from each decade and analyzes trends in the genre. In the 1950s, horror films featured mystical creatures as villains and addressed Cold War fears. The 1960s saw a shift to films with human villains like Psycho and the introduction of zombies. The 1970s featured more gruesome films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist. Slashers dominated the early 1980s while the late 1980s had more comedic elements. The 1990s brought critical acclaim and serious posters. The 2000s introduced new subgenres like torture films and revisited zombies. Over the decades,
2. 1950s
Name 5 films in 50s:
Godzilla, The Night of the Hunter, Horror of Dracula, The Blob, House on Haunted Hill
As shown in the 2 posters from the 50s, both are designed very similarly to each
other. In these times your stereotypical horror film would feature mystical
creatures as the main villains.
In the 50s the cold war was in effect and many thought Godzilla represented
Russia stomping over America.
3. 1960s
Name 5 films in 60s:
Eyes without a face, The Little Shop of Horrors, Psycho, Black Sabbath, Night of The
Living Dead
As you can see the posters in the 50s and 60s its moved on a little bit from
mystical monster horror films to more human films with “Psycho”.
However the 60s introduced another mystical being that is still around today in
zombies.
4. 1970s
Name 5 films in 70s:
Carrie, Alien, Jaws, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist
The 70s lead into a more gruesome area of horror, upping the standards of fear
and changing horror films forever.
The posters were more dark and mysterious showing the films had a more evil
feel.
5. 1980s
Name 5 films in the 80s:
The Shining, Friday the 13th, Poltergeist, Fright Night, A Nightmare on Elm Street
The first half of the 80s was defined by slashers whilst the other half was more
light-hearted look at the genre mixing comical elements. A lot of the 80s horrors
were made from the Stephen King books as he was a very good horror writer.
As you can see the posters have grown to be more creepy to try and persuade
people to go and watch.
6. 1990s
Name 5 films in 90s:
Ghost, Candyman, Scream, Sleepy Hollow, Se7en
The early '90s brought unrivalled critical acclaim for the horror genre, such success
seemed to spur studios into funding large-scale horror-themed projects.
As shown both posters are very serious with close up people faces either showing
fear or being very serious and looking into the camera.
7. 2000s
Name 5 films in 2000s:
Final Destination, 28 Days Later, The Grudge, Saw, Zombieland
The 21st century brought new sorts of horror such as “Saw” a very gruesome
torture film. Also the likes of zombie films were re-introduced in new films like
“Zombieland” and “28 Days Later”.
These two are showing different types of ways to scare in posters as one with an
amputated hand and the other with a very creepy girl staring into the camera as if
it is looking at you.
8. Change in Years
As the years grew on horror gained more and more scary through different things
such as newly introduced mysterious beings such as zombies and films were made
more violent and gruesome as you get closer and into the millennium.
The horror in the 50s now isn’t scary to most as the horror back then is quite
funny as the quality of production has grown massively since then making them
films look terribly produced.
