THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORROR

GENRE

Clarissa

Thompson

1930’S – 1940’S

During the early period of talking pictures, the American movie studio Universal Pictures began a successful Gothic horror films.Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931) was quickly followed by James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931)Some of these blended science fiction films with gothic horror such as, The Invisible Man (1933) which featured the storyline of a mad scientist.These films were designed for thrill and incorporated more serious elements to the audience which was popular for many years after the release.The Mummy (1932) was first to introduce Egyptology as a theme for the genre.Make-up artist Jack Pierce was responsible for the iconic image of the monster and others in the series.Universals horror cycle continued into the 1940’s, these included The Wolf Man (1941).

1950’S – 1960’S

With advances in technology, the tone of horror films shifted from the Gothic towards

contemporary concerns of that time. The two sub-genres began to emerge: the horror of

Armageddon film and the horror of the demonic film. A steam of usually low-budget

productions featured humanity overcoming threats from “outside” i.e. alien invasions and

deadly mutations of people, plants and insects. An example of this the horror film Japan

Godzilla (1954) based on the mutation from the effects of nuclear radiation. Some horror films

during this period, such as The Thing from Another World (1951) and Invasion of the Body

Snatchers(1956), managed to channel the paranoia of the Cold War into atmospheric creepiness.

Filmmakers continued to merge elements of science fiction and horror over the following decades.

During the later 1950s, Great Britain emerged as a producer of horror films. The Hammer company

focused on the genre for the first time, enjoying huge international success from films involving

classic horror characters which were shown in colour for the first time.

1970’S TO 1980’S

The end of the Production Code of America in 1964, the financial successes of the low-budget

gore films of the ensuing years, and the critical and popular success of Rosemary’s Baby, led

to the release of more films with occult themes in the 1970s. The Exorcist (1973), the first of

these movies, was a significant commercial success, and was followed by scores of horror

films in which the Devil represented the supernatural evil, often by impregnating women or

possessing children. The genre also included gory horror movies with sexual overtones. The

ideas of the 1960s began to influence horror films, as the youth involved in the

counterculture began exploring the medium. Wes Cravens The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and

Tobe Hooper’s; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) recalled the Vietnam war; George A.

Romero satirized the consumer society in his zombie sequel, Dawn of the Dead (1978).

Movie sub-genre by exploring contemporary fears about technology and

society, and reinventing "body horror", starting with Shivers (1975). In

1975, Steven Spielberg began his ascension to fame with Jaws (1975).

The film kicked off a wave of killer animal stories. Jaws is often credited

as being one of the first films to use traditionally B movie elements such

as horror and mild gore in a big-budget Hollywood film. Alien (1979)

combined the naturalistic acting and graphic violence of the 1970s with

the monster movie plots of earlier decades, and used science fiction

1990’SIn the first half of the 1990s, the genre continued many of the themes

from the 1980s. The slasher films A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday

the 13th, Halloween and Childs Play all saw sequels in the 1990s, most

of which met with varied amounts of success at the box office, but all

were panned by fans and critics. New Nightmare, with In the Mouth of

Madness (1995), The Dark Half (1993), and Candyman (1992), were

part of a mini-movement of self-reflexive or metafictional horror films.

Each film touched upon the relationship between fictional horror and

real-world horror. Candyman, for example, examined the link between

an invented urban legend and the realistic horror of the racism that

produced its villain. Two main problems pushed horror backward

during this period: firstly, the horror genre wore itself out with the

proliferation of nonstop slasher and gore films in the eighties.

To re-connect with its audience, horror became more self-mockingly ironic and

outright parodic, and mixed ironic humour with the shocks (despite Scream 2

and 3 utilising less use of the humour of the original, until Scream 4 in 2011,

and rather more references to horror film conventions). Along with I Know

What You Did Last Summer (written by Kevin Williamson as well) and Urban

Legend, they re-ignited the dormant slasher film genre. Secondly, the

adolescent audience which feasted on the blood and morbidity of the previous

decade grew up, and the replacement audience for films of an imaginative

nature were being captured instead by the explosion of science-fiction and

fantasy films, courtesy of the special effects possibilities with advances made in

computer-generated imagery.

2000’SThe start of the 2000s saw a quiet period for the genre. The release of an extended

version of The Exorcist in September 2000 was successful despite the film having been

available on home video for years. Valentine (2001), notably starring David Boreanaz, had

some success at the box office, but was derided by critics for being formulaic and relying

on foregone horror film conventions. Franchise films such as Freddy vs. Jason also made a

stand in theatres. Final Destination (2000) marked a successful revival of teen-centered

horror and spawned four sequels. The Jeepers Creepers series was also successful. Films

such as Orphan, Wrong Turn, Cabin Fever, House of 1000 Corpses, and the previous

mentions helped bring the genre back to Restricted ratings in theatres.

2000s continued A French horror film Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) became the

second-highest-grossing French language film in the United States in the last two

decades.

The success of foreign language foreign films continued with the Swedish films

Marianne (2011) and Let the Right One In (2008), which was later the subject of

a Hollywood remake, Let Me In (2010). Another trend is the emergence of

psychology to scare audiences, rather than gore. The Others (2001) proved to be

a successful example of psychological horror film. A minimalist approach which

was equal parts Val Lewton’s theory of "less is more" (usually employing the low-

budget techniques utilized on The Blair Witch Project, 1999) has been evident,

particularly in the emergence of Asian horror movies which have been remade

into successful Americanized versions, such as The Ring (2002), and The Grudge

(2004). In March 2008, China banned the movies from its market.

WHY HAS THE GENRE CHANGED?

 Over the years the horror genre has changed quite a bit, A lot of this is down the to advances

in technology. As the years go on the technology gets to a higher level and a greater standard

therefore making it a lot easier to creates characters, as masks & costumes can be made much

easier and to abetter level. Effects can now be created and added in the make the film more

scary, this could not of been done on the scale in can be now in the2000s then say the 1930s

as the technology is very different and multiple times better. Another reason for the change of

the horror genre would be the place the horror movie was made, different countries mean

different audiences, for example Asian & Japanese horror is very different to western horror as

the cultures are different, they different elements within them. Asian horror will have more of

a depth to the story line and not consist of multiple gorey scenes, giving them more of a

creepy feel. Whereas Western horror movies don’t go into as much depth and are less creepy

and more gory, as they will have a lot more bloody gory scenes.