A Brief and Extremely Incomplete History of Horror Movies

Tomorrow is Halloween and since I can't really think of anything better to write about, let's discuss the history of horror movies!  Not that I'm really an expert or anything, but I've seen a few.

1930s-1940s:  The Classic Monster Era

Starting in the early 30s you had the beginning of those classic Universal monster movies starting with Dracula starring Bela Legosi.  Of course there had already been horror movies like Nosferatu in the silent era, but these were really some of the first in the "talkie" era.  Then you had Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, followed by others like The Invisible Man, The Mummy, and The Wolfman.  And of course you had sequels like Bride of Frankenstein and probably a bunch of imitators too.

1950s-1960s:  The Giant Monster Era

In the 50s you had two types of giant monster movies.  The first were those that featured things like giant ants, grasshoppers, or even lizards.  Most of those were pretty lame with regular-sized creatures filmed against miniatures or bad claymation.  Then of course starting with Godzilla you had what became known as kaiju movies with some big monster (actually a guy in a rubber suit) stomping cities.  Godzilla soon had imitators like Rodan, Mothra, and Gamera.  While those started out in black-and-white and fairly serious, in the 60s they were filmed in color and increasingly aimed at kids.

1960s-1970s:  The Psychological Era

In the late 60s through the mid-70s you had a lot of psychological horror movies like Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, and The Omen.  These focused less on gore or violence and more on the psychological terror of demons and the like.  It's not something that's really died off; more like it's been eclipsed by other types of movies.

Mid-1970s-1980s: The Super Killer Era

Starting in the mid-70s you had the rise of the super killers.  Really I suppose you could say it began with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the introduction of Leatherface.  In 1978 John Carpenter's Halloween kicked it up a notch with Michael Myers.  It got bigger in the 80s with the Friday the 13th sequels (not the first one) featuring Jason Voorhees, Nightmare of Elm Street featuring Freddy Krueger, and Hellraiser featuring Pinhead.  Like the 80s themselves these were exercises in excess with blood, violence, and gratuitous boobs.  And truth be told, not many of them were very good.

1990s:  The Post-Modern Era

Early in the 90s the super killer franchises had all but died out.  Kaiju movies were just fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Bram Stoker's Dracula hit while Mary Shelley's Frankenstien missed at the box office.

And so horror movies reinvented themselves for the post-modern ironic era.  You could say it started in 1994 with Wes Craven's New Nightmare that broke the 4th wall by having the cast and crew of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies playing themselves.  It wasn't hugely popular, not like Craven's next(ish?) movie:  Scream.  That turned the horror movie on its head with its characters positing on and following the "rules" of horror movies.  There were sequels to that and less-successful imitators like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legends.  Besides New Nightmare, the other super killer franchises tried to reinvent themselves with Jason X (or Jason in Spaaaaaace!), Halloween Resurrection (or Keeping Up With Michael Myers), and Hellraiser: Hellworld (or World of Warcraft: Cenobite Edition).  Though none of those were really successful, personally I enjoyed them.

2000s:  The Torture Porn Era

In the 2000s post-ironic movies died out in favor of torture porn movies like the Saw and Hostel movies.  These cheaply made movies featured blood and gratuitous violence like the super killer movies but instead of a brutal serial killer slashing people up there were sadistic games.  So morally not really an improvement.

2010s:  The Found Footage Era

In our current decade the biggest horror movie trend had its roots in The Blair Witch project at the turn of the century.  "Found footage" movies like the Paranormal Activity series became a big business.  And why not?  They cost next to nothing to shoot, so even a tepid theatrical response would lead to a profit.  A video camera and actors/effects equivalent to your local haunted house were really all you needed.

Obviously there are other horror movies in each era but really my half-assed analysis is just focusing on overall trends, which I base on nothing but my limited knowledge.  So take it with about a shaker full of salt.