History of horror

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History of HorrorBy Nathan Francis

First horror film

The first sightings of supernatural events appear in several of the silent shorts created by the film pioneer Georges Melies in the late 1890s, the best known being Le Manior du diable, which is sometimes credited as being the first horror film.

Gothic period 1920s-1940s

In 1910, Edison studios produced the first film version of Frankenstein which was lost for many years. F. W. Murnau created the first vampire themed movie called Nosferatu which was an unauthorized adaption of Bram Stockers Dracula.

Aliens and Demons 1950s-1960s

With advances in technology, the tone of horror films shifted from gothic to more contemporary concerns, like Armageddon, alien invasions, supernatural demons and zombies. This change in the type of horror meant that it moved into a period of gore.

The Occult 1970s-1980s

Horror then began to focus more on the occult and demons and “evil children”, lot’s of them relating to Satan. During the mid 1970’s, two types of sub-genres emerged, one being slasher horror, like The Nightmare On Elm Street and the other being animal horror, like Jaws.

The horror continues 1990s-2000s

The horror films continued with these under lining sub genres for a while, mainly slasher movies as most of the slasher movies had sequels which were hugely successful.

Modern day horror

Modern day horror consists of almost all of these sub-genres, remakes of older movies are made and new content is being produced all of the time varying from psychological horror to gore to the occult. Most films nowadays try to be creepy which involves something that is not completely scary, just something that is not quit right and is eerie.

Main conventions in Horror

Music – Usually a single high pitched violin note or high pitched piano keys being played.

Lighting – Usually set in a dark environment with minimal lighting.

Setting – The setting is usually in places where you would expect something scary to happen, like a forest, or a secluded house in the middle of nowhere.

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Title – The title would usually be something short and snappy, usually beginning with “the” with a single word after it, for example, the ring, the strangers, the exorcist, the purge. The font of the title is usually sharp and creepy looking too.

Narrative – In almost every horror film, someone dies. Horror films don’t have to end with an equilibrium, they usually end on a death, or some sort of ending to their problem.

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Characters – The villain is usually someone that can’t be stopped, like a ghost or a supernatural being of some sort. Sometimes the villain can be a human, and when it is, they are usually deranged or insane or they have some sort of power. The main character isn’t set to usually being one gender like other genres, in horror, it could be a male or a female.