The idea of a film made to scare the watcher has been around for almost as long as film itself. From the early silent, sepia styling of a penny dreadful, to the modern day horror flick, filled to the top with blood and C-list stars, the horror genre has come a long way since the days of Edison’s movie studio.

            Several films were released around the turn of the twentieth century with what would, by today’s standards, be considered a horror plot, although many of these films we made up to be much more comedic than any kind of scary film. What many consider to be the very first horror film by general definition would be F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, released in nineteen twenty-two. It is also considered to be the very first big vampire movie, and little did the creators of this film know, Nosferatu would go on to pave the way for the later Dracula pictures, not to mention the rest of mainstream horror.

            As the roaring twenties evolved further, horror films became more and more commonplace in cinema. With their heavy gothic undertones (seen in European settings and tall, dark castle lairs) and intertwined drama, the horror films of the twenties set the base for further evolution in the genre in the decades to come.

But it was really at the dawn of the thirties that horror grabbed a foothold in the movie industry. With gothic horror being insanely popular at that time, filmmakers saw bigger, and better things for the horror genre. With the invention of talking pictures, films like Dracula and Frankenstein quickly became horror classics, blending the gothic horror of the twenties, with cinematic innovations of the future, created a recipe for success. Another significant change in the horror genre was a mixture of gothic horror with up and coming sci-fi. This idea could be seen with the emergence of the “mad scientist” aspect of many horror pictures.

The forties brought few new changes in the horror industry, but rather chose to shift and change past films into (somewhat) new plots. One major change though, was the first real zombie horror film, I Walked with a Zombie in nineteen forty-five.

In a complete turnaround from the slowdown of the forties, the fifties brought on a near revolution in scary cinema. The times of ghosts and ghouls took a back seat to the idea of alien invasions and monsters. The first Godzilla film premiered early in the decade, along with the later redone The Thing from Another World. Many scary films of the day also tried their best to incorporate the paranoia and public fear of the Cold War into the plot. The fifties also began the “gimmick” era of film, like with early 3-D and the tricks used by William Castle for his countless B-Movies.

The sixties saw the work of Alfred Hitchcock grace the silver screen with horror blockbusters. Legendary films like Psycho and The Birds (both seen as two of the best films ever made, both are even listed on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies) brought the horror genre to a whole new level, up next to respected film groups like drama and sophisticated comedy. Films like Psycho also began a sub-genre of horror that grew to crazy popularity in later decades, and has made resurgence in modern times, the “slasher” movies. Another big step for horror in the sixties was the arrival of now legendary horror director George A. Romero. With his zombie super-movie Night of the Living Dead he revived the zombie genre and has kept it alive for over forty years now.

The seventies, quiet possibly, was the most influential decade for the evolution of horror movies. It brought on the sequel to Romero’s original zombie flick, the commercialism sub-text ridden Dawn of the Dead, not to mention the sleeper independent film hit Halloween, which spawned many forgotten sequels. Other great franchises created in the seventies include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and who could possibly forget Carrie, the first film to be made of a Stephen King original story. All of which (with the exception of Carrie) turned the “slasher” sub-genre into nearly a whole new film type of its very own, and revolutionized horror films to come.

The switch from seventies to eighties saw a revival of sci-fi horror with the classic space survival film Alien and the John Carpenter reboot The Thing, which was praised for its revolutionary special effects of the time. But as the eighties progressed, new franchises banked on the popularity of the “slasher” films. Friday the 13^th and A Nightmare On Elm Street both became horror legends fast and, unfortunately, spawned several less-than-great sequels (see: Jason Takes Manhattan).

But, with the transition from the eighties to the nineties, the horror genre was stained with several panned franchises, starting with the late eighties release of Child’s Play. The birth of the nineties brought on the film franchise Leprechaun and, almost depressingly, many sequels (see: Leprechaun 2, Leprechaun 3, Leprechaun 4: In Space, Leprechaun: In The Hood, and Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood). Luckily, the nineties were saved (kind of) by the psychological thriller Silence of the Lambs and the beginning of the successful film series Scream.

The new millennium seemed promising for horror. With the eighties franchises dying out, and new technology for filmmaking ready and willing to be used for whatever film wanting to spend the money. Unfortunately, the horror genre went a whole new direction. With many, many revivals of old classics (see: Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, Children of the Corn, The Amityville Horror) and new franchises like Final Destination going for a cheaper approach and skimping highly on realism.

Gore also saw a revival in the modern era with the popular franchise Saw, which also brought on a slew of awful sequels (I’d list them, but I used up almost all my italics on listing the Leprechaun sequels and the unnecessary remakes of old classics). All of this together spelled the near end to the horror genre; many had already left it to drown in its own pile of gore and unsold sequels.

Around the time of two thousand and nine, many people had turned away from horror. But, luckily, a new film, banking partially on the popularity of the late nineties film The Blair Witch Project, stormed the theaters. With its microscopic budget and big scare appeal, Paranormal Activity revived the horror genre in recent years. And, unlike many a series before it, its sequels aren’t that unbearable…yet.

Horror has come a long way from its birth at the helm of gothic horror of the twenties. It has created many genres in its time, including sci-fi and the slasher idea. It’s had its ups and downs, just like every other genre. And the aspect of special effects revolutionized it. Although in modern days horror has become a laughing stock with its low budget, badly acted films, other films like Paranormal Activity have shown that horror is far from dead, and it probably never will be until people somehow lose the desire to be frightened beyond belief.

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Chatfield, Anthony. "The Evolution of Horror Film." www.buzzle.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. 

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"Horror Films." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 

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