Horror movies have always been a part of everyone’s lives. Your parents might still fear the sound of Freddy Krueger’s claws, your grandparents might still be scared of the classic shower scene in Psycho (1960), and you might shake at the ending of Hereditary (2018). Different horror movies have scared a lot of generations, becoming memorable. Since Halloween season is here, what better way to start it than by journeying through horror movie history?
The two decades between 1920 and 1940 are considered by many to be horror’s “golden era.” On the silent side, the most famous movie is the classic Nosferatu (1922), an unofficial adaptation of Dracula. In the 1930s, more classics came to light. This was when the second adaptation of Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) came out. It was also the first time the word “horror” was used to describe the genre.
During the 40s and 50s, because of wars across Europe and the growing fear of nuclear weapons, monsters became less prominent, and the “villains” of horror movies became less supernatural in nature. That’s why Godzilla (1954), which talks about the nuclear threat at the time in Japan, became popular. This was also when Alfred Hitchcock established himself as a famous director with classics like Psycho.
Fast forward to the 80s, known as the “slasher era,” which have the movies where often a killer chases a group of stereotypical teenagers in a small town or an isolated forest. The first ever slasher film was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), but it was not too popular at first. Halloween (1978) was the first popular slasher, which inspired a bunch of other movies such as Friday the 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
So many were released that people got “slasher fatigue.” That’s when the 90s came in. Movies like Scream (1996) came out, being slasher parodies, and were a very fresh take on the genre. The most noticeable horror film in the 2000s was Saw (2004), which had never-seen-before gory violence.
Two types of movies got popular from 2010 to present day. One of them being “legacy sequels,” the movies that have continued franchises such as Halloween and Scream, brilliantly paying homage to past movies and introducing new plots. The other popular trend is the “psychological horror” genre, which some people call the “real horror” genre. These are the modern movies that really try to make the viewer feel fear. Some examples are The Conjuring universe and It (2017).
Ari Ester and Jordan Peele are two modern horror film directors. Hereditary by Ari Ester is in my opinion the scariest a movie can be while still being a fun experience. There are scarier movies out there, but I find them so disturbing that they are not entertaining, which is one of the main goals of any movie. Jordan Peele’s films are genius and if I had to recommend one horror film for someone to watch it would definitely be Get Out.
The horror movie genre has gone through countless transformations throughout the decades, and it will go through countless more. Where we are headed is unpredictable, but I am really excited for it.
