History of Horror Genre
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Transcript of History of Horror Genre
HISTORY OF HORRORHISTORY OF HORRORDESIREE EHOWO-OTSHUDI
The word ‘horror’ comes from the Latin word
‘horrere’ which means to shudder, stand on end.
Before the 1890’s, there were no films. Films were amateur
and didn’t really make any profit
because first film made in 1890’s.
Early Horror was inspired by art and
literature, for example, ancient
myth and folklore. It mainly focused on
the supernatural and occult for its horror. An iconic painting
called the Nightmare is believed to have
influenced the Gothic novel,
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
LE MANOIR DU DIABLELE MANOIR DU DIABLEThe first horror film was in 1896,
created by Georges Melies, a French film maker. Melies was a pioneer of ‘silent horror movies’.
The film is titled Le Manoir Du Diable (The Devil’s Castle).
Gothic literature was a key influence for the horror genre. The first Gothic
novel was in 1764. It refers to the medieval buildings that the stories took place
in, for example, old castles, gloomy forests, dungeons and secret passage ways.
Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922) is one of the earliest classics of horror. It was an
unauthorized adaptation of Dracula
(Bram Stoker), influenced by German
Expressionism. The Expressionist
movement often dealt with madness, sanity
and betrayal.
NOSFERATUNOSFERATU
Films created during the 1900s were in the 1930’s by Universal
studios after sound was introduced – which gave a new lease of life to the horror movie
genre. Camera technology became more advanced which opened up to new sub-genres, e.g. slasher sub-genre. Films set the standards of what the
horror conventions are.
Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) and Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931) are two
examples of horror films that were recreated.
1930s
In Hollywood, they started to produce Psychological
Horrors.
Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, was an iconic
example of this subgenre.
Psycho is considered as one of Hitchcock’s best films and praised as a
work of art by international film critics. It
set a new level of acceptability for violence
in American films.
Psycho
Children and re-incarnation became more popular subjects
in 1977. The success of low budget gore films such as The
Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) and Carrie (Brian De
Palma, 1976).
Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 The Shining fused the psychological
and the supernatural. This went on to be a classic.
Horror films are now a mixture of things from
gore, psychological thrillers to the end of
the world and monsters.
Present Day Horror