metal casting companiesR4 DS / R4 CardThe genre of horror has long been a staple to theater goers and makers alike. Its ability to terrify, and its portrayal of atrocities unapproved of by middle American society make it the target of scrutiny and praise alike. But the realm of horror has been twisted again and again over the years, into a new beast altogether. To understand horror films of today, one must first explore the films that inspired them, the original horror masterpieces and flops that shaped the cinema into what it is today.
The First Films
With the invention of the motion picture camera in the 1880s, artists and writers had an entirely new medium with which to explore the long standing traditions of the theater and dance. They used these early films to push the boundaries between art and reality, making horror a particularly interesting genre, as many movie goers felt as if they were "actually there". Some silver classics of the silent days include:
Le Manoir du Diable directed by directed by Georges Mèliès in 1896
Der Golem directed by Paul Wegener in 1913
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari directed by Robert Wiene in 1920
Nosferatu directed by F.W. Murnau in 1923
A Star is Born
Of course, these films included early experiments in the horror genre, which wasn't fully established until the monster flicks of the 1930s. Cinema became very popular during the Great Depression, because it seemed to relieve the sense of hopelessness, if even for an hour, that was permeating society. Universal Studios pioneered these films, with their releases of Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), and The Mummy (1932). Now, the horror genre was on the map, raking in a great deal of money, and in huge demand, thus the era of the horror film star in America. Some of these stars include:
Lon Chaney (West of Zanzibar, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera)
John Barrymore (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Bela Lugosi (Dracula)
Boris Karloff (The Black Cat, The Raven)
The Atomic Age
The distraction of the horrors in World War Two made most films of that time shy away from terrifying the audience, and musicals and wartime epics reigned. But with the new technologies that that time bred, the genre of horror was about to get a shot of adrenaline. Space and science fiction ruled the screen, and people wanted sleek aliens and killer robots. A few of these sci-fi staples are:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Thing From Another World (1951)
The Late Fifties
As film production and cinematography became cheaper and more efficient, many horror films were made by production studios solely dedicated to horror started popping up, including:
Hammer Films, a British company remaking old classics in a gorier way, often casting Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee
American International Pictures (AIP), an American company producing several interpretations of Edgar Allen Poe classics starring Vincent Price
The realm of the horror genre cannot be appreciated without knowledge of what it once was: a cathartic way to bring the audience to a new plane of awareness, to frighten, and to give people an excuse to have fun.
