History of Film and HorrorKieran Panchal – G321 Genre Research

The Introduction of the ‘Gothic’ Tradition

• The first noted ‘Horror’ piece comes from 1764, from literature – a novel known as The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole. Although this was long before the idea of film and cinema, it is thought that this was the novel that ‘started the craze’ and triggered many other writers to consider mystery and the supernatural.

• Throughout the 18th century, novelists began to experiment with this darker form of writing, when in 1818 the first great recognisable horror classic ‘Frankenstein’ was published.

• In the 1830’s famous writer Edgar Allen Poe began to experiment with the gothic genre.

The First Film - 1896• The first film to ever be produced was in 1896, and was

produced by ‘The Lumiere brothers’, of a train coming into a station and people getting off of it. When looking at the single minute of film in the modern day we would not consider it to be massively important when compared to films around now, however, the film was a huge break through for cinema.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Ppp5902Yg

The First Horror Film - 1896

• After a whole century passing with the rise of horror literature came the first production of a ‘horror’ film – titled ‘Le Manoir Du Diable’ (The Devil’s Castle). The film appeared to be based around a supernatural figures such as ghosts in the house and similarly to the workings of Horace Warpol, it set a milestone in horror history.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGKz-JYRmXo

The introduction of Colour - 1918• The next major breakthrough in the film industry was the

introduction of colour, with footage from ‘Cupid Angling’ in 1918.The use of colour meant that viewers could experience a far more realistic image, contributing to them having an overall better experience of watching video. However, colour film was very expensive to produce and so it was scarcely used until a few decades later – with films such a ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in 1938.

Frankenstein and Dracula (Early 1930’s)For many, the first true examples of effective horror films were Frankenstein and Dracula. Unlike many previous films, these were full length (approx. 2hrs), and arguably the first of their kind to create many of the conventions of the horror genre that we still use today.

The 1940’s

Due to the second world war, cinema and film was generally put on hold during this period, as well as in the late 1930’s – causing a large decline in horror movie production. However, there were some notable and significant movies created in the decade - many concentrating on traditional horror characters such as The Mummy and Frankenstein. Some of the most popular 1940’s films include:• Wolf Man • Cat People• House of Dracula

The Rise of the Mutant - 1950s• Now that the war was over, people could get back to creating

and enjoying film once again. During this era, many of the horror films created saw a new breed of antagonist. This was a trend of mutant-style characters taking over cities or invading large areas for example. Some examples are:

• Godzilla• The Thing From Another World• The Creature from the Black Lagoon• The Blob

The Thriller – 1960’s

Originating from the horror genre, the 1960’s saw the introduction of the ‘Thriller’. A Thriller is: “a genre of film that used suspense, tension and excitement as it’s main elements, typically involving crime or .” This mainly stemmed from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ – a famous breakthrough film considered to be one of the best of it’s kind to the modern day. Even in this period, the use of monochrome filming was normal, as colour was still hugely expensive.

The Surge of the 70s• Overall, the decade of the 70s was seen as a depressing one,

after the somewhat climatic 60’s. However, there are theories that as people become more depressed, films improve – and this was definitely the case with the 70’s. The trend in this decade seemed to be children becoming the antagonists, like in the Exorcist. Generally, the 70s was a great year for horror film, and saw some of today’s most iconic films produced. For example:

• Jaws• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre• The Exorcist• The Last House on the Left• Alien• Halloween

The Beginning of FX – 1980s• The horror film industry began to experience something brand

new as the 1980’s went by: the introduction of visual effects. This was the first time that there had been much experimentation with costume, character and set – creating an even scarier product, taken to new dimensions. A trend during this era was to be explicit. Whereas in the 50s and 60s it was seen better to hide certain things in the shadows, the 80’s saw everything shown to the camera.

• The Evil Dead• Hellraiser• Friday the 13th

• The Shining• The Thing

The Birth of the Serial Killer – 90s• By the 1990’s, film makers tended to find that the days of

monsters and entirely fictional antagonists were over – to a point where audiences began to find them funny rather than scary. This lead to the trend of the serial killer antagonist. Although many of these were seen as thrillers, many still followed horror conventions. By now, film making was much more advanced, meaning that good effects and camera techniques could be adopted to produce modern day films.

• The Silence of the Lambs• Scream• Se7en• Bride of Chucky

2000s – Modern Day

Since 2000, the teenage horror has been a popular horror movie choice. This started in the 90s with films such as Scream introduced, where many of the lead characters were teenagers. I think that this change took place as in today’s society teenagers watching horror films are more accepted and common, therefore making films with similar-aged protagonists would be more relatable and therefore more scary. Now, we are the most technologically advanced than ever, so we are at the peak of movie production quality in my opinion, with films such as:• Saw• Paranormal Activity• The Ring