History of the Horror Film

Horror films are films that make us nervous and unsettled. They are designed to frighten and panic us as well as to cause dread and alarm. Horror films invoke our hidden worst fears often in a terrifying and shocking way whilst captivating and entertaining us at the same time. Horror films centre on the dark, forbidden, strange and alarming events. These films deal with our fears such as our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality. Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman.

In 1975, Jaws, directed by a young Steven Spielberg, became the highest grossing film ever. The genre fractured somewhat in the late 1970's, with mainstream Hollywood focusing on disaster movies such as The Towering Inferno, while independent filmmakers came up with disturbing and explicit gore-fests such as Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

John Carpenter's Halloween introduced the teens-threatened-by-superhuman-evil theme that would be copied in dozens of increasingly violent movies throughout the 1980's including the long running Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street series.
Horror movies turned to self-mocking irony and downright parody in the 1990's -- the teenagers in Scream often made reference to the history of horror movies. Only 1999's surprise independent hit The Blair Witch Project attempted regular scares.

Many horror movies were inspired by ancient folk tales and myths about vampires and mummies. One Universal horror movie, however, actually created a myth that is still often thought to trace back through the centuries. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak was hired to write "The Wolf Man," and his research revealed precious little information about how one supposedly becomes a werewolf. Among the items that Siodmak invented were the curse of the werewolf, the effect of a full moon, and that a werewolf can only be killed by a silver bullet.