Group - Genre Analysis (2)

Timeline of the Horror Genre 1920s - Present day

1920's to 40's
'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' (Mamoulian, 1931) from Paramount Pictures is often considered to be the first horror film. It is based upon Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novel. Technology of the change of the main character was done with coloured filters over the camera that could gradually be changed, rather than the black and white film being changed in post-production. In the same year the films 'Frankenstein' (Whale, 1931) and 'Dracula' (Browning, 1931) were released by Universal Pictures which came to be two of the defining films of the genre, setting the standard for future Hollywood horrors. The primary antagonists also became archetypical 'stock characters' - especially Dracula - and many films were based off them.




 

1940's to 60's



During the Second World War the British Board of Film Censors banned all horror films both local and imported on the grounds that it would reduce morale. Towards the end of and after the war films such as 'The Body Snatcher' (Wise, 1945) were released which helped rejuvinate the genre. Since the beginnings of horror films, the majority of them (espeically the most sucessful examples) were all based on novels ('Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde', 'Frankenstein', 'Dracula', etc.) but this trend has been seen to change as the genre moved into the 60's and beyond.

1960's to 80's

'Night of the Living Dead' (Romero, 1968) was made on a shoe string budget of $114,000 and recieved critical acclaim as well as being selected by the Library of congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant". It is also notable for not having been based upon a novel, and for being an independent film.

 

1980's to 00's

'Child's Play' (Mancini, 1988) had a big controvertial protest on the date of its release due to the idea that the film might promote violence to children (a subject of debate still ongoing, but based upon new 'threats' such as the 'Grand Theft Auto' video game series). As with many horrors, the subjects of the plot must be carefully chosen, so as to avoid these kinds of issues, or else risk censorship or poor audience turnout. This has changed somewhat in recent times with a shift in moral boundaries and so the audiences today are now less hostile towards more controversial narratives and images. This may be a result of desensitisation over time. One of the most well-known psychlogical horror films is 'The Shining' (Kubrick, 1980). It shows many lasting conventions of horror and psychological horror; isolated locations emphasised by the extreme longshots in the opening sequence showing a small car in an engulfing landcape, insanity in the primary antagonist, paranormal activity and corrupted children.

2000's to 10's

During the last decade, the change from psychological horrors to films focusing more on violence, shock and gore (espeicially 'slasher' films) can be easily noticed (most likely due to the more advanced technology making special effects needed for gore, etc. more easily attainable), with the highly sucessful 'Saw' series being a prime example of this. That's not the say that psychological horrors are dead, however. Films such as 'Paranormal Activity' (Peli, 2009) which was made on a budget of just ~$15,000 by using ordinary home camcorders to create a more personal and 'real' feel was a huge sucess. The continuing success of psychological horrors in the 00's can also been seen in more high-budget films such as 'The Ring' (Verbinski, 2002) - an American remake of the Japanese film 'Ringu' (Nakata, 1998) - which made a gross revenue of $249,348,933 from a budget of $48 million.