Why is it that we go to the movies? Well, a general answer that applies to most of us is that we want to feel something. We watch comedies to both laugh and feel a sense of happiness, dramas to get a good cry in and we watch horror movies to tap into our most primal instincts — fear. What is interesting is the way that horror manifests itself as it is a rather malleable genre and has taken many different forms in the genre’s little over its century lifespan.
The first big boom in horror actually predates sound being in film and first popped up not in Hollywood, but in Germany. The German Silent Horror Era was the first wave of printing frights and thrills to theatre audiences. Some of the main films of the time were “Nosferatu” (1922) and “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” (1920). Films like these kept viewers on edge with their frightful imagery and sudden swells in the score that made sure that viewers would wonder what was lurking just in the shadows.
The next big boom would this time occur in the states as we welcome the vast roster of what would soon be known as the Universal Classic Monsters. “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1931), “The Mummy” (1932) and “The Invisible Man” (1933) laid the groundwork for many more characters, or monsters, to come around and show the world that the darkest machinations of one’s mind could now be captured on film. It wouldn’t be until the 50’s when a well known director would finally rock the boat.
The 50’s and 60’s welcome the first man who would be established as the father of modern horror. Alfred Hitchcock saw what was the modern horror landscape, and knew there was something missing from the equation. While there were big scares in the movies prior, Hitchcock knew that it was not about the destination, but the journey that it took to get there.
Hitchcock is often noted as the master of suspense and is studied today through his films “Rear Window” (1954), “Vertigo” (1958) and his undisputed magnum opus, “Psycho” (1960). In all of these films, you can see the scares coming from miles away, but that is the point. The viewer is left in a state of all but yelling at the screen to look out for the killer, only for their pleas to fall on deaf ears as our character meets a grisly end and we all just have to sit there and drink it up.
Following the Hitchcockian Era, we enter the 70’s and 80’s which were in desperate need for a new kind of scare, but luckily the slasher film was able to answer the call in spades. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974), “Black Christmas” (1974) and “Halloween” (1978) ushered in a new kind of horror film, and did not shy away from anything. In this new age we were interested to see just how brutal these monsters could be to its given prey in the film. In this era we saw the rise of most of the mainstays in the horror genre with films like “Friday The 13th” (1980), “A Nightmare On Elm Street” (1984) and “Child’s Play” (1988) birthing the true mascots of the genre who still hold a lot of staying power to this day.
Entering the 90’s and 2000’s we saw a critical lens be taken to the genre as a lot of the trends that had popped up before had become bloated with shameless ripoffs to the big series and even countless sequels to said big names. We saw pioneers like Wes Craven use his tact to head in this post modern kind of horror that was rather on the nose to introduce the new voice of this time period. “Scream” (1996) and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (1997) toyed with the idea of knowing this modern world and its relationship with horror films. And while this satire was hot on the market, it also bled into straight horror comedy with many parodies being made of the genre, with the main source coming from the minds of the Wayans Brothers and their film “Scary Movie” (2000).
Now, while some filmmakers were critical of horror at this time, there was equal advancement being made in the 2000’s as gore was taken to the next level and showed how much pain people could cause if they were determined enough. Films like “Saw” (2004) and “Hostel” (2005) are not helmed by invincible monsters that are all fantasy, but rather powerful people with corrupted mindsets that want to either inflict pain to spark change in others or just simply for pure enjoyment. While both of these types of horror were new and inventive for this time period, there was a dark underbelly in this era, and that is the meteoric rise of the horror remake. Every big name from the 70’s and 80’s was brought back to life, but traded out the large personality it had before for a dark, gritty and rather generic art style that makes these films unfortunately blend together and look aged in today’s standard.
Moving to the 2010’s and the modern day, we see that a huge chunk of horror takes a much more paranormal shift. Films like “Paranormal Activity” (2009) laid the groundwork for people to become mortified by the ideas of places that feel safe being truly haunted, but all of this filmmaking magic came to a head when we welcome in “The Conjuring” (2013) and “Incidious” (2010) and the vast array of films that would soon be known as “The Conjurverse.” Unsettling faces rushing toward the camera as loud sounds playing became a new norm for what horror was and sort of still is.
Horror films have a funny side effect of being a timestamp of what the current mindset of the world was on its initial release. For a film to rise above and succeed, it must reach out and captivate the audience, and in this case, scare them. It is a very volatile medium, and that is why it has always held such a near and dear place in my heart. There really is little more that is fun than to just be able to revel in it all and lose yourself to the madness that is present to us on the screen.
