Horror Through the Decades

Roots in Classic Literature

The term horror fist came into play with Horrace Walpole's 1764 novel 'The Castle of Otranto', which was full of the supernatural and melodrama. This started a craze of 'Gothic' writing. The first great horror classic, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, was written in the romantic poetry movement. Edgar Allen Poe was also one of the big horror/Gothic authors within this time.

1920's - Silent Horror

The first horrors were surreal and disturbing, reflecting the suffering of German audiences in the time of economic consequences of the the war.
Key films from this era include Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and The Golem 

1930's - Monsters and Mad Scientists

Horror of the 1930's was the first introduction of sound within a moving image, adding extra dimension to terror.
At this time, it provided an escape from those suffering in The Great Depression. The stories from this era are exotic fairy tales, still getting their inspiration from the literary classics of the 19th century.
Notable films are Dracula(which was a breakthrough for the actor, Bela Lugosi.), King Kong and Frankenstein(breakthrough for Boris Karloff).

 1940's - The Primal Animal Within

Wartime horror was an American creation, purely created to amuse a domestic audience. American's looked at themselves as being 'Safe' but they were unable to keep themselves totally separate from their basic European roots. Horrors from this era dealt with roots peeking through in the form of the primal animal within emerging. The use of the wolf iconography was related to Hitler and his obsession with wolves.
Werewolf of London, The Wolf Man and Cat People are the main films from this era.

1950's - Mutants and Aliens

Films from this time reflected a fear of technology, mainly the fear of an atom bomb. Films of this time also got relegated to the B-movie category, as studios were too busy incorporating colour and trying to meet the challenge that TV posed. Main audiences were teenagers, flocking to drive-ins. These films however, did not care much about character development or plot integrity, but more about the thrills created.
Key Films - Mutant Madness, The Wasp Woman, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein

1960/70's - Ghosts, Zombies, Satanism and Your Family 

This era reflects the grim outlook many people had. One consistent fear was the fear of children and childbirth, enforcing that children can be unwanted and spooky. It was also the time where the idea that evil, which was at first though to be more other-worldly, can also be closer to home than first thought. Zombie films reflected the 'apathy' of humans, just shuffling around with no real purpose or motive other than to consume.
Key films - Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, The Exorcist. 

Hammer Horror 

Founded in 1934, producing films between 1955 and 1979. They achieved considerable success in h 60's thanks to a formula of melodramatic story-telling, scantily clad women, graphic violence and solid craftmanship. What they did essentially was take old Universal films and remade them with a touch of erotica. The films, now seeming tame in our time, they did deal with some serious topics and also proved that horror could be aimed at an adult audience and still get a profit. Attempts in the 2000's were made to bring Hammer back.

1980's - Slasher Movies/Video Nasties

This is in the time were special visual effects caught up with the gore imagined by horror film fans. Advances in animatronics and liquid and foam latex meant the human frame could be distorted in new proportions. This is also the time were many films were banned for being too graphic, sending the trade underground as the titles banned were still available in the USA.

Notable films - Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead

Gorenography

These films didn't really have much of a decent plot line, but focused on mainly an abductor having total dominance over their victim, controlling their pain which is normally worse than death. Newspaper reports about detainees experiencing torture and cruelty at the hands of the US army is thought to be one of the main inspirations for these films. The idea is that the threat comes from forces prepared to play dirty, that the politeness of the Cold War has been forgotten and that torture is another technique to be utilised than to abhorred.
Famous films - Saw, Hostel and 1408.