Horror through time

Roots in classic literature: Such classic books as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley are thought to have inspired the horror film, especially seeing as Frankenstein was one of the first ever horror films, and is still regarded as one of the most classical and popular horror characters of all time.

1920's: the 1920's was the birth decade of the horror films, introducing the first ever of its kind. At this time, the movies mostly showed the suffering of the German audience in the wake of the first world war. these included such films as Nosferatu, and the cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

!930's saw the first horror movie with sound, which added an extra element to the horror. The films in this era were made as an escape from the great depression, and still included inspiration from classic horror books, introducing characters such as Frankenstein, Dracula and King Kong.

1940's saw the American creation of wartime films, created solely for the domestic audience of the second world war. the movies were mostly based around primal animals, especially wolves as in these films they symbolised evil, and was related to Hitler and his fondness of wolves. These films changed people into animals, to show the primal urges behind the war. Films such as cat people, werewolf of London and the wolf man were the most popular films of this era.

1950’s: some of the horror films of this decade were: the blob, Godzilla, house of wax, the creature from the black lagoon, invasion of the body snatchers, the abominable snowman, the mummy, plan 9 from outer space, as well as countless sequels of Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, and werewolf movies. Movies such as the blob and invasion of the body snatchers were both about communism, and how communists were evil. At this time, just after the second world war, this was a very popular topic, hating communists. The blob portrayed communism as a mass, absorbing and destroying everything in its path, whereas invasion of the body snatchers showed it more as people being possessed by communism, it was seen a lot as something completely evil, for reason so obvious during the 1950’s. Godzilla also comes off the topic of the second world war, from the Japanese point of view, Godzilla, being a mutant lizard, terrorising everything, all came from nuclear radiation mutating the lizard, coming from how the USA nuclear bombed japan at the end of the second world war. These films were all immensely popular, and also, they helped restore order after the war, as people could relate to the films, they would make people hate that the war happened too.

1960/70's showed fear that people had within their own family, portraying parents, siblings, and even children as evil, showing that evil can be a lot closer to home than people may think, with things such a murders happening so close to home. The introduction of zombie films represented the laziness of American society. the night of the living dead was the main zombie film of this era, and the shining and the exorcist being about the family.

Hammer horror was founded in 1934, but only started producing films around between 1955-1979. Their biggest successes were during the 60's, using solid story lines, sex, and graphic violence to obtain its target audience. Hammer made a comeback in 2012 with The woman in black, which was a massive hit.

1980's was the arrival of the slasher horror, which was only now possible with the advances in technology and make up effects possible. this also caused some films to be seen as too graphic, so they were banned, but in the USA, they were still available illegally. these were called video nasties. the most popular slasher films were Friday the 13th and a nightmare on elm street.

Gorenography is a much more recent addition to horror films, including such films as the hostel series and the saw series. These films have no plot, just literally torture all the way through, for people who enjoy watching torture. These films are thought to have stemmed from the fact that the US army had been torturing people they had held captive, and that people would find this interesting to watch.