As part of my horror research, I decided to complete a timeline of classic horror movies/scripts.
Horror movies within a decade (within 10 years of each other) can be, and usually are, based on events that are happening in the world during this time. E.g. Spirits and Supernatural activity. This is because as time goes on, we begin to find things that were previously scary, either boring, or funny, instead of scary. This is why film producers change their themes. Film producers can base a horror film on anything that is happening in the world at the time. They do this because it makes the film seem more realistic, and easier for the audience to see happening in reality. As the film is based on recent events, it will make the film scarier for the audience, and the horror movie more successful.
Between 1910, and 1930, or movies were mainly based on doctors and/or people. After doing some research into this, I found that these movies were based on literature that had been written around that time. The producers chose to do this because it would scare their audience.
Between 1930 and 1960, it was about supernatural characters e.g. Vampires, Zombies, Witch's and Werewolf's. A lot of these movies were either based on tales from stories, or, they were remakes from movies that may have been previously successful, E.g. Dracula. Over the years, there have been roughly 20(!) remakes of this vampire movie. Producers, over the years have recreated this movie in many other different genres. An example of the a comedy version of this movie would be Dracula: Dead and loving it. The movie genres for this movie, according to google, are Horror, Comedy, Parody, and Horror comedy.
From about 1965, up until 1990, they were mainly creating Si-Fi Horror films, with a few supernatural activity and the living dead popping up over the years. The producers at the time chose to create Si-Fi horror because, during the time, we were preparing to send the first men into space and to the moon. As it was a widely known event, (everyone had heard about it somewhere as it was such a big event/step for human kind and exploration) horror movie producers saw the opportunity to make a horror movie that could make the idea of going to space, scary. Characters such as aliens were used to create a sense of fear, especially when they began to invade. This idea was not impossible for the audience to imagine happening in real life, therefore making even more frightening.
The supernatural activity and living dead movies have recently been making a come back, and are currently 2 of the main horror film themes in play today. A lot of the recent horror have been about supernatural spirits, and the/a world zombie apocalypse. From the 1990's onwards, horror movies have been based on Supernatural occurrences, Apocalyptic events and the living dead films. These themes are still being used today as the audience is both interested and frightened by these movies (the main aim of a horror film).
As part of my research, I had a look at some of the top 10 horror movies between today, and the 1920's, to see just how accurate my timeline is. I have included the 'Classic horror movies' from he 1900's, right up until 2015. This video should not mention any horror movies I haven't got on my timeline.
Enjoy:
