HISTORY OF HORROR

JOE TURONE

Horror movies have been around since the 1890s with films such as The Haunted Castle and The X-Rays. Back then these films were silent movies with just a piano playing in the background. These films were mainly based on novels around this time. The first horror film was made in 1896 and was only about two minutes long. This film was titled Le Manoir Du Diable, made by imaginative French filmmaker Georges Melies, (aka The Devil's Castle/The Haunted Castle). Elements of this film (such as a flying bat, a medieval castle, a cauldron, a demon figure, skeletons, ghosts, witches and crucifixes) inspired and were used in later horror films such as Dracula (1931) and Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (1919, Ger.) (aka The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). The film Dracula featured one of the Golden Age actors of the horror genre, Bela Lugosi. The film was a commercially-successful film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel played upon fears of sexuality, blood, and the nebulous period between life and death. Bela Lugosi portrayed a 500 year old vampire and gave the role an elegant, suave, exotic and stylish approach. The undead villian was terrifying to some and hypnotically charmed his villians with a predatory gaze. The film was considered as one of the first successful horror film and Bela Lugosi was also considered to play Frakenstein in the 1930s adaption of the novel.

One of most familiar names in the history of horror is Lon Chaney Sr. Chaney appeared in two horror masterpieces, including one of the earliest versions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) - it was another silent film version of the classic tale. However, Chaney's most memorable portrayal was in the groundbreaking, vividly-frightening, Beauty-and-the-Beast silent film, Rupert Julian's costume horror classic The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Chaney did all of his own make-up in the majority of the films he appeared in. Going as far creating himself a fake glass eye and sticking a piece of string on his nose to hold it up. His co-star from the film 'Phantom' noticed that Chaney had somewhat actually become the character he played in the film. This behaviour is seen in modern films such as 'Paranormal Activity' and 'The Blair Witch Project'.

In 1931 another notable name in the history of horror, Boris Karloff starred in James Whale's adaptation of Frankenstein, from Mary Shelley's novel. The film featured a very controversial scene for its time in which Frankenstein throws a little girl into a lake and kills her. Controversy like this is usually put into the films to capture attention so the film does well but in quite a few cases films that do this will often get banned or censored and not given a cinematic release. A modern example of this is The Human Centipede. These sort of films usually gain a cult following

In 1942 Jackques Tourner directed Cat People, a horror film created with limited budget and therefore couldn't use monsters for the film. Instead, they just suggested monstrosity and this still scared viewers to this day as the film was a hit and the technique of just suggesting monstrosity is now used in modern horror films. A perfect example is The Exorcist. In the 195's the horror genre was almost extinct and in 1970 The Exorcist was released and put the genre back on its feet. After Cat People was released it saw a turn in the horror genre as the films used to be recognised for their actors' roles. That is not the case with modern horror films as they are now recognised for certain props. For example, films such as Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street are recognized for the use of a kitchen knife or a strange glove with claws as weapons. Another director whose films have inspired modern horror flicks is George Romero, whose most notable productions were his zombie based series of films. These films used reasonably basic effects and now the zombie-horror films have become their own genre. Todorov's theory could be applied to horror films as they often follow the equilibrium structure, however nowadays the endings of the films can vary, often with either all of the characters dying or one left alive. Nethertheless you can probably expect them to create a sequel anyway. Propps' character theory could also be applied as there is always a 'damsel in distress', the hero and the villian/monstrosity. Steven Shneider has an article online that says in some cases monstrosity in horrors can represent or be metaphors for cultural figures. This can also be applied.