Horror has always been a popular genre among people because of its ability to terrify those of all ages. Its scary nature can leave audiences horrified, puzzled, or even thrilled. But why is it how it is now? How horror came to be nowadays is a long process of finding what makes the audience of the time afraid. And seeing what was out at the time can explain a lot about their society and political issues. Horror explores the darkest parts of humanity and it says a lot.
Horror’s creation dates back to the late 19th century. The first horror movie was “Le Manoir du Diable” (its English translation being “The Haunted Castle” or “The House of the Devil”) a 3-minute film made by French illusionist and film director George Mellies. His film introduced now-classic horror elements, like cauldrons, bats, ghosts, and even the devil. While it originally wasn’t intended to scare, it was the first film that included supernatural elements, ultimately making it the precedent of what would come. Anyways, horror persisted in the 1920s and 30s. Despite their lackluster technology, filmmakers still frightened their audiences. This era saw much more supernatural horror, mainly based on past literature. Examples would be iconic titles like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Many of these films were about Victorians focusing on morality and scientific development contrasting with human emotions. Overall, fear of death was very common, especially since premature death was so normal because they lacked modern Western medicine.
The trends continue, now in the 1940s and 50s, people are frightened of themselves. War is raging in Europe and people are terrified of nuclear fallout and its consequences. Horror now has a less supernatural focus than before, focusing on murderous monsters emerging from nuclear fallout and creatures invading Earth. Films with those themes described are Godzilla, When Worlds Collide, and The Incredible Shrinking Man. But war times ended, and audiences wanted something more exciting. The late 50s and early 60s tried to spook their viewers. They implemented 3-D glasses, installed electric buzzers into seats, and even paid stooges to scream. This didn’t do much and resulted in stupidly low-budget horror films. But this led to filmmakers being more experimental, and many films reflected the social issues around the U.S. like the themes of racism in Night of the Living Dead or abortion in Rosemary’s Baby.
Then, in the 70s and 80s, supernatural horror came back. This trend was primarily kickstarted by movies like The Exorcist and The Omen. Like before, it was mainly based on literature. But instead of being folktales or some Victorian author, horror was based on Stephen King’s books. So, taking his creative storytelling and captivating characters, out came icons like Carrie and The Shining. However, events like the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Watergate Scandal, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy made society a lot more fearful of those around us. So slasher movies also kickstarted alongside the supernatural, but slashers ran through into the 80s. The reason they were so terrifying then is because they have a crazed maniac chasing down children by the masses. Usually, the setting would be in suburban neighborhoods, which have always been considered safe havens for families to settle. So, having teens slaughtered where it’s supposed to be safe shook the safety feeling of these audiences. Arguably Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre made slasher horror take off with their release in the 70s. Slashers in the 80s were a big hit or miss, many were just low-budget films with crazy knife-wielding killers hunting down high schoolers in clever ways. Despite their cheapness, some became cult classics despite their mixed criticism at the time, some of these being Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The slasher genre lost its spark as time moved along. Horror lost its defining genre but has had many big hits, like Scream and The Blair Witch Project, which were met with overwhelming success. There’s been a couple of box office successes in the 2000s, but nothing revolutionary. However, it did see a resurgence in the zombie genre, with movies like World War Z, Resident Evil, 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead, I Am Legend, and Zombieland. There’s lots more to be said about 90s and 2000s horror but there’s not much of a clear trend within these past two decades aside from small trends popping up, like that zombie one. With all of our modern technological advancements, horror has expanded a lot, so there’s a lot more creative freedom than what we could previously achieve. And filmmakers have taken advantage of this. There’s been a lot of creative films nowadays, like Cabin in the Woods, Get Out, It Follows, Hereditary, Midsommer, and Us, to name a few. Overall, the horror genre has seen a lot of change and it has come a long way since its beginning. While socio-political influences used to rule it, horror now offers a plethora of genres to pick from where everyone can find something they like.
