Horror Roots In Classic Literature:
Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley in 1818
Genre: horror, romance, science fiction.
Responsible for the beggining of the science fiction genre.
Parents complained that such graphic images of horror was being shown to their children.
Religions complained that only god could give life.
Dracula produced in 1931 by Tod Browning
In 1936 atleast two scenes were sensored from the film.
Draculas off camera death groans were removed as were Reinfolds screams as he is killed.
Monsters and mad scientists
During the 1930`s horror was reborn and featured monsters and mad scientists as the main characters. Sound became important as it meant tension could be built better.
Universal studios came about during this period and became famous for the creation of Frankenstein and Dracula. Which are both still famous today.
Famous films from this era...
Frankenstein
Dracula
King kong
The mummy
Freaks
In this period of time cinema offered an escape from the ominous war. 80 million Americans attended cinemas weeky. (65% of the population)
Werewolves and cat people 1940`s
During the ongoing war alot of focus was on Adolf Hitler he was famous for his obsession with wolves.
Adolf means noble wolf in German.
He made his change her name to Paula Wolf
All of this fuelled producers to make scarier horror films regarding werewolves.
So why use werewolves in films?... During the 1940`s war was upon Europe the idea that werewolves are essentially Nazi`s in the way that when they bite you, you become one of them terrified people.
In wolfman the werewolf dies this can be viewed as Hitler being defeated (propaganda)
When men went to fight in the war women were left to do their jobs. When the men came home the women returned to their homes they were unhappy about this and this resulted in films being made.
Women fit with cats well as they both appear to be sly and gracious with a motive to kill.
Aliens and monsters
Audiences were first introduced to aliens and monsters in the 1950`s The first alien film was called `Rocketship X-M' This then started a trend of sci films to be released.
Monters were made using blue screen techniques and was of cutting edge technology at the time. King kong (1933) had major sucess because of this) many producers saw this as a way of getting people away from t.v
This generations obsession of monster films came in co-existence with the atom bomb.
These movies gave producers to show humans in a positive light standing together to fight off evil races.
These movies of the 1950`s were the first blockbusters.
Because of the new obsession with space and aliens the race to space began Russia and America were the main contenders with America coming out on top eventually. Even now there is still an obsession with aliens and often humans try to guess their appearance sometimes even mocking them like in Monsters inc for example.
Hammer horror - A British sucess
Some films from this genre:
The abominable snowman
Dracula (1958)
The mummy (1959)
The curse of the werewolf (1961)
To the devil a daughter (1976)
Usaully in colour not black and white. The films actually began to focus on the victims not the killers.
Instead of being a killer Frankenstein was on a quest for knowledge
The rapid sucess in this era led to many more films being made.
Wheel of inspiration...Universal project---> Change script--->Audiences like--->Make another.
Ghosts, zombies, satanism and your family
Horror in the 70`s reflected the grim outlook of the decade. This however, was when big budget horror returned.
Movies in this decade dealt with psychological fears one of the main fears being childbirth.
The scariest film of this time was the exorcist it was banned until 1999 and voted the most scary film of all time. The idea that a child can be evil and do bad things terrified people. It also showed that a crumbling family can be dangerous and that horror can be closer to home.
Satanism comes into this as the person is possessed by the devil and the exorsism is to get rid of the devil.
Famous films from this era:
Rosemary`s baby
Carnival of souls
The stepford wives
Alice, sweet Alice
The Omen
Halloween
Slasher movies and body horror in the 80`s and their decent into postmodern parody
Slasher is a type of film that depicts some killing someone with a sharp object.
Body horror is the genre of graphically shown degeneration of the human body.
Slashers came about in the 1980`s due to advances in technology meaning an improvement in special effects.
Tom savini was massively popular in this period for his amazing make up artist work.
Titles from this era:
Scream
A nightmare on elm street
Fridy the 13th
Childs play
Prom night
Gorenography and torture porn
Gorenography is a film that has no real plot just focuses on showing gore. Many claim to be horrors but are really just disturbing.
Thanks to the 80`s and 90`s bringing about so many gory films. There was need for something else. This helped with the emergence that emphasises on depictations of torture sufferings and violent deaths.
Why these films are so popular:
People imagine these things in there head so all this is deemed normal
People like to see how far horror can be pushed
People get satisfaction from being out of there comfort zone.
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