History Of Horror

History Of Horror 

2) The horror of the silent era. German expressionism. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. Nosferatu. 

German Expressionism initiated originally before the First World War in a reaction to the mishaps the war could potentially create. The drastic creative developments during this time were seen particularly in the arts, such as painting and film with the production of films seeing radical alterations. German citizens went to watch films on a regular basis as it was seen as a form of escapism from the lifestyles they had to undergo; also, the gradual increase in film production was due to the new and inimitable genre of ‘The horror of the silent era’. The films in this decade of horror were very dark and surrealistic. It was the painters in this expressionist movement who were responsible for the way in which these films were presented visually. 

It would appear that German expressionism was a reaction to the post war era which would effect and alter the lives of German citizens. It was a way of presenting to the general public the reality and consequences which the War would coincidentally bring into their day to day lives. The first expressionist films made in this movement were deviant to normal and could be seen as absurd. Fritz Lang, a filmmaker and screenwriter during the German expressionist movement, was quoted as being “the master of darkness”, due to the extremity of his work compared to that of a classic Hollywood film. He was best known for his creation of the film “Metropolis” in 1927.

“The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” by Robert Wiene was seen as the absolute 'height' of Expressionism. It made use of very diverse effects, using houses in the background, portraying them in the scenes on canted angles. These films were very unique due to the visual effects of darkness and painting on lights and shadows to add to the distressing effect. “Nosferatu”, another German expressionist film directed by F. W. Murnau and the first vampire movie, was an adaptation of the infamous film “Dracula”. This film had to be named something different as the production company weren’t given permission to call it “Dracula”. Only one camera was used to shoot this film due to lack of funding; therefore a metronome was used to alter the pace of the filming.


3) Monsters and Mad Scientists - 1930s and Universal Studios Horror 

Monsters and Mad Scientists were the fictional names given to villainous or outrageous characters in the 1930s in science fiction and horror films. This was the decade where Britain classified the “Horror” genre. Universal Studios in America were primarily responsible for the vast majority of these types of films. “Frankenstein” was probably the most successful for this genre, with the character Frankenstein being the mad scientist. His character in the film crosses "boundaries that ought not to be crossed". Although the characters within this genre are more often seen to be criminals and unfriendly, in a great deal of the films they were also depicted in a good way. This is present in Frankenstein as his character doesn’t portray a villain.

“The Island of Doctor Moreau” by H. G. Wells (1896), is about a man who merges the DNA from humans into animals. Clearly, the character in this film is portrayed as a criminal. When producing a film under this genre, filmmakers often used torches, electricity and cobwebs to add to the dramatic effect. These horror films were responsible for eventually bringing sound and music to the screen. The special effects in film were gradually improving.  Europe had significant influence with the rapid expansion of these films by way of Hitler coming into power in 1933. His coming into power caused European citizens to panic flee to America, including cinematographers, directors, producers and actors etc, thus causing an increase in film production in America and European actors being used to play the protagonist roles in films.


4) The primal animal within; werewolves and cat people - 1940s.

The 1940s was seen as a weaker period in horror. The horror films in this time period centred mainly on supernatural, animalistic humans, 'werewolves' and 'cat people'. These films would portray humans turning into these animals throughout the course of the film and becoming villainous. "The Mad Monster" directed by Sam Newfield in 1942, focuses on a mad scientist transforming his gardener into a monstrous werewolf so that he can kill. 

Similarly, 1942 horror film “cat people” was produced by Val Lewton and focuses on the story of a girl who thinks she is part of a particular unique race of people who transform into cats when aroused sexually. The horror films in this decade began to present an emergence of sexual material. 

5) Mutant creatures and alien invaders - 1950s. Horror breaks free of its literary roots. 

The 1950s saw the primary recruitment of Science Fiction Horror with mutant creatures and alien invaders. It was in this time period where horror started to break free from its classic literary roots. The very first Sci-Fi horror to be made was called "The Thing from Another World" (1951)  and it focused on an Air force crew and scientists who are compelled to protect themselves from an alien being. Filmmakers in this decade portrayed fears and a distinct lack of trust within their works due to the events of the war and the worry of the spread of communism. America had become extremely fragile and paranoid following the war years.

Following the events and extremities of the second world war, people wanted to see different to human faces in film, and the use of these alienist characters had become very popular at the time. Between 1940 and 1950 the concept of a horrific monster had altered  permanently. World War 2 had taken the lives of 40 million people, and people began to become exposed to the 'spectrum of man's inhumanity to man'. Homecoming soldiers had too many horror stories of their own to appreciate most horrors on screen, and they generally preferred less horrific things to watch. America brought to the screen this new style of monster, adapted specifically for survival. More films were gradually being brought out to express and demonstrate the fear of communism spreading. A number of films were also released following the new creation of the atomic bomb. "The beast from 20,000 Fathoms" and "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" were both brought out in 1953 and 1956 and they both followed very similar story lines with some sort of monstrous creature attacking a city following atomic bomb testing. This would have posed a great threat on the USSR within the Cold War period. 

The horror films of the 1950s were based particularly on science and technological advances. Technology was important in this time period as it saw rapid developments in the film industry. Studios became increasingly involved in applying the new technical changes such as 'widespread colour production' to get films out of black and white. The films of this decade were very entertaining for viewers, and provided a 'crude, technicolour snapshot' of the way America frantically didn't want itself to be. The films also gave American's a couple of hours to escape and not have to think about the realities of the Cold War. 

 
6) Ghosts, zombies, Satanism and your family (1960s-70s)

1960s and 70s filmmakers started to develop horror movies which involved the living dead. The use of ghosts, zombies and Satanism in films became a trend to move on to after a successful previous decade in Sci-fi horror. Evil/demonic children were also used a lot in these 1960 films, proving the popularity of Satanism in horror; for example Rosemary's baby (1968) where the infant born is actually the spawn of Satan, and similarly The Omen (1976) where the young boy is the antichrist and The Exorcist (1973) , where the young girl is possessed and heavily influenced by the devil.

Ghosts made an occurrence in horror also, made evident with the film The Haunting (1963) where terrifying ghosts are found present in a mansion by a doctor attempting to prove their existence. There was some criticism caused for horror films made in this decade as film makers appeared to gradually be taking more risks with levels of obscenity in their works. The utilization of Zombies in "Night of The Living Dead" (1968) became widely criticized at first for the overt content, however later on gained consent. It's about a group of people trapped inside a farmhouse, only to be harmed by zombies. Remakes of this film have been made because of its eventual credited success.

Charles Manson

 A number of extremely tragic events occurred within this time period which held some responsibility for the absurdity and obscenity developing in these horror films. Film producers began embarking on new methods which would involve increased sexually explicit material and extreme violence in their films. Following the happenings of the Manson family murders triggered by criminal Charles Manson, the general public's principles altered somewhat in the 1960s and 70s after a 'horrible' turn of events. This made highly extreme horror movies acceptable, in turn causing the increase of family orientated horror films. The general public were gradually maturing and therefore were looking for horror which was more realistic to the lives they had been experiencing. 


7) Hammer Horror- A British success.

Hammer Horror is the term given to a number of Gothic films created by Hammer Film Productions in the United Kingdom particularly between the 1950 and 1970 time period. Hammer had and has been a British success, taking over the Horror genre in film for a number of years. However it initially faced issues and went into liquidation in 1937 after the production of only about six films. It later survived and overcome this bankruptcy and went on to produce more movies. Its first very successful horror mystery film was "The Quartermass Xperiment". It was a great surprise just how successful this film was, thus triggering the release of more extreme Hammer horror movies, such as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), The Mummy (1959) and The phantom of the opera (1962). 

During the early 1970s, the company once again struggled enormously with money, due to alterations in audiences interests. The general public began to worry about the levels of violence in the films Hammer were producing and the impact it was having on the antisocial behavior among infants. The series of complaints made, led to infamous newspapers The Sunday Times and The Daily mail writing reports to go against the production of these films, believing it to be 'invading' home life. There became a significant decrease in the number of films being produced by Hammer. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974), and To the Devil a Daughter (1976) were the next two films created by Hammer; however unfortunately they weren't a big hit with the general public. Their last film for  a long time, was The Lady Vanishes, made in 1979.

 In the 1980s, when they had stopped the production of films, Hammer went on to make a television series, titled "Hammer House of Horror", which did make respectable success. It seems that the series focused, in each episode, on all different types of horror that had been popular through the decades. The sequel to this series was called "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense" which was Hammer's final every production for a long time. Very recently, Hammer made a comeback with the creation of Beyond The Rave, a 2008 horror piece. Since then, they have gone on to produce more successful films. 

8) Slasher movies and body horror/gore in the 80s, and their descent into postmodern parody (Scream) 

 

The 1980s saw the onset of a series of Slasher movies. The killer in this genre of film would be a psychopath who murders others in an extremely violent way, using some sort of sharp tool as his weapon. This was where gore became very popular, with the killer committing very disturbing murders for audience viewing. Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th was the first Slasher movie produced to involve such extreme levels of violence and, following this film's "Youth Camp in the Woods" idea, other producers made use of innocent and vulnerable people being killed in their movies. This Slasher movie trend saw its prime for a while, with a number of big film hits. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" was a very popular 1984 film production, which "added supernatural twists to the slasher formula". 

Unfortunately, after starting out with so much demand for this type of film, the Slasher genre was short lived as audiences grew to become sick of seeing the same conventional horror movies being produced. The much later production of 1996 parody film "Scream" thankfully created something new for the film industry as it focused more on creating suspense, instead of gore. It ridiculed the conventions the horror films followed at the time; For example The Final Girl theory ( Carol J. Clover), as the protagonist character 'Cindy' didn't follow all the stereotypical conventions of a final girl who is expected to be masculine in comparison to her friends, a virgin, and who doesn't get involved with drink and drugs. In the film she loses her virginity to her boyfriend who ultimately turns out to be the killer. She is also a very attractive character which challenges The Final Girl principle.


9) Format fears and moral panics... Video nasties in 1980s 

The term “Video nasty” was created in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s and was aimed at a series of films which received strong condemnation for their extreme levels of violence. The main concern when these films were being released into cinemas was that the violently explicit material could have a big influence on the behavior of children. People were fearing and panicking about the obscenity of the films being produced as they weren't deemed suitable for viewing.  

In turn, great uproar was caused and therefore initiated the Video Recordings Act in 1984, which drew a strict line on which films would be put on for viewing at the cinema. This act banned a number of productions. The public had feared the movies which fit under the video nasty term after 1979 film The Driller Killer being advertised on magazine covers. It was indecently explicit and resulted in widespread complaints. These video nasties did eventually get the blame for the increase in violence amongst children. Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange was one of the films put into the video nasties category, causing the man himself to end further distribution of the film after receiving death threats. 

Due to this obscenity in film, The British Board of Film Classification had to initially ban a series of films, including The Exorcist  and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; however these films were never put under the classification of video nasties.  

10) Gore returns with a vengeance - "gore-nography" or "torture porn" in the 2000s. Just whose terms are these anyway? 

The 2000s “Gore-nography” and “torture porn” genres are also known as “splatter films”. These types of films present graphic violence, torture, sadism and nudity. 'Gore-nography' has become somewhat extreme in numerous films produced so far in the 21^st century through the continuous use of strong violence. Torture Porn is the term coined for films that include humans being tortured and then murdered.

Final Destination (2000) was one of the first films brought out to illuminate the re-establishment of this splatter film concept, in turn sparking up appeal for more films to be created based under the same genre. “Hostel” by Eli Roth was the first film produced which was put into the category of torture porn. It involved strong scenes of drugs, rape and torture. “Saw” (2004) has been put into the same category by critics due to extreme self mutilation.

 Despite the extreme ill-nature of gore-nography and torture porn, they have been very successful so far, with both “Hostel” and “Saw” having sequels. It would appear that this genre or horror, involving extremely graphic material, originally coined in the French Grand Guignol theatre, where they would put on powerful horror performances back in the late 1800s. The creation of this genre would have been something new to get a more exaggerated reaction from the audience; however watching these extreme sadistic live horror shows caused audience members to be sick or even collapse through what they were seeing occur on stage.