Introduction
'The best way to understand and study Horror Movies is to watch them.'
Horror movies use imagination to make a dark story about supernaturals, ghosts, satanism, devils, morbidity, vampirism, Zombies and ... They are based on human nightmares and hidden fears of unknown, feeling the fear without physically being involved in danger.
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Horror movies are usually inspired by true stories of different types of deaths caused by wars, diseases and disasters. They are deeply affected by the society of their time and they represent different issues and fears of the time. For instance boogeyman character which is part-man part-wolf, was made during the rule of Hitler and is a symbol of someone whose bestial nature takes over and kills anyone on its way. However in 1990s killer characters are completely human in their role and in 21 century killers are mostly ghosts and zombies since supernatural fear is more acceptable.
History of Horror Movies
The First horror movie is believed to be "The House Of Devil" made in 1890's, after that, most of the Horror movies were made by German filmmakers during the era of "German Expressionist Films" 1910-1920's. Paul Wegener's "The Golem" and Robert Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" are examples of films in this era, with a major influence on Hollywood films and directors such as Tim Burton later on. The first Vampire movie, "Nosferatu(1922)", is also a product of this time of the cinema's history.
Some of the institutes that were making horror movies in 1930's was Universal Monsters, Paramount, Warner Brothers and Universal Picture Co. Universal Pictures Co was one of the institutes that first popularized the horror film in early 1930 and was the producer of films such as "Dracula" (1931), "Frankenstein" (1931), and "The invisible man" (1933) which were all influenced by German Expressionist film of 1920's.
In 1940's films were more based on satanic powers and the battle between the devil and the good, some example is "Day Of wrath" (Carl Dreyer, Denmark 1943), and "The Devil's Wanton" (Ingmar Bergman,
Sweden, 1948). One of the elements used for mise en scene in these movies are plants and insects, the idea was brought from Japan, whose society was affected by nuclear radians.
During late 1950's and early 1960's , the British company " Hammer Film Production" and director Terence Fisher started to make full-blooded technicolor films with classic horror characters. " The Curse Of Frankenstein" (1957), "Dracula" (1958) and " The mammy" (1959) are some examples. They are known as the pioneers of modern horror movie.
List Of Horror Films Of The 1950's
List Of Horror Films Of The 1960's
Horror films are sometimes based on stories written by famous authors such as Agatha Christie, or Edgar Allan Poe. They've told mysterious tales of crime, macabre, mental illness, and etc which has made the horrific narrative for such movies and is being used by companies such as American International Pictures Co., who made series of films based on some of Edgar Allan Poes' books.
Some of the famous horror movies of 60's can be named as, "Rosemary's Baby"( Roman Polanski 1968) where devils look like human, "The Bird's (1963 Alfred Hitchcock) with more modern background, and "Night Of The Living Dead" (1968, George A. Romero), which is a significant and influential zombie-themed horror movie in late 1960's. However this zombie theme changes into supernatural, when in 1973 Warner Bros releases "The Exorcist", which is about devils inseminating women and haunting children, popular subjects in 1970's horror films.
"The Omen" 1976, and "Alice, Sweet Alice" 1977,
"Jaws" (1975) Steven Spielberg
"Halloween"(1978) John Carpenter
"Alien" (1979),
"Nightmare On Elm Street" (1980) Wes Craven
"The Shining" (1980)
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