Horror: The Films

What is the history of horror movies? 

As you would expect, any genre that sold novels was fair game for the film industry, right from the beginning.

To keep this a short, focused post, this article looks at the history of Western, primarily U.S., horror movies.

1890s - 1930s

The early-mid 1900s are considered the Golden Age of Horror films. 

In the early days, black and white silent films were perfect for horror because 
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1. The lack of color was disorienting; compared to a real-life color view, the viewer was limited in what they could visually understand about the scene.
2. Silent films relied on overacting, grotesque facial expressions, and severe makeup lending to the strangeness of a story.

Even once films started having spoken dialogue, overacting, extreme makeup, and the limited color palette made it easy to create images to fear.

1940s  - 1950s

The 1940s and 1950s continued developing the horror movie genre. 

Alfred Hitchcock is most well known from this time period, even among those who dislike horror films. This is partly because many of his “horror” movies were psychological dramas and appealed to audiences who liked suspense, but not supernatural or fantastical elements. 

Because of Hithcock’s innovations and willingness to take risks, the following decades saw more slasher films and psychological dramas pushing the limits of what was considered acceptable to see on a movie screen. 

1960s - 1970s

Acceptance of violence and gore in movies coincided with changes in culture. Through the 1960s and 1970s, people more openly questioned their grandparents’ values and ways of life. The ability to live as one chose without concern for societal expectations was openly promoted and celebrated. 

1980s-1990s

In the 1980s, special effects ruled, but the monsters and other elements of horror films remained. The occult, or evil supernatural elements, were popular themes during this decade.

Horror films in the 1990s began to move away from the slasher gore of the previous decade, focusing instead on psychological manipulation to create fear. Or at least, the villains of these films were more complex than in previous decades. 

2000s - 2020s

The early 2000s returned to gore and more gore, plus zombies, vampires, werewolves, demons, and all the other horror tropes from previous decades.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a new era for horror movies. Movies, or more likely, a streaming series, may still have gore, monsters, the occult, or other horror staples, but they also might focus on things that people in society right now fear. These horror films are more closely connected to the almost-real-life style of horror than to the fantastical, sci-fi styles.