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Introduction
Horror is a film genre designed to get a scared reaction from the audience. It normally has a supernatural element in which something strange happens to a noramal person. The person is then powerless to it which creates fear, scaring the viewers. Horror films have made a huge success over the years and here is a timeline showing you about horror from the 1930s to the 2000s.
Enjoy!! :) -
Horror Films Reborn...
Horror films had just really began, scaring a lot of people but they enjoyed it, wanting more horror films. Some of the most famous round this time were:
Dracula-1931
This was a one of the first very successful movies of horror.
Starring Bela Lugosi
Frankenstein-1931
Which was also a very successful film. Starring Colin Clive.
There was also Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. Starring Boris Karloff who has featured in a great amount of successful horror films. -
1940's
Universal Pictures started a successful gothic genre making other studios follow in their footsteps. Here are some films from the 40s
The body snatcher-1945
Cat People-1942
Cat People tells the story of a young Serbian woman, Irena, who believes herself to be a descendant of a race of people who turn into cats when sexually aroused.
I Walked With A Zombie-1943
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Betsy Connell a Canadian nurse relates in a voiceover how she once "walked with a zombie" -
1950s
With better technology the genres changed from gothic to more of concerns in life. Using elements of sci-fi.
films from the 50s:
Godzilla- 1954
A giant monster mutated by nuclear radiation who ravages Japan.
The Incredible Shrinking Man- 1957
Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.
The Tingler-1959
scientist who discovers a parasite in human beings, called a "Tingler", which feeds on fear. -
1960s
Thw two main genres were horror of armegeddon and demonic. Ghosts and monsters were still frequent but many films used supernatural elements to portray horror.
Some films in the 60s:
The Haunting-1963
About a team of paranormal investigators and a house where they stay for several nights.
Night of The Living Dead-1968
People trapped in a farmhouse in Pennsylvania which is attacked by "living dead" known as zombies. -
1970s
Although the 70s were quite a disappointment horror was getting better and better. Many of the films focused on children and portrayed them in a way you would never expect.
For example- Exocist- 1973
Screenwriter William Peter Blatty.
It has been voted one of the most scariest films ever.
It was banned from the UK until 1999 because people thought it was sickening and wrong. -
1980s
There were less monsters involved in the 80s as people began to realise this wasn't actually that scary. Directors could now use special effects to scare people. This made the audience use their own minds resulting to scaring themselves. Directors also used more blood and gore which made the audience feel sick and fearful but yet they still couldn't stop watching.
A film from the 80s: The Shining 1980
An evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence. -
1990s
During the 1990s people started to enjoy a thriller horror. They liked the idea of having a serial killer on the loose and having you on the edge of your seats watching the victims escape.
Example: Scream
A killer begins killing off teenagers, a girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the "rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one. -
2000s
Horror films hit a low point in this time period as people were more interested in happy fils due to the event of the Twin Towers. By 2005 people were more than happy to watch a good horror movie again.
For example: Final Destination
Director: James Wong
A teenager has a vision of him and his friends dying on a plane crash because he prevents the crash, death hunts them down and kills them one by one.
