The History Of The Genre
- Natasha
The Horror Genre:
The film genre 'Horror' aims to encourage a negative emotional reaction from the viewer; this is usually done by activating a fear that is encouraged by human nature, with relation to the audience's primal instincts.
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Themes in Horror:
Common themes which can be found frequently in the genre include the macabre and the supernatural, which also may overlap with the themes of fantasy, supernatural fiction and thriller; additionally, the films in this genre often deal with the audience's nightmares, fears, revolutions and the terror of the unknown, with the plots often involving some kind of evil force, event or person in the everyday world creating a more life-like nature in the films and encouraging the audience's fear due to its relatable nature.
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'The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls...' - Edgar Allan Poe
Horror's Origins:
Horror originated in literature, with authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley being highly influential towards the construction of how horror is presented in films today.
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Elements of Horror:
Elements of horror movies include ghosts, extraterrestrials, vampires, werewolves, demons, gore, torture, vicious animals, evil witches, monsters, zombies, cannibals, psychopaths and serial killers.
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1890-1920s Horror:
Although the term 'horror' was not utilised until until the 1930s, after films such as Dracula and Frankenstein were released, Hollywood dramas often used the theme of horror. Notable influences on the genre include The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Waxworks, The Phantom of the opera The Unknown. These films were considered dark melodramas because they had stock characters and stock characters and emotion heavy plots that focused on romance, violence, suspense and sentimentality.
Key Stars:
Key actors who star in horror movies include Robert Englund, who starred as Freddy Krueger in films such as the 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' series, 'Freddy vs. Jason', 'Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare' and many more. He has won awards with the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films such as the Life Career Award, as well as being nominated for the Saturn Award twice for his role as Freddy Krueger. Since 1973, Englund has appeared in over 75 feature films and four TV series.
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Another actor who is extremely relevant in the horror film industry is Bill Moseley, he has starred in a number of cult classic horror films including 'House of 1000 Corpses', 'The Devil's Rejects' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'. He has won various awards such as a Scream Award in 2006 for the most vile villain in 'The Devil's Rejects', in addition to a Chainsaw Award for his presentation of the relationship from hell in 'The Devil's Rejects' at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, also in 2006.
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'As a result of playing Freddy Krueger, I can remember having to look at some medical books, and at some of the disfigurement that fire can cause on people, because they were the source material for some of the prosthetic makeup that I wore. That aided and abetted this fear of death by fire. Which is sort of what happened to Fred Krueger. ' - Robert Englund
'My family was very Halloween-friendly, for all of the religion and whatever was going on.' - Bill Moseley
Directors:
James Wan is a director who has had an extreme influence over the genre of horror. With his films including the 'Saw' series, 'The Conjuring' series, 'Lights Out', 'Dead Silence', 'Demonic', 'Annabelle' and many more it is clear that Wan has developed some of the most successful contemporary horror films from 2004 all the way through to present day. He has won a Pegasus Audience Award from the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in 2005 for the production of 'Saw', as well as winning one and being nominated for two Chainsaw Awards at the Fangoria Chansaw Awards for the films 'The Conjuring' and 'Insidious: Chapter 2'.
'For me, the sound design and the musical score is a big part of what makes scary movies work' - James Wan
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'We think craft is important, and the irony has always been that horror may be disregarded by critics, but often they are the best-made movies you're going to find in terms of craft. You can't scare people if they see the seams. ' - James Wan
Another highly influential director in the Horror Genre is Tobe Hooper. He is responsable for many films such as 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre', 'Poltergeist', 'The Funhouse', 'Djinn' and many more. He has won awards such as the Critics Award at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival in 1976 for 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre', as well as an Eyegore Award in 2008 and a Hall of Fame award in 2005 at the Phoenix International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival.
'You need an R rating because without one, you can't advertise and the film wont get shown' - Tobe Hooper
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'I don't believe in using too much graphic violence, although I've done it. It's better to be suggestive and to allow the viewer to fill in the blanks in their minds.' - Tobe Hooper
Films:
There are many iconic horror movies, a few of these horror movies are shown here.
