Up to the 1920’s
The House of the Devil was the first horror film after the advent
of motion picture in the late 19th century. This was followed by Phantom of the opera which was very
successful.
1930's
Universal studios
released numerous horror films following the success of Phantom of the opera including Dracula
and Frankenstein. The first werewolf
and zombie films were also created by the Americans with the creation of the
special effects blockbuster; King Kong.
1940’s
Universal studios
were struggling with creating more monster movies like Frankenstein and so they resorted to combining genres creating; comedy-horror.
MGM, produced The Picture of Dorian Gray,
which won an Academy Award for cinematography, and a remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, while Paramount
released the highly regarded haunted house picture The Uninvited. India entered the horror genre with Mahal making it an international market.
1950’s

1960’s
Horror films now
included more controversial levels of violence and sexuality. Horror luminary
of the time Alfred Hitchcock produced Pyscho
and The Birds.
1970’s
Social issues were
tackled in films including sexism, consumerism, religion and war. Graphic sex
and violence were included in the film Texas
chainsaw massacre. Zombie films were still popular as proven by the success
of Dawn of the Dead. The shock factor pushed films like Jaws and
The exorcist to blockbuster success.
1980’s
Friday 13th and Nightmare
on Elm street were the infamous films of the 80’s. Adaptions of Stephan
King’s books were made into films e.g The Shining. 

1990’s-2000’s
Unrivalled critical
acclaim for the horror genre with The
silence of the Lambs which swept major academies. This success encouraged
studios to fund large-scale horror themed projects like Blade. Remakes of popular American horror films were made for
example Dawn of the Dead and also
foreign films for example The Ring. Saw was referred to as ‘torture porn’
and went on to make multiple follow on films. There was international success
within the genre.
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