History of Horror

Horror is somewhat unique among the film genres in that there is a recognizable pattern that happens again and again which captures audiences by making them feel uncomfortable or frightened and has a lasting effect after the film. 

The subject of horror has been molded and changed since the early stages of the 1800's where monsters have been seen as the primary antagonist. However views have changed where the antagonist has become far more relate able e.g. Murder or Stalker. This has now inspired filmmakers to take a different approach to horror which has been occurring since 1980 with a film such as the Shining which has inspired films to present day such as the Saw franchise.


Over the 19th century there had been a strong growth in popularity of horror as seen with films originating from all over the world as a result of the same horror seen in WW1 and WW2. An example of this would be the black and white film Nosferatu which originated from Germany but had little influence on Hollywood but set a prescient to the film industry about an antagonist that is capable of frightening the audience. This later led on to the development and release of films like Wolf man and Frankenstein which were similar medieval characters to the of Nosferatu. 

In the 1960's a sub genre called 'Thriller' was introduced with films like Psycho which was is shown below. The word thriller relates to the way that the film creates a feeling of suspense and excitement along with anxiety.