BtZ19: A Brief History of Horror in Cinema

For many people, the origins of horror films are traced back to the cult German chiller 'Nosferatu' made in 1922. In fact, horror had been lurking in cinemas dark recesses some twenty years or so before this with suck film pioneers as Georges Mieiles in the late 1890s, the most notable being his 1896 Le Manoir Du Diables (aka "The House of the Devil") which is sometimes credited as being the first horror film. Japan also made early forays into the horror genre with Bake Jizo and Shinin no Sosei, both made in 1898.

Of course by today's standards, the latter films would be considered pretty tame as special effects were extremely limited, if not non-existent. It was the silent era of cinema and the directors and actors had to use a more psychological approach to scare their audiences.

Long before the notion of film was put into practice people quelled their curiosity for things that go bump in the night by other means - family day trips to public executions or visits to freak shows. Such things were commonplace - this would suggest that we humans have always been a blood thirsty lot!

The 1930's gave us the Universal Monster series - Frankenstein, et al, immortalized on the silver screen for the masses. German cinema also made a notable contribution to the genre with characteristic Gothic flair.

As cinema flourished, so to did the horror genre, often political in tone. The 40's and 50's saw recurring themes of paranoia and anti-communist undertones. A notable example of this is the amazing film 'Carnival of Souls.'

The 60's and 70's, in keeping with the hippie movement and the new free living attitudes of the youth at the time, saw horror take a distinctly psychedelic turn, focusing on college kids having a 'groovy time' before meeting their untimely demises (think 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and 'I spit on Your grave'). Those decades also introduced zombies to a generation a'la George Romero, who's still bringing out zombie films today. Ol' Georgey's impact on horror has been immense and is often imitated, though rarely matched. Despite a few worthy contenders, I feel the original is still the best! Hammer horror was also an integral part of cinema at this time and has since become a British institution!

The 80's were the era of the notorious 'video nasty' - films deemed so extreme in content that retailers caught selling said 'nasties' were arrested and criminally charged. Moral outrage swept the world and, of course, pushed these films further underground, thus increasing their desirability immeasurably! Ironically, many of these so called 'nasties' are really pretty tame and are more notable for their horrendous scripts, acting and so on than anything else! The 80's can also be credited with bringing such anti-heroes as Freddy Kruger and Micheal Myers to popular culture, the popularity of whom is still apparent today.

When the 80's came to an end, shoulder pads and all, a new decade dawned and with it bought the teen slasher movie into play - teenage girls + jocks + a few gory murders = plenty of bums on seats at the local multiplex! Films like 'I know What you did last Summer' (playing like teeny soap opera Dawson's Creeks with a few grisly deaths to spice things up a bit), along with Wes Cravens satirical 'Scream' franchise, gave the genre an updated lease of life for the 90's. Big budget epics such as 'Interview with a Vampire' saw huge stars like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt hamming it up a bit horror styley, and made Vampires 'sexy' again.

The last ten years (the noughties) have produced a few horror films worth mentioning - favourites of mine being the Spanish shocker 'Rec' and the U.S indie flick 'Paranormal Activity.' The internet has also played a part in the promotion of horror - cult classic on a budget The Blair Witch Project owes much of its success to its clever promotion via the internet, giving the film a huge boost by word of mouth before it was even released.

Many 'respected' directors have taken a foray into the world of schlock horror - Frances Ford Copolla, Stanley Kubrick and numerous others have all had a go and produced some impressive results (think 'The Shining' and 'Bram Stokers Dracula'). A new breed of directors like Eli 'Hostel' Roth have re-invoked horrors controversial roots with uber-gory films, labeled by the Mary Whitehouses of this world as 'torture porn' - Bring it on!

So, where now for the horror scene? The indie film world is alive and well, as is world cinema contributors to the genre. This is generally overlooked by the craze of remaking old horror films for the next generation of movie goers. Hollywood has equated horror with money and has no qualms utilizing this in a typically unoriginal fashion.

Horror isn't dead just yet, you only have to look at sites like BThroughZ to see that. Lets keep horror where it belongs, in the shadows, ready to jump out at any moment and scare the living daylights out of us!