How horror films have changed over the years and what were the main characteristics of a horror film through decades

1. The History Of Genre
By Danielle Merrikin

2. The first horror film
The first horror films were short and silent. The first
was called Le Manoir du Diable which translates to
the house of the Devil. It was set in a castle which
seemed to be haunted as furniture moved by itself.
The film ended with a man holding a crucifix and
the devil then vanishes. Georges Méliès, the
director of the film, also made a few more short
films afterwards.

3. 1890s – 1920s
The films in this period were mainly based on
monsters and vampires. Quite a lot of horror films
were French or German however Hollywood
dramas started using horror themes within their
programmes such as The Phantom of The Opera.
They do also say the first Frankenstein was
produced in this decade but was lost.

4. 1930s – 1940s
This decade was all about gothic horror. A few
iconic films such as Dracula and Frankenstein were
produced which have had many interpretations of
the films throughout time. The films were all
intended to thrill people but also with a sense
seriousness. Most of the films lasted around 30
minutes, comparing to the decade previous, they
were beginning to get much longer.

5. 1950s – 1960s
This decade was all about aliens and over coming
invasions also a lot of sci-fi films were also made in
this period. First of all most films were low budget
films but by the end of the decade films began to
gross up to $12million. Britain soon fused into the
horror genre and made Dr. Terror’s House of Horror.
In the late 1960’s, content began to get more
explicit and violent. Ghosts and cannibals began
to start appearing in the 1960’s also.

6. 1970s – 1980s
This decade was mainly based on the supernatural.
Most films consisted of demons impregnating
young women with evil children or possessing them
such as the Exorcist which another icon horror film.
Most films were influenced by the ideas from the
1960s, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was one of
them. In the 1980s most horror films were cult
classics.

7. 1990s
In the early years most themes from the 1980s.
Many horror films started to base themselves on
real life situations which made tension when
watching them, films such as The Dark Half does
this. Eventually audiences wanted more and horror
films needed to consists of real things such an
Anaconda, this was helped by the use of CGI. Late
1990s teenagers began to re connect with the
genre when it started to add ironic humour.

8. 2000s
In this period, the horror genre seemed to be quite
as it done a lot of sequels such as Final Destination
also a few films merged into one such as Freddie
vs. Jason. Zombies soon returned however a lot of
people found them more thrilling than before. A lot
of violence and explicit content also emerged
once again. Many remakes of films were
produced as well.

9. Recent Horror Films
Most recent horror films use themes from earlier
decades but just use twists on them, one of these is
the Conjuring as it is about being possessed. They
all involve some sort of violence within them. They
are now more realistic and audiences are more
engaged, mainly young adults.