The document traces the history and evolution of horror films from their origins in Gothic literature in the 1700s through modern eras. Early silent films from the 1890s drew inspiration from Gothic novels and experimented with techniques like stop motion. German Expressionist films of the 1920s developed a distinctive visual style using expressionism. The 1930s saw the rise of Universal's Gothic horror cycle with films like Dracula and Frankenstein, helped by the advent of sound. Subsequent decades saw the genres influenced by psychology, sexuality, gore, and found footage films in modern times.

1. HISTORY OF HORROR

2. WHAT IS HORROR?
a) An intense feeling of shock, fear or disgust.
b) Something that causes a specific feeling
c) An intense feeling of dismay
d) A bad or mischievous person… normally/especially children
The word horror originates from Latin. ‘Horrere’

3. WHERE DID IT ALL START?
"If movies are the dreams of the mass culture... horror movies are the nightmares"
— Stephen King, Danse Macabre
Since technology has been drastically changing so have the quality on horror films. But what
was the first horror film and how did the audience find it?
Gothic literature was around in 1700’s and funnily enough this is where many people found
there inspiration for making their horror films. It was developed by writers in both Great Britain
and United States. The gothic part is due to the buildings in which these writers would write
these novels. The buildings were medieval such as old castles and dungeons.
Writers who started writing Gothic Novels?
Mary Shelley
Bram Stoker
Edgar Allan Poe

4. THE SILENT ERA
Horror films found their inspiration from gothic literature… this was all because they saw how
popular it became with books and the theatre.
Although the term horror was not used within film until 1930s, early film makers showed an
interest in the macabre as it is evident from this clip from ‘spook tale’ from 1985 which was
created by the lumiere brothers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNReoA8BV_Y
Silent films in the tens and twenties were seen to be exploration in this film making medium.
There were several experimental silent films such as:
The Haunted Castle 1896 George Melies Silent Film :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmKaz3Quzo
The Haunted House, silent film from 1908. Directed by Segundo de Chomón. Impressive use
of stop motion tricks for era. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo2EKNRIQlE

5. GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM
German expressionism was a style of cinema that emphasised expressionism over realistic
visions of reality. It started off as a big thing throughout Europe and German filmmakers who
started off this unique style of film which took place within world war 1. With an already
internationally powerful Hollywood, the German cottage film industry grew quite quickly and
creatively. A consortium of German industries came together and convinced the German
military of the importance of a German film unit – this would become the Universum-Film
Aktiengesellschaft – the UFA. Unfortunately by the time the company was operational,
Germany had lost the war, and the UFA turned it’s goals to producing films for profit.
On the slate in 1919 was a film written by Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz with Robert Wiene
as director: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkWdNeZnBCA

6. In the first few years the German industries were allotted power on a quota basis. UFA had used
up almost all their quota that year so the filmmakers decided to paint the shadows on the set
rather than try to create them naturally with electric light.
This technique combined with the
sharp angles and bizarre perspective
distortion created an unforgettable
look that established German
Expressionism both artistically and
as a commercially popular style of
cinema.

7. HORROR FILMS GOT SOUND
The impact and difference that sound brought to the film industry, transforming cinema in the
late 1920s. It was a big leap, and probably more so for horror than any other genre except
perhaps the musical – just try turning off the sound on your favourite horror film – it just
wouldn’t have the same impact. During the silent era, Universal was responsible for the few
achievements in American horror most mainly for The Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback
of Notre Dame both starring Lon Chaney. But in the 30s, Universal got into horror by kicking
off with the Universal Gothic horror cycle.
Their first hit was Dracula, directed Tod Browning and lensed by UFA cinematographer Karl
Freund starring the Hungarian Bela Lugosi in 1931:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UehobGtSnOk

8. James Whale continued the cycle with Frankenstein with Boris Karloff also in 1931.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5FtI472Q6I
Karl Freund even got a shot at the director’s chair with The Mummy in 1932.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IzLO9AN6Hc
Followed by James Whale again with the Invisible Man in 1933,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkgtELqwkNI
Stuart Walker’s Werewolf in London 1935
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDiECXLX8o
Hambert Hillyer’s Dracula’s Daughter in 1936.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_2YyzNAT98

9. Universal Gothic Horror Cycle began to lose steam and fall into the pit of self parody with titles
like The Invisible Man Returns, The Mummy’s Hand, and Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man in
1943. Moving into 1940s, the Universal Monsters stable started to be treated like Batman
villains bringing all the characters together in 1944’s House of Frankenstein and 1945’sHouse
of Dracula. And by 1948 when Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in a surprising popular
comedy outing, Universal would retire the first string of monsters from serious horror
filmmaking.

10. PSYCHOLOGY, SEX AND GORE
From the 1960s on we begin to see a massive explosion of styles and cycles into the horror
genre as it gained both in popularity, Prestige and freedom once the restrictive censorship of
the Production Code was abandoned in 1964. No discussion of the horror film could be even
self respecting without the mention of the Maestro himself: Alfred Hitchcock. Honing his
precise abilities to play an audience like a musical instrument, it was 1960’s Psycho that
shocked audiences into believing horror could be more than B-Film Fare. Unlike the monsters
of previous horror cycles, Norman Bates was rooted in reality – an every day human on the
outside but a psychological monster in the
mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWHYmNrAFlI
Between 1957 and 1974, Hammer cranked out 7 Frankenstein movies, 6 Draculas, 9 other
vampire outings, 2 Jekyll & Hydes, and 3 Mummy films. The Hammer Studio, located on the
banks of the River Thames between Bray and Windsor even became the setting of it’s own
parody – as it’s country style Down Place mansion was used as the set for Rocky Horror
Picture Show in 1975, a film that in itself is a send up of the Hammer Horror style.

11. THE 90’S AND MODERN HORROR
Monster films turned increasingly to CGI effects for scares such as Species, and Anacoda.
But there are Three modern horror film cycles arose in late nineties and into the 2000s that
are somewhat unique to our modern era. Torture Porn as it is disparagingly labeled, is the
modern reboot of the Splatter films going back to the Hammer Horror era. This latest cycle
emphasizes intense gore, grunge and often tortuous violence. The Saw franchise, the most
successful horror film franchise of all time, is considered the first in the latest crop of splatter
films with it’s first installment in 2004 by James Wan. This was followed by Eli Roth’s Hostel in
2005 – where the moniker toture porn was coined by critic David Edelstein. Psychological
Horror and Thriller have remained popular throughout the 90s and 2000s including films
like Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Se7en,The Others and The Ring.

12. The Blair Witch Project directed by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick and released in 1999
represents the first major film in the modern found footage horror sub-genre. Though a borrowed
idea from Cannibal Holocaust from 1980, The Blair Witch Project used the device of piecing
together first hand footage to reconstruct the last terrifying moments of the original eye witness.
Blair Witch also holds the title of being one of the first films ever to be marketed almost entirely
through the internet. The found footage device would go into common use from small films like
Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity in 2007 and even large creature films like Matt
Reeves’ Cloverfield in 2008.
Blair Witch Project (1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Hw4bAUj8A
Cannibal Holocaust (1980) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Or3YWG03k
Cloverfield(2008) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNkGm8mxiM