German Expressionism was an early 20th century art movement originating in Germany that emphasized subjective emotions and ideas over objective reality. Artists used simplified shapes, bright colors, and expressive brushstrokes. There were two main groups, Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, led by artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Wassily Kandinsky. While initially a pre-World War II style, it had a post-war resurgence. Expressionism conveyed social and political views through a mindset rather than a single style. Film noir was a 1940s-50s American crime genre characterized by cynical heroes, stark lighting, flashbacks, and an existential philosophy influenced by German Expressionist

1. Stylistic Influences
on Modern Horror
Anese Maliqi

2. German Expressionism
• German Expressionism is a
cultural movement that is
not easy to define as it is
not acknowledged by a
singular style or method of
creation, but rather is
better described by both the
mindset of the artist
creating the work and the
generation he or she lived
in. The German
Expressionists were artists,
writers, and thinkers who
were of age in Germany prior
to World War II, and lived
during Wilhelm II’s reign.
German Expressionism
developed as a result of the
younger generation’s
reaction against the
bourgeois culture of Germany
during this time period.
German Expressionism can be
understood as a means of
approaching life and, in
particular, change. A number
of Expressionists shared the
“belief that literature was
capable of effecting
profound changes in
society.”[1] German
Expressionist literature
frequently focused on the
individual and his or her
role in the story being
told.

3. German Expressionism
German expressionism was an early twentieth century German art movement that
emphasized the artist's inner feelings or ideas over replicating reality, and was characterized
by simplified shapes, bright colors and gestural marks or brushstrokes. There were two main
groups of German expressionist artists: Die Brücke (the bridge) led by Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) led by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc.
While German Expressionism is generally considered to be a pre-World War II movement, it
came back into fashion in some circles after the war ended. The German Expressionist
movement was more than just a style of creating works of art or of telling a story, rather it
was more of a mindset that had social, cultural, and political aspects.

4. Film Noir (Dark Film)
• “Film noir, (dark film) is a style of filmmaking characterized by such
elements as cynical heroes, stark lighting effects, frequent use of flashbacks,
intricate plots, and an underlying existentialist philosophy”. The genre was
most common in American crime dramas of the post-World War II era.
• Early examples of the noir style include dark, stylized detective films such
as John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1941), Frank Tuttle’s This Gun for
Hire (1942), etc.

5. Film Noir
• According to Schrader, the first element was World War II and post-war
discouragement. Many of the films during the 1930s and early 1940s were
propaganda-type films that were designed to cheer people's bleak attitude
towards the difficult times of the Depression and World War II.
• The second element was post-war realism. According to Schrader, post-war
Americans wanted an legitimacy that was lacking in earlier high-class plays.
Americans wanted a harsh view of society from the perspective of everyday
people on the streets.
• The third element was the German influence. During the 1930s, especially
after the rise of Nazism, many German and Eastern Europeans immigrated
to the United States and helped influence the American film industry. Their
main influence in film noir is with aesthetics. They brought along
expressionist lighting, which used artificial studio lighting to create
shadows, oblique and vertical lines, and irregular light patterns. This is
known as film Noir.