Films prior to the 1930s, such as early German expressionist cinema and trick films, have been retrospectively described as horror films as the genre did not become a codified genre until the release of Dracula (1931). Dracula was a box office success, leading to Universal and several other American film studios to develop and popularise horror films well into the 1940s. By the 1950s, horror would often be made with science fiction themes, and towards the end of the decade horror was a more common genre of international productions.
The 1960s saw further developments, with material based on contemporary works instead of classical literature. The release of films like Psycho,Black Sunday and Night of the Living Dead led to an increase of violence and erotic scenes within the genre. The 1970s would expand on these themes with films that would delve into gorier pictures, as well as films that were near or straight pornographic hybrids. Genre cycles in this era include the natural horror film, and the rise of slasher films which would expand in the early 1980s. Towards the 1990s, postmodernism entered horror, while some of the biggest hits of the decade included films from Japan with the success of Ring (1998).
In the 21st century, streaming media popularised horror trends, whilst trends included torture porn influenced by the success of Saw, films using a "found footage" technique, and independent productions such as Get Out, Hereditary and the Insidious series which were box office hits.
Background
In his book Caligari's Children: The Film as Tale of Terror (1980), author Siegbert Solomon Prawer stated that horror films cannot be interpreted as following a linear historical path. Historians and critics like Carlos Clarens noted that while some film audiences at the time took films made by Tod Browning that starred Bela Lugosi with utmost seriousness, other productions from other countries saw the material set for parody, as children's entertainment or nostalgic recollection.[1] John Kenneth Muir in his books covering the history of horror films through the later decades of the 20th century echoed this statement, stating that horror films mirror the anxieties of "their age and their audience" concluding that "if horror isn't relevant to everyday life... it isn't horrifying".[2]
Prior to the release of Dracula (1931), historian Gary Don Rhodes explained that the idea of the horror film did not exist yet as a codified genre and although critics have used the term "horror" to describe films in reviews prior to Dracula's release, the term has not truly developed by this time as the genre's name.[3] The mystery film genre was in vogue and early information on Dracula being promoted as mystery film was common, despite the novel, play and film's story relying on the supernatural.[4]
Forms of filmmaking that would become film genres were mostly defined in other media before Thomas Edison devised the Kinetograph in the late 1890s.[5] Genres, such as adventure, detective stories, and Westerns were developed as written fiction while musical was a staple to theatre.[5] Author and critic Kim Newman stated that if something was referred to as a horror film in 1890, no one would have understood what it meant as a specific genre, while following up that these types of films were being made but were not categorized as such at the time.[5] Early sources of material that would influence horror films included gruesome or fantastical elements in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where heroes fight monsters, and the Bible, where plagues and apocalypses are discussed.[6] Beliefs in ghosts, demons and the supernatural have long existed in folklore of many cultures and religions, that would go on to be integral elements of horror films.[7][8]Zombies, for example, originated from Haitian folklore.[9] In Asian Horror, Andy Richards suggests that there is a "widespread and engrained acceptance of supernatural forces" in many Asian cultures, and suggests this is related to animist, pantheist and karmic religious traditions, as in Buddhism and Shintoism; these would go on to strongly influence horror cinema from the region.[8] Classical dramas also include elements later expanded upon by horror films, such as Hamlet, which includes vengeful spectres, exhumed skulls, multiple stabbings and characters succumbing to madness.[10]
In the nineteenth century, the word "horror" began to be used as a generic signation, albeit a rare one. In early cinema, trick films were sometimes described with various terms: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company sometimes called their films "fantastic", Selig Polyscope Company called such films "mythical and mysterious" while Vitagraph Studios both "mysterious" and "magical".[14] During the era of Nickelodeon exhibits, exhibitors would use the label "weird", with Frankenstein (1910) being advertised as "weird and wonderful" and Arturo Ambrosio's La maschera tragica (1911) a "weird story".[15] Newman described Georges MélièsLe Manoir du diable as the first horror film, with its imagery coming from centuries of books, legend and stage plays, featuring imagery of demons, ghosts, witches and a skeleton and a haunted castle which transforms into the devil.[16] The film has no story, but a series of trick shots and vaudeville acts filmed.[16] Méliès made over five hundred films between 1886 and 1914 ranging from historical recreation, religious films, dramas, literary adaptations and false newsreels.[16]
In the early 20th century as films became popular around the world films were production was so hectic that often told tales were made and then remade within months of each other.[17] Adaptations of the work with Poe were often adopted in France such as Le Puits dett le Pendule (1909) and America with The Sealed Room (1909) The Raven (1912) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1913).[18] Other famous horror characters made their film debut in the era including Frankenstein's monster with Edison's Frankenstein (1910), Life Without Soul (1915), and the Italian production Il mostro di Frankenstein (1921).[18] Several adaptations of other novels like The Picture of Dorian Gray were adapted around the world, including Denmark (Dorian Gray's Portaet (1910)), Russia (Portret Doryana Greya (1915)), Germany (Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray) and Hungary (Az élet királya (1918)).[18] The most adapted horror story was Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which included early adaptations like William Selig's Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1908). This was followed by several versions, including a British version of the story (The Duality of Man (1910)), a Danish production (Den skæbnesvangre Opfindelse (1910)), and another American film in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1912.[17] In 1920, three versions were made: J. Charles Haydon's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, John S. Robertson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and F. W. Murnau's Der Januskopf.[17]
A film movement that appeared in Germany in the first half of the 1920s labeled the German expressionist film closely resembled the horror film.[19][20] The term is borrowed from art groups such as Der Blaue Reiter and Der Sturm.[20] These films feature sensationalist titles such as Warning Shadows (1923), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Secrets of a Soul (1926).[21] German film historian Thomas Elsaesser wrote that what was retained in popular film memory of these films were the characters who resembled bogeymen from children's fairy tales and folk legends. These included characters like the mad Dr. Caligari, Jack the Ripper from Waxworks (1924) and Nosferatu as well as actors like Conrad Veidt, Emil Jannings and Peter Lorre.[22] Director F.W. Murnau, made an adaptation of Dracula with Nosferatu (1922). Newman wrote that this adaptation "stands as the only screen adaptation of Dracula to be primarily interested in horror, from the character's rat-like features and thin body, the film was, even more so than Caligari, "a template for the horror film."[23]
The term "horror film" was used with various interpretations during this period, such as Evening Star which told readers that "'Horror' Films May Be Barred [in] Transit," a reference to US Senator Thomas Gore's bill that would have prohibit interstate transportation of films that showcased "activities of ex-convicts, bandits, train robbers or other outlaws."[26] In 1928, the Warren Tribune of Pennsylvania reviewed the film Something Always Happens (1928) and compared it The Bat (1926) and The Wizard (1927) and "other films of the same type" in an article titled "Horror Film Thrills Audience at Columbia."[26] Rhodes noted that different descriptions were used for films like The Bat, The Wizard, and The Cat and the Canary (1927), but they were most commonly referred to as mystery films."[27]
A film poster for Dracula (1931), the film that created a wave of American horror films in the 1930s
In 1924, British producer Hamilton Deane premiered a stage version of Dracula at the Grand Theatre in Derby, England.[28] An American version had premiered on Broadway in 1927 and featuring actor Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula.[29][28] Rhodes described the play as "taking America storm".[30] In June 1930, Universal Studios officially purchased the rights to both the play and the novel Dracula.[28][31]Dracula premiered on February 12, 1931, at the Roxy Theatre in New York again with Lugosi in the title role.[32][29] Contemporary critical response to Dracula was described by Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas and John Brunas, the authors of the book Universal Horrors, as "uniformly positive, some even laudatory" and as "one of the best received critically of any of the Universal horror pictures."[33] Universal was reportedly surprised at the strong box office and critical praise for the film, and forged ahead to make similar productions of Frankenstein (1931) and Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) which would also star Lugosi for their 1931–1932 season.[34][35] British filmmaker James Whale directed Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff as the Monster also proved to be a hit for Universal which led to both Dracula and Frankenstein making film stars of Lugosi and Karloff respectively.[36] While Karloff did not have any dialogue in Frankenstein, he was allowed to speak in Universal's The Mummy (1932), a film Newman described as the studio knowing "what they were getting" patterning the film close to the plot of Dracula while historian Gregory W. Mank called the "one-two punch Boris Karloff needed after Frankenstein to boost his stardom.[37][36] Lugosi and Karloff would star together in several Poe-adaptations in the 1930s, including The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935) and other horror features like The Invisible Ray (1936).[38]
Many horror films of this era provoked public outcry and censors cut many of the more violent and gruesome scenes from such films as Frankenstein, Island of Lost Souls and The Black Cat.[43][44] In 1933, the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) introduced an "H" rating for films labeled "Horrific" for "any films likely to frighten or horrify children under the age of 16 years"[45] In 1935, the President of the BBFC Edward Shortt, wrote "although a separate category has been established for these [horrific] films, I am sorry to learn they are on the increase...I hope that the producers and renters will accept this word of warning, and discourage this type of subject as far as possible."[45] As the United Kingdom was a significant market for Hollywood, American producers listened to Shortt's warning, and the number of Hollywood produced horror films decreased in 1936.[45] A trade paper Variety reported that Universal Studios abandonment of horror films after the release of Dracula's Daughter (1936) was that "European countries, especially England are prejudiced against this type product [sic]."[45] The latter half of the decade had Karloff making low budget films for Monogram Pictures and Lugosi being on welfare.[42] At the end of the decade, a profitable re-release of Dracula and Frankenstein would encourage Universal to produce Son of Frankenstein (1939) featuring both Lugosi and Karloff, starting off a resurgence of the horror film that would continue into the mid-1940s.[46]
A film poster for Cat People (1942), the first film made by producer Val Lewton that created a new style of horror film
After the success of Son of Frankenstein (1939), Universal's horror films received what author Rick Worland of The Horror Film called "a second wind" and horror films continued to be produced at a feverish pace into the mid-1940s.[47] Universal looked into their 1930s horror properties to develop new follow-ups such as The Invisible Man Returns (1940) and The Mummy's Hand (1941).[48]Man Made Monster (1941) was a pivotal release for Universal's horror output, introducing actor Lon Chaney Jr. Chaney Jr. had received attention for his performance as Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939). Universal saw potential in making Chaney a new star to replace Karloff as he had not distinguished himself in either A or B pictures.[49] Chaney Jr. would become a horror star for the decade showing in the films in The Wolf Man series, portraying the Mummy three times in The Mummy series, Frankenstein's Monster in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) and as Count Dracula in Son of Dracula (1943).[48] Universal also created new horror series such as the three-picture feature about Paula the Ape-woman, starting with Captive Wild Woman (1943). Universal began crossing their horror franchises in what was colloquially called "monster rally" films.[50][48] Beginning with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) which had Frankenstein's Monster meet The Wolf Man, further crossovers that included Count Dracula continued in the 1940s with House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945).[48] B-Picture studios also developed films that imitated the style of Universal's horror output. Karloff worked with Columbia Pictures acting in various films as a "Mad doctor"-type characters starting with The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) while Lugosi worked between Universal and poverty row studios such as Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) for The Devil Bat (1941) and Monogram for nine features films.[51]
In March 1942, producer Val Lewton ended his working relationship with independent producer David O. Selznick to work for RKO Radio Pictures' Charles Koerner, becoming the head of a new unit created to develop B-movie horror feature films.[52][53] According to DeWitt Bodeen, the screenwriter of the Lewton's first horror production Cat People (1942), Bodeen watched British and American horror and suspense films that he felt were "typical of what we did not want to do"[54] while director Jacques Tourneur recalled Lewton deciding to not make a "cheap horror movie that the studio expected but something intelligent and in good taste".[54] Newman later described Cat People and the other horror productions by Lewton such as I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and The Seventh Victim (1943) as "polished, doom-haunted, poetic" while film critic Roger Ebert the films Lewton produced in the 1940s were "landmark[s] in American movie history".[55] Several horror films of the 1940s borrowed from Cat People, specifically feature a female character who fears that she has inherited the tendency to turn into a monster or attempt to replicate the shadowy visual style of the film with Jungle Woman (1944), The Soul of a Monster (1944), The Woman Who Came Back (1945), She-Wolf of London (1946), The Cat Creeps (1946), and The Creeper (1948).[56]
In April 1946, the Hollywood Reporter announced that horror films were earning "heavier adult patronage" and were receiving "universal appeal" due to higher budgets and higher standards.[57] Rhodes and Kaffenberger noted the elasticity of the term horror in the article, specifically mentioning films like The Spiral Staircase and Bedlam (1946).[58] The magazine also referred to films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound and a few foreign films such as The Girl and the Devil (1944) and Dead of Night (1945) under the term.[58] In 1946, Curt Siodmak, the screenwriter of films like The Wolf Man (1941) stated that "When horror enters the gilded gate of top production, it is glorified as a 'psychological thriller.' But a rose by any other name. . . "[59] Between 1947 and 1951, Hollywood made almost no new horror films.[60] Between this period, American studios were re-releasing their back catalog of horror film productions by studios such as Universal and Monogram.[61] Box-office receipts had fallen sharply due to decling theatre attendance leading to the Motion Picture Herald reporting that seven of the eleven major producer-distributors companies including MGM, Paramount, RKO, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. and PRC would re-release their previous seasons films.[61] In the period between 1947 and 1951 at least 25 Bela Lugosi horror films were re-released theatrically.[62]
A film poster for The Thing From Another World (1951), a film that moved horror films away from the style established by Universal in the 1930s
While studies suggest that gothic horror had fallen out of fashion between the release of House of Dracula (1945) and The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), small glimpses of the genre appeared in films such as The Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951), The Strange Door (1951), The Black Castle (1952) and House of Wax (1953).[63] Prior to the release of Hammer Film Productions's gothic films, the last gothic horror films of the 1950s often featured aged stars like Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., and Boris Karloff in films made by low budget indie film directors like Ed Wood or Reginald LeBorg or producers like Howard W. Koch.[64] Hammer originally began developing American-styled science fiction films in the early 1950s but later branched into horror with their colour films The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula (1958).[64][65] These films would birth two horror film stars: Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.[65] Along with Hammer's more science fiction oriented series Quatermass, both the gothic and science fiction films of Hammer would develop many similar films within the years.[65]
Among the most influential horror films of the 1950s was The Thing From Another World (1951), with Newman stating that countless science fiction horror films of the 1950s would follow in its style, while the film, The Man from Planet X (1951) was still in debt to Universal horror style of filming with a bearded scientist and foggy sets.[66] For five years following the release of The Thing From Another World, nearly every film involving aliens, dinosaurs or radioactive mutants would be dealt with matter-of-fact characters as seen in The Thing From Another World.[66] Even films that adapted for older characters had science fiction leanings such as The Vampire (1957), The Werewolf (1956) and Frankenstein 1970 (1958) being influenced by the atomic inspired monsters of the era.[67] Films with a Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde theme also appeared with The Neanderthal Man (1953), The Fly (1958), Monster on the Campus (1958) and The Hideous Sun Demon (1958).[67] Smaller trends also included the Universal-International produced the film Cult of the Cobra (1955) which created a brief wave of horror films featuring Pin-up model like mutants such as The Leech Woman (1960) and The Wasp Woman (1959).[64]
A film poster for Psycho (1960). Along with Black Sunday, the two 1960s films dramatically changed the tone of horror films from the 1960s onward.
Newman that the horror film changed dramatically in 1960. Specifically, with Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho (1960) based on the novel by Robert Bloch. Newman declared that the film elevated the idea of a multiple-personality serial killer that set the tone future film that was only touched upon in earlier melodramas and film noirs such as Hangover Square (1945) and While the City Sleeps (1956).[69][70] The release of Psycho led to similar pictures about the psychosis of characters, including What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and the Bloch-scripted Strait-Jacket (1964) by William Castle.[70] The influence of Psycho continued into the 1970s with films ranging from Taste of Fear (1961), Paranoiac (1962), and Pretty Poison (1968).[70] Following Psycho, there was a brief reappearance of what Newman described as "stately, tasteful" horror films such as Jack Clayton's The Innocents (1961) and Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963).[71] Outside America, Japan released films to critical acclaim such as Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan (1965) which won international awards including Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.[72] Newman described Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968) the other "event" horror film of the 1960s after Psycho.[73] The influence of Rosemary's Baby' story involving satanic themes would not be felt until the 1970s with films like The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976).[73]
Roger Corman convinced AIP to develop two cheap black-and-white horror films, and used the budget of these two films to make the colour film House of Usher (1960). The film created its own cycle of Poe-adaptations by Corman, including The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Tales of Terror (1962), and The Raven (1963) which provided roles for aging horror stars such as Karloff and Chaney Jr. These films were made to compete with the British colour horror films from Hammer in the United Kingdom featuring their horror stars Cushing and Fisher. Hammer made several films in their Frankenstein series between 1958 and 1973, while still producing one-offs such as The Reptile (1966) and Plague of the Zombies (1966). Competition for Hammer appeared in the mid-1960s in the United Kingdom with Amicus Productions such as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1964) and also featured actors Cushing and Lee.[69] Unlike Hammer, Amicus drew from contemporary sources such as Bloch (The Skull (1965) and Torture Garden (1967)) which led to Hammer adapting works by Dennis Wheatley (The Devil Rides Out (1968)).[69]
Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960) marked an increase in onscreen violence in film.[74] Prior to Bava's film, Fisher's early Hammer films had attempted to push the envelope; The Curse of Frankenstein relied on make-up to depict the horror of the monster, Dracula had its gorier scenes cut by the British Board of Film Censors, and the violence in the backstory of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) was conveyed mostly through narration.[75] The violence in Psycho (1960), which was released a week earlier than Black Sunday, was portrayed through suggestion, as its famous "shower scene" made use of fast cutting.[74]Black Sunday, by contrast, depicted violence without suggestion.[74] This level of violence would later be seen in other Italian genre films, such as the Spaghetti Western and the giallo, including Bava's own Blood and Black Lace (1964) and the gialli of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci.[74] Other independent productions of the 1960s expanded on the gore shown in the films in a genre later described as the splatter film, with films by Herschell Gordon Lewis such as Blood Feast which led to similar minded independent directors making similar works like Andy Milligan and Ted V. Mikels.[73] Newman found that the true breakthrough of these independent films was George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) which set a new attitudes for the horror film, one that was suspicious of authority figures, broke taboos of society and was satirical between its more suspenseful set pieces.[73]
Black Sunday's focus on combining eroticism and horror, specifically the eroticism of a tortured body — a trend that other European horror filmmakers like the French Jean Rollin and Spanish Jesús Franco would follow.[74] Franco would make several horror films from the 1960s on, borrowing the plot of Eyes Without a Face (1960) for The Awful Dr. Orloff (1962) while screenwriter and actor Jacinto Molina under the name Paul Naschy began developing Spanish horror films by borrowing characters from Universal properties such as La Marca del Hombre Lobo (1968).[70]
George A. Romero in 2009. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) led to what Newman described as a "slow burning influence" in independent and thoughtful horror films in the 1970s.
Historian John Kenneth Muir described the 1970s as a "truly eclectic time" for horror cinema, noting a mixture of fresh and more personal efforts on film while other were a resurrection of older characters that have appeared since the 1930s and 1940s.[77]Night of the Living Dead had what Newman described as a "slow burning influence" on horror films of the era, some just adapted the zombie framework such as The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (1974) while others became what Newman described as "the first of the genre auteurs", finding previous great genre directors such as Whale, Lewton and Terence Fisher had worked within studio settings.[78] These included American directors such as John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven and Brian De Palma as well as directors working outside America such as Bob Clark, David Cronenberg and Dario Argento.[78] Prior to Night of the Living Dead, the monsters of horror films could easily be banished or defeated by the end of the film, while Romero's film and the films of other filmmakers would often suggest other horror still lingered after the credits.[76]
Horror films continued to be made around the world in the 1970s.[79] In the United Kingdom, Amicus focused their production on humorous horror anthologies, such as Tales from the Crypt (1972).[80] The studio stopped producing horror films by the mid-1970s and closed in 1977.[81] By the 1970s, Hammer Films pushed their films in different directions, such as their new series where vampires are implied to be lesbians in The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust for a Vampire (1970) and Twins of Evil (1971).[82] Hammer's Dracula series was updated to contemporary settings with Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) and its sequel The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), after which, Lee retired from the Dracula role.[83] Hammer ceased feature film production in the 1970s.[80] Other small booms in the Italian film industry included Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) which created a trend in Italy for the giallo film.[84][85] Other smaller trends permutated in Italy such as films involving cannibals, zombies, nazis which Newman described as "disreputable crazes".[79] Some films of the 1970s pushed the eroticism to the point of horror and Pornographic film hybrids.[78] The rise of zombie films towards the end of the decade was triggered by Romero's follow-up to Night, with Dawn of the Dead (1978).[86]
The Exorcist (1973) was a film that Newman described as getting Hollywood back into horror film production.[79] Along with Rosemary's Baby, Newman described the film as having the "grit and realism" that was part of the New Hollywood movement of the period with "nuanced performances" and non-star actors.[79] Several films with the religious motifs of The Exorcist followed in the seventies in America with films like Abby (1974) and The Omen (1976) as well as Italy with films like A Black Ribbon for Deborah (1974).[79] In 1988, Newman later described the cycle as being "burned out instantly" with films mostly borrowing from Rosemary's Baby and the last of the cycle to borrow from The Exorcist being Amityville II: The Possession (1982).[90]
In 1963, Hitchcock defined a new genre nature taking revenge on humanity with The Birds (1963) that was expanded into a trend into 1970s. Following the success of Willard (1971), a film about killer rats, 1972 had similar films with Stanley (1972) and an official sequel Ben (1972).[91] Other films followed in suit such as Night of the Lepus (1972), Frogs (1972), Bug (1975), Squirm (1976) and what Muir described as the "turning point" in the genre with Jaws (1975), which became the highest-grossing film at that point and moved the animal attacks genres "towards a less-fantastic route" with less giant animals and more real-life creatures such as Grizzly (1976) and Night Creature (1977), Orca (1977), and Jaws 2 (1978).[91][92][93] Newman's described Jaws as a "concerto of shock" noting its memorable music theme and its monster not being product of society like Norman Bates in Psycho or family like in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). These elements were carried over into Carpenter's Halloween (1978)[79] Newman described that along that high grossing films like Alien,Jaws and Halloween were hits based on "relentless suspense machines with high visual sophistication."[86] Along with the other mainstream hit film De Palma's Carrie (1976), Halloween began the trend of teenagers becoming ever-present lead characters in horror films while Carrie itself was a film Newman described as having a "dream-logic" to its supernatural plot, which was extended to the plot of Argento's films like Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980), whose narrative logic was pushed to the point that Newman described their plots as "making no narrative sense".[94]
The 1980s saw a surge of films adapted from the work of Stephen King (pictured).
The 1980s marked the first time since the early 1960s of horror film fandom with far more loose organized community of fans rose with the increased publication of fanzines and magazines such as Cinefantastique, Fangoria and Starburst as horror film festivals like Shock Around the Clock and Dead by Dawn developing.[95] In the appearance of home video, horror films came under attack in the United Kingdom as "video nasties" leading to people having their collection being seized by police and some people being jailed for selling or owning some horror films.[96] Newman described the response to the video nasty issue led to horror films becoming "dumber than the previous decade" and although films were not less gory, they were "more lightweight [...] becoming more disposable, less personal works."[97][96] Newman noted that these directors who created original material in the 1970s such as Carpenter, Cronenberg, and Hooper would all at least briefly "play it safe" with Stephen King adaptations or remakes of the 1950s horror material.[98]
In Italy, the Italian film industry would gradually move towards making films for television.[99] The decade started with a high-budgeted production of Argento's Inferno (1980) and with the death of Mario Bava, Fulci became what historian Roberto Curti called "Italy's most prominent horror film director in the early 1980s".[100] Several zombie films were made in the country in the early 80s from Fulci and others while Argento would continue directing and producing films for others such as Lamberto Bava.[100] As Fulci's health deteriorated towards the end of the decade, many directors turned to making horror films for Joe D'Amato's Filmirage company, independent films or works for television and home video.[101][102]
In the 1980s, the older horror characters of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster rarely appeared in film outside nostalgic films like The Monster Squad (1987) and Waxwork (1988). Vampire themed films continued often in the tradition of authors like Anne Rice where vampirism becomes a lifestyle choice rather than plague or curse.[103] This was reflected in such films as The Hunger (1983), The Lost Boys (1986), and Near Dark (1986).[103] The 1980s highlighted several films about body transformation and men becoming wolves.[104] Special effects and make-up artists like Rob Bottin and Rick Baker allowed for more detailed and graphic transformation scenes for creatures such as werewolves in films like An American Werewolf in London and The Howling while films like Altered States (1980) and The Thing (1982), Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986) would show the human body in various forms transformation.[105] Several other sequels took to the revival of 3D film in the 1980s following the surprise hit film Comin' at Ya! (1981). These included Friday the 13th Part III (1982), Parasite (1982), and Jaws 3-D (1983).[106]
Replacing Frankenstein's monster and Dracula were new popular characters with more general names like Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th), Michael Myers (Halloween), and Freddy Kruger (A Nightmare on Elm Street). Unlike the characters of the past who were vampires or created by mad scientists, these characters were seemingly people with common sounding names who developed the slasher film genre of the era.[107] In his book on the genre, author Adam Rockoff that these villains represented a "rogue genre" of films with "tough, problematic, and fiercely individualistic."[108] Following the financial success of Friday the 13th (1980), at least 20 other slasher films appeared in 1980 alone.[96] These films usually revolved around five properties: unique social settings(campgrounds, schools, holidays) and a crime from the past committed (an accidental drowning, infidelity, a scorned lover) and a ready made group of victims (camp counselors, students, wedding parties).[109] The genre was derided by several contemporary film critics of the era such as Ebert, and often were highly profitable in the box office.[110]
Other more traditional styles continued into the 1980s, such as supernatural themed films involving haunted houses, ghosts, and demonic possession.[111] Among the most popular films of the style included Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), Hooper's high-grossing Poltergeist (1982) and films in the Amityville Horror film franchise.[112] After the release of films based on Stephen King's books like The Shining and Carrie led to further film adaptations of his novels such as Cujo (1983), Christine (1983), The Dead Zone (1983) and Firestarter (1984), and Children of the Corn (1984).[113][114] King would even direct his own film with Maximum Overdrive in 1986.[115]
Some cast and crew members of The Blair Witch Project (1999), one of the highest grossing horror films of the 1990s
Horror films of the 1990s also failed to develop as many major new directors of the genre as it had in the 1960s or 1970s.[116] Young intendent filmmakers such as Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater, Michael Moore and Quentin Tarantino broke into cinema outside the genre at non-genre festivals like the Sundance Film Festival.[117] Newman noted that the early 1990s was "not a good time for horror", noting excessive sequels such as The Exorcist III (1990), Amityville 1992: It's About Time (1992) and returns of sequels to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.[118] Muir commented that in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War, the United States did not really have a "serious enemy" internationally, leading to horror films adapting to fictional enemies predominantly within America, with the American government, large businesses, organized religion and the upper class as well as supernatural and occult items such as vampires or Satanists filling in the horror villains of the 1990s.[119]
Following the release of Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), a small wave of high-budgeted gothic horror romance films were released in the 1990s.These included Interview with the Vampire (1994), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Wolf (1994) and Mary Reilly (1996).[127] By the end of the 1990s, three films were released that Newman described as "cultural phenomenons."[128] These included Hideo Nakata's Ring (1998), which along with the South Korean film Whispering Corridors (1998), was the major hit across Asia leading to sequels and similar ghost stories from Asian countries. The film only crossed over into the Western world after the 1990s.The second major hit was The Sixth Sense, another ghost story which Newman described as making "an instant cliche" of twist endings.[128] The final hit was the low-budget independent film The Blair Witch Project (1999)[128]
Newman described the first trend of horror films in the 2000s followed the success of The Blair Witch Project, but predominantly in a parody format: The Bogus Witch Project (2000), The Blair Underwood Project (2000) and the pornographic The Erotic Witch Project (2000). Other films included similar low-budget imitators like The St. Francisville Experiment (2000) with a similar plot to The Blair Witch Project.[129] Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, noted that the popularity of sites like YouTube in 2006 sparked a taste for amateur media, leading to the production of further films in the found footage horror genre later in the decade with Rec (2007), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Cloverfield (2008) and the particularly financially successful Paranormal Activity (2007).[130] Following Paranormal Activity, the style was not known for the footages possible authenticity as it was with Blair Witch, but more of a specific film style.[130]
Several films came from Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan in the wake of the success of Ring (1998).[136] These films predominantly involved female detectives using various forms of investigation to solve mysteries about malevolent female ghosts. These included The Eye (2002), Dark Water (2002), and Into the Mirror (2003).[136] This trend was echoed in the West with films like FeardotCom (2002), They (2002) and Gothika (2003). Hollywood also began remaking these Japanese films with The Ring (2002), Dark Water (2005).[137] Outside the Japanese ghost stories, Asian film industries also began developing what Newman described as "bizarre" horror films with Uzumaki (2000), Stacy (2001) and several films by Takashi Miike.[137]
Newman declared there to be a "modest revival" of British horror films in the 2000s, with a small trend of War film related horror films with The Bunker (2001), Dog Soldiers (2002) and the Hollywood produced Below (2002).[137] Outside of several independent films and films attempting a style of horror that Dimension Films was making in the 1990s, Newman felt the breakouts of the new British horror were My Little Eye (2002), 28 Days Later (2002), Shaun of the Dead (2004), and The Descent (2005).[137]
At the turn of the millennium, a movement in French cinema known as New French Extremity was named by film by film programmer James Quandt, initially describing arthouse films that "determined to break every taboo, to wade in rivers of viscera and spumes of sperm, to fill each frame with flesh, nubile, or gnarled, and subject it to all manner of penetration mutilation and defilement"[138] In her book Films of the New French Extremity, Alexandra West found that some of directors started making horror films that would still fit their art house standards such as Claire Denis's Trouble Every Day (2001) and Marina de Van's In My Skin (2002), which led to other directors to make more what West described as "outright horror films" such as Alexandre Aja's High Tension (2003) and Xavier Gens' Frontier(s) (2007). Some of these horror films of the New French Extremity movement would regularly place on "Best Of" genres lists, such as Martyrs (2008), Inside (2007) and High Tension.[139] West described journalists and fans as seeing the more horror-oriented films of the movement as "an intellectual sibling" to the emerging trend of "Torture porn".[139]
David Edelstein of The New York Times coined a term for a genre he described as "torture porn" in a 2006 article, as a label for films described, often retroactively, to over 40 films since 2003.[140] Edelstein lumped in films such as Saw (2004), The Devil's Rejects (2005), and Wolf Creek (2005) under this banner suggesting audience a "titillating and shocking" push audiences to the margins of depravity in order to "feel something".[141] The label was described as "intense bodily acts and visible bodily representations" to produce uneasy reactions.[141] Kevin Wetmore, using the Saw film series suggested these film suggested reflected a post Post-9/11 attitude towards increasing pessimism, specifically one of "no redemption, no hope, no expectations that 'we're going to be OK'"[142] Newman also noted a post-9/11 trend of stories that tend to re-work or re-do a reality that was to difficult to handle, similar to films like The Sixth Sense or The Matrix. Horror films that followed this trend included ghost stories with films like The Others (2001) and The Orphanage (2007).[136]
After the film studio Blumhouse had success with Paranormal Activity (2007), the studio continued to films that grew to become hits in the 2010s with film series Insidious. [143] This led to what Newman described as the companies policy on "commercial savvy with thematic risk that has often paid off", included Get Out (2017), The Invisible Man (2020), Happy Death Day (2017) and series like The Purge.[143][144] Laura Bradley in her article for Vanity Fair noted that both large and small film studios began noticing Blumhouse's success, including A24 who did not specialize in horror or genre films, made their names grow popular with films like The Witch (2015), Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019).[143] Bradley commented how some of these films were classified as "elevated horror", declaring "horror aficionados and some critics pushed back against the notion that these films are doing something entirely new." noting their roots in films like Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Rosemary's Baby (1968).[143]
In the early 2010s, there became a wave of horror films that showed what Virginie Sélavy noted described as having psychedelic tendency that was inspired by experimentation of 1970s and its subgenres, specifically folk horror.[145] The trend began with two films: Enter the Void (2009) and Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010). Since these films, a series of films that Sélavy described as being like "a calamitous trip or creepy dreams" were released such as Berberian Sound Studio (2011), Under the Skin (2013) and We Are the Flesh (2016), and Climax (2018).[145] These films do not always share the consciousness-expanding spirit of 1960s and 1970s.[145] The reasons for these trends tended to be from filmmakers who grew up in the 1970s as well as home video distributors such as Arrow Video, Shameless and Nucleus Films releasing restorations of the more outlandish and forgotten films of the original psychedelic era.[145]
The COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020 disrupted the film industry, leading to the release of several horror films being postponed, such as A Quiet Place Part II (2020) and Candyman (2021), while other films like Censor (2021) had production halted.[153] During lockdowns, streaming for films featuring fictional apocalypses increased. [154] Found footage horror found itself imposed into films set on desktops in Zoom meetings with Host (2020), a film shot and set during the quarantine period of 2020, to what Newman described as further enhancing the "this really happened" aspect of the genre.[155] Films based on more internet-culture followed in the years with films like Dashcam (2021), We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021), Deadstream (2022) and Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022).[156] Newman declared that one of the grander over arching themes of 21st century horror films was about collapse, with horrific effects and imagery and sounds overwhelm conventional storytelling in favor of the logic of the nightmare.[157]
Blumhouse furthered its relationship with Universal Pictures by scheduling similarly budgeted films like The Invisible Man (2020) following the halted launch of their Dark Universe series with the release of The Mummy (2017).[144][158] Further franchise installments and reiterations of old stories were continued films involving Dracula, exorcisms and other entries in series such as Evil Dead, Insidious, Scream, and Saw.[157]
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó, known professionally as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian–American actor, best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror film classic Dracula, Ygor in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and his roles in many other horror films from 1931 through 1956.
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a 1948 American horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton. The film features Count Dracula who has become partners with Dr Sandra Mornay, in order to find a brain to reactivate Frankenstein's monster ; the ideal brain they find belonging to Wilbur Grey.
Frankenstein is a 1931 American pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by James Whale, produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., and adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort, with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell.
Dracula is a 1931 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning from a screenplay written by Garrett Fort and starring Bela Lugosi in the title role. It is based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is adapted from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lugosi portrays Count Dracula, a vampire who emigrates from Transylvania to England and preys upon the blood of living victims, including a young man's fiancée.
Jack Pierce was a Hollywood make-up artist best remembered for creating the iconic makeup worn by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (1931), along with various other classic monster make-ups for Universal Studios.
The Invisible Man is a 1933 pre-Code American science fiction horror film directed by James Whale based on H. G. Wells's 1897 novel, The Invisible Man, produced by Universal Pictures, and starring Gloria Stuart, Claude Rains and William Harrigan. The film involves a stranger named Dr. Jack Griffin (Rains) who is covered in bandages and has his eyes obscured by dark glasses, the result of a secret experiment that makes him invisible, taking lodging in the village of Iping. Never leaving his quarters, the stranger demands that the staff leave him completely alone until his landlady and the villagers discover he is invisible. Griffin goes to the house of his colleague, Dr. Kemp and tells him of his plans to create a reign of terror. His fiancée Flora Cranley, the daughter of his employer Dr. Cranley, soon learn that Griffin's discovery has driven him insane, leading him to prove his superiority over other people by performing harmless pranks at first and eventually turning to murder.
Bela Lugosi (1882–1956), best known for the original screen portrayal of Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1931, performed in many films during the course of his 39-year film career. He appeared in films made in his native Hungary, Germany and New York before re-locating to Hollywood in 1928. Films are listed in order of release.
Son of Frankenstein is a 1939 American horror film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. The film is the third in Universal Pictures' Frankenstein series and is the follow-up to the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein. Son of Frankenstein stars Rathbone as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein who, with his wife Elsa and son Peter, returns to his late father's estate. Near the castle lives Ygor, a crazed blacksmith whose neck was broken in an unsuccessful hanging attempt. Among the castle's remains, Frankenstein discovers the remains of the Monster and decides to try to save his family name by resurrecting the creature to prove his father was correct. He finds, however, the Monster only responds to Ygor's commands.
The Ghost of Frankenstein is a 1942 American horror film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Cedric Hardwicke, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi. It is the fourth film in the Frankenstein series by Universal Pictures, and the follow-up to Son of Frankenstein (1939). The film's plot follows the previous film's plot: Frankenstein's Monster and his companion Ygor are chased out of town. They go to another small town to encourage the younger son of Henry Frankenstein to continue his father's experiments, so that Ygor can have revenge against his enemies and his brain transplanted into the Monster's skull.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is a 1943 American horror film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot and Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein's monster. The script, written by Curt Siodmak, follows The Ghost of Frankenstein and The Wolf Man, though with a number of retcons. Most significantly, Talbot only transforms into werewolf form during a full moon, which became a standard part of werewolf lore. The film involves Larry Talbot, who is resurrected when his tomb is disturbed. His search for a way to end his seeming immortality leads to his befriending Frankenstein's monster.
House of Frankenstein is a 1944 American horror film starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine. It was directed by Erle C. Kenton and produced by Universal Pictures. Based on Curt Siodmak's story "The Devil's Brood", the film is about Dr. Gustav Niemann, who escapes from prison and promises to create a new body for his assistant Daniel. Over the course of the film, they encounter Count Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster. The film is a sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
House of Dracula is a 1945 American horror film released and distributed by Universal Pictures. Directed by Erle C. Kenton, the film features several Universal Horror properties meeting as they had done in the 1944 film House of Frankenstein. The film is set at the castle home of Dr. Franz Edelmann, who is visited first by Count Dracula and later by Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, who are trying to cure their vampirism and lycanthropy, respectively. Talbot is eventually cured, which leads him to discover the body of Frankenstein's monster in a cave below the base of the castle. Edelemann takes the monster's body back to his laboratory but finds Count Dracula has awakened and by attacking his assistants, he captures Edelmann and forces a reverse blood transfusion, which gives Edelmann a split personality and makes him a killer.
The Universal Monsters media franchise includes characters based on a series of horror films produced by Universal Pictures and released between 1913–1956.
Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932 American horror film directed by Robert Florey, based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". The plot is about Doctor Mirakle, a carnival sideshow entertainer and scientist who kidnaps Parisian women to mix their blood with that of his gorilla, Erik. As his experiments fail because of the quality of his victims' blood, Mirakle meets with Camille L'Espanye, and has her kidnapped and her mother murdered, leading to suspicion falling on Camille's fiance, Pierre Dupin, a medical student who has already become interested in the earlier murders.
The character of Count Dracula from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, has remained popular over the years, and many forms of media have adopted the character in various forms. In their book Dracula in Visual Media, authors John Edgar Browning and Caroline Joan S. Picart declared that no other horror character or vampire has been emulated more times than Count Dracula. Most variations of Dracula across film, comics, television and documentaries predominantly explore the character of Dracula as he was first portrayed in film, with only a few adapting Stoker's original narrative more closely. These including borrowing the look of Count Dracula in both the Universal's series of Dracula and Hammer's series of Dracula, including the character's clothing, mannerisms, physical features, hair style and his motivations such as wanting to be in a home away from Europe.
Frankenstein is a film series of horror films from Universal Pictures based on the play version by Peggy Webling and the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. The series follow the story of a monster created by Henry Frankenstein who is made from body parts of corpses and brought back to life. The rest of the series generally follows the monster continuously being revived and eventually focuses on a series of cross overs with other Universal horror film characters such as The Wolf Man. The series consists of the following films: Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
Dracula is a film series of horror films from Universal Pictures based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker and its 1927 play adaptation. Film historians had various interpretations of what constitutes being in the film series, with academics and historians finding narrative continuation between Dracula (1931) and Dracula's Daughter (1936) with varying opinions on if Son of Dracula (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) were part of the series. Author and academic Gary Don Rhodes stated the all the mentioned films would require an audience to be familiar with Count Dracula portrayed by Bela Lugosi and the various character traits the actor established in the original 1931 film.
Aston, James; Walliss, John (2013). To See the Saw Movies. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN978-0-7864-7089-1.
Baumgartner, Holly Lynn; Davis, Roger (2008). Hosting the Monster. Rodopi. ISBN978-0-7864-0988-4.
Benshoff, Harry M. (2014). "Horror Before "The Horror Film"". In Benshoff, Harry M. (ed.). A Companion to the Horror Film. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN9780470672600.
Bitel, Anton (November 2020). "Beyond North America: Three International Horror Hotspots from the Last Decade". Sight & Sound. Vol.30, no.9. British Film Institute.
Elsaesser, Thomas (2016). "Expressionist Cinema - Style and Design in Film History". In Brill, Olaf; Rhodes, Gary D. (eds.). Expressionism in the Cinema. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN978-1-4744-1119-6.
Mank, Gregory William (2010). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, with a Complete Filmography of Their Films Together. McFarland. ISBN978-0-7864-5472-3.
Newman, Kim (December 11, 2023). "2023: The Year in Horror". Sight and Sound. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
Prawer, Siegbert Solomon (1989) [1st pub. 1980]. Caligari's Children: The Film as Tale of Terror. Da Capo. ISBN0-306-80347-X.
Prince, Stephen (2004). The Horror Film. Rutgers University Press. ISBN0-8135-3363-5.
Sélavy, Virginie (November 2020). "The Psychedelic Renaissance: The Enduring Influence of 1970s Horror". Sight & Sound. Vol.30, no.9. British Film Institute.
Shary, Timothy (2005). Teen Movies: American Youth on Screen. Wallflower. ISBN1 904764-49-5.
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