History of horror genre

Lesbian Horror Film...

The first openly lesbian vampire film was Blood and Roses in 1961 by Rodger Vadim, based on the 1872 lesbian vampire short story Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

In 1975... the film Jaws was released, this was Steven Spielberg's second horror film. It was a brilliant summer blockbuster about a threatening great white shark. Five years later the film 'The Shining' was bought out about a crazy husband who's an alcoholic

The first horror film in colour...

The first film to be shot in two-strip colour was Doctor X in 1932 by director Michael Curtiz' in New York City. The themes include murder, rape cannibalism and prostitution, they are all involved in the movie. Black and white copies were sent to small towns and to foreign markets but colour copies were sent to major cities.

80's and 90's

More of the successful horror films appeared in this era. They featured gory violence, graphic horror, special effects and make-up and usually a male psycho who commits seriously gruesome murders on female victims. The film 'Friday the 13th' was bought out in 1980 and it was the first most recognizable horror series of 12.

The film 'Child's Play' in 1988 was the first film to be released about a doll. This doll was possessed by the voice and soul of a serial killer who terrorized a young boy and his family. Then there was 'Bride Of Chucky' (1998) and 'Seed Of Chucky' (2004), 'Scream' (1996) and 'Bound' (1996)

Following on from the previous box of the 70's...

The horror movie 'Halloween' was released, it featured the iconic character of Michael Myers. This popular serial killer film about a man who kills teenage babysitters released a total of 10 films by 2009..

Halloween (1978)

Halloween II (1981)

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Halloween (2007)

Halloween II (2009)

Frankenstein (1931) was James Whales adaptation from Mary Shelley's novel Dr. Henry Frankenstein with a virtually unknown actor - Boris Karloff. With a boxy forehead and neck electrodes (and other features created from Whale's sketches by make-up artist Jack Pierce), Karloff's poignant portrayal of the pathetic created Monster's plight gave a personality to the outcast, uncomprehending character with a lumbering and lurching gait. The next three films in the series were:

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

1930's-1950's

Horror movies from the mid 1930's to late 1950's were B grade movies or atrocious low-budget gimmick films. In the 1950's toxic chemical spills or other scientific accidents such as development of giant monsters were big and the film Godzilla was released. In this time most of the monster horror films were made very cheap, drive-in, teenage-orientated, grade Z films. An example of this was the film 'I Was A Teenage Werewolf' made in 1957.

The 70's

In 1968 the MPAA created a new rating system for horror films, G M R and X ratings to make sure violent themes of horror movies were changed to more explicit. Films reappeared as on TV going from X rated to R.

In the 1970s, nightmarish horror and terror was everywhere. One of the top box-office hits in the early 70s was Willard (1971) about a wimpish 27 year old loner and mummy's boy who trained his bloodthirsty pet rodent friends to vengefully attack his co-worker enemies - it launched an equally awful sequel Ben (1972)

Timeline of Vampire films

1911-The Hunchback notre dame

1913-The Vampire

1915-A Fool There Was

1916-Night Of Horror

1919-The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

1921-The Death of Dracula

1922-Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens

1979-Nosferatu the Vampyre

1988-Vampire in Venice

2000-Shadow of the Vampire

Introduction to the first horror films...

Horror films started way back when films started themselves, over 100 years ago. Weird as it sounds, there's a very real thrill and fun factor in being scared or watching disturbing, horrific images. Back in the day the earliest horror films were Gothic in style, usually set in spooky, old mansions and castles. Blood suckers and Vampire bats have always scared and intrigued people from cultures all around the world. Demons and things of the supernatural were always linked with blood drinking, sex and corpses. Vampires began to emerge in popular fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries. Anglo-Irish writer Bram Stoker's 1897 vampire novel Dracula was written. This set of the future for all the vampire films.

The first horror movie was made by imaginative French filmmaker Georges Melies, titled Le Manoir Du Diable (1896, Fr.) (aka The Devil's Castle/The Haunted Castle).

About the genre..

The term 'horror' first comes into play with Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto. Horror films are designed to frighten and scare people by using hidden ideas from nightmares and fears to panic the viewers and to make them jump. This often terrifies or shocks the viewers which gives them the urge to keep watching. Horror films center their plot usually in a dark surrounding with strange and alarming events. Horror is often combined with the genre science fiction. The characters involved in the film are usually aliens, things from the unknown, monsters or people that we know have power.

The history of horror genre

By Liberty Cooper