History of horror

HISTORY OF HORROR

Horror’s roots in classic literatureFrankenstein Written in 1818 by Mary Shelley A horror/science fiction combination (Brief, spoiler free) tells the story of a scientist

Victor Frankenstein who wanted to reanimate the dead. He builds a creation out of cadavers which goes on a rampage

The story is responsible for inspiring the beginning of the science fiction genre

In 1910 the film enraged parents at the time for its graphic scenes (including the drowning of a child) and Christians as it depicted playing God

Horror’s roots in classic literatureDracula Written in 1897 by Bram Stoker Film made in 1931 and directed

by Tod Browning (Brief, spoiler free) tells the story

Jonathan Harker who meets and must escape from the vampire Dracula

The idea of being bitten by a bat and having diseases/infections spread added to the fear

Horror’s roots in classic literatureDr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Novel published in 1886 by Robert Louis

Stevenson (Brief, spoiler free) tells the story of Dr

Jekyll who has two personalities with two very opposite levels of morality

Today we still use the phrase ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ to refer to people who have different moral characters

The horror of the silent era

People enjoyed seeing ghosts on camera and the technique of superimposition became very popular

Films at the time included ‘The Golem’ and ‘Nosferatu’ The Golem, 1915, dubbed ‘the first monster movie’ was

based on the Jewish legends about a clay man. There were three films made in total however the first two have been lost or damaged over time and are no longer viewable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uZO_Kd3kkwE

Nosferatu, 1922, was the first vampire movie. Many scenes involved the use of lighting and shadows to create an eerie effect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcyzubFvBsA

The primal animal within

Werewolves Adolf means ‘noble wolf’ in old German The main fear at the time was of the war

and its lingering effects Werewolves were compared to Nazi’s

as the idea of biting humans and them turning into another was similar to how Hitler was making people join his army.

The primal animal within

Cats During the war, men left to fight leaving the

women behind to fill their roles in their jobs Women felt their freedom was taken taken

from them as men returned and they wanted rights to other forms of work

The movie ‘Cat People’ involved women dominating men and holding power, reflecting the current state of matters

Aliens and monsters

For example, ‘The Thing’ and ‘War of the Worlds’ Blue screen technology allowed for the turning of

regular animals into monsters The obsession derives from the fear of the atom bomb

(and destruction created by a non-human cause) Monster movies of the 50’s were the first blockbusters ‘Invasion of the body snatchers’ referred to

communism where everyone’s bodies were taken over and they all became the same

Today we are still obsessed with unknown creatures however we are less scared, hence films such as Monsters Inc.

Ghosts, Zombies, Satanism and your family

These films reflected the grim outlook of the 1970’s

Children were often involved as they made the threat feel close to home

The Exorcist was banned in the UK until 1999 and was voted the

scariest movie of all time Ghosts were partially inspired by

the monsters of the 50’s

Slasher

Features violent killing or mutilation, for example ‘Scream’ and ‘Friday the 13th’

They hit off in the 80’s with technology which allowed for more graphic special effects

Killers, even if they are human, still have inhuman roots such as Jason and Freddy

80’s horror films all seem a little over the top because the filmmakers were enjoying their freedom to do so

Audiences became fascinated with the human body therefore maiming and mutilation became popular

Video nasties

These films were not released in cinemas, they went straight to VHS

Many films were banned such as ‘Axe’ ‘Blood Bath’ and ‘The Evil Dead’ because VHS distribution was unregulated, therefore children had access to them

They were typically over the top gore fests with very little plot

In 1993 the film ‘Childs Play 3’ was blamed for influencing two 10 year olds to kill and torture a 3 year old, however many, including the police, did not blame the film

‘Gorenography’/’Torture porn’ These are heavily brutal gore fests with little

plot or character development, similar to video nasties

Films include ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and the ‘Saw’ franchise

People enjoy these films as they get a thrill out of being pushed out of their comfort zone

Torture was not a new theme to the big screen however the way it was portrayed

and its detail made it suddenly more ‘real’