News Barron

Smell that? Fall is in the air, the trees are changing colors, and people across the country are cozying up in front of their televisions to watch scary movies. Today we will take a look at the long history of horror cinema, how it formed, evolved, and thrived in this world we live in.

Early Beginnings

The genre of horror film dates back to before the 1930s in Germany with the advent of Expressionist cinema, with examples like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and F. W. Murnau's adaptation of Nosferatu (1922). However, the genre was not defined as horror until the release of Tod Browning's Dracula in 1931, starring Bela Lugosi. Of course horror did exist in novels dating back centuries, with many cultures having "horror" elements in their beliefs. After the box office success of Dracula, the genre exploded. In the same year, Universal Pictures also released smash-hit Frankenstein, starring horror icon and legend Boris Karloff. Lugosi and Karloff went on to star together in Poe adaptations, such as The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935). Dracula and Frankenstein spawned numerous sequels, including The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Dracula (1943).

The next major development in the genre came in March 1942 when producer Val Lewton ended a long term partnership with David O. Selznick to work with Charles Koerner at RKO Pictures, heading up a new unit to produce B-movie horror features. The first of these was Cat People (1942), directed by Jacques Tourneur. It was received with mixed reviews at the time but is considered a landmark in horror. Lewton went on to produce hits I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Leopard Man (1943), and The Seventh Victim (1943). Between 1947 and 1951, almost no new horror films were made. Idk why, kinda flippin dumb. The 50s didn't really see much action in general, spawning mostly sequels and D movies. I would be remiss to not mention Hammer Films' version of Dracula starring legends Peter Cushing and Sir Christopher Lee.

Some notable films from the 1940s and 1950s not mentioned above:

The Spiral Staircase (1945), The Blob (1958), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Diabolique (1955)

1960s Developments

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock, who at this point was already quite well known and almost 40 years into his film career, directed what is known as the birth of modern horror, Psycho. This is the first of many films with a serial killer with multiple personalities, which is a trope we still see to this very day. Fun fact, before the release of this film, it was a common practice for the theaters to have films on continuous loops, so people would watch stuff out of order. Hitchcock and Paramount quickly ended this trend. Thank God.

Following the success of Psycho, the horror genre started to branch off into subgenres. We saw a few supernatural pieces with The Innocents (1961), The Haunting (1963), and others. At the same time Mario Bava invented the Giallo genre with The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963). Giallo is described as films containing slasher, thriller, psychological, or sexploitation elements, with giallos being 99% Italian made. Also in 1960, director and producer Roger Corman began his legendary "Poe Cycle" with House of Usher, beginning an epic 8 film run that concluded in 1964. The first satanic themed film was Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968). The same year came widely considered the first true zombie film with George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, which went on to spawn three sequels and a few crappy remakes.

It would be impossible to not discuss the "Unholy Trinity," aka Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), Witchfinder General (1968) and The Wicker Man (1973). These three films are considered pioneers in the subgenre of folk horror and we still see their influence to this day, most notably from director Ben Wheatley.

Some notable films from the 1960s not mentioned above:

Eyes Without a Face (1960), Village of the Damned (1960), The Birds (1963), Blood and Black Lace (1964), The Devil Rides Out (1968)

The Birth of the Slasher and Cementation of Giallo

The 1970s saw major evolutions in the genre. The New Hollywood movement spawned legendary directors John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Brian De Palma, William Friedkin, Bob Clark, David Cronenberg, and Dario Argento. Friedkin's global hit The Exorcist (1973) is considered Hollywood's return to horror film production. Film critic Kim Newman described the film as "having the grit and realism that was part of the New Hollywood movement of the period with "nuanced performances" and non-star actors."

In 1974, we saw Hooper's landmark slasher hit The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This film is widely considered one of the greatest horror films of all time and laid down the foundations of horror hits such as The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Halloween (1978), Evil Dead (1981), and Alien (1979). Another fun fact, this film cemented the "final girl" trope we see in horror films. Some American slashers that followed this were Black Christmas (1974) and Massacre at Central High (1976). This all being said, giallo films were already doing the slasher bit with hits like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) and Deep Red (1975).

Jaws (1975) was a landmark film for the genre because it was one of, if not the first of the "animal attack" horror films, becoming at the time the highest grossing film of all time, spawning many sequels, and basically inventing the summer blockbuster. Carrie (1976) began the trend of teenagers being the protagonist which we still see to this day.

Some notable films from the 1970s not mentioned above:

The Devils (1971), Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), Don't Look Now (1973), Eraserhead (1977), The Brood (1979), The Amityville Horror (1979), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

Body Horror and the 1980s

With the dawn of the 1980s Horror Hollywood saw a new trend: Body Horror. We saw various forms of human transformation, with films such as An American Werewolf in London (1981), The Thing (1982), Videodrome (1983), and The Fly (1986) all paving way for the subgenre. All four of these films are pretty much masterpieces in horror and widely considered the best four body horror films to this day.

During the 80s we saw classic characters like Dracula and Frankenstein wane in popularity, being replaced with now icons Jason Vorhees, Freddie Krueger, and Michael Myers. After the success of Friday the 13th (1980), the decade saw over 20 slashers alone. These films revolved around three properties: a unique social setting (holiday, campground, school), a crime committed in the past, and a group of ready-made victims. Towards the end of the decade these films became scorned by critics but still made a schlit ton of money in the box office.

Despite newer subgenres becoming more popular, we still saw the classic ghost stories be popular. Kubrick dipped his toes in and destroyed libtard Stephen King's stupid native book and created his own version of The Shining (1980). Tobe Hooper and Spielberg collaborated on the high grossing The Poltergeist (1982). Speaking of King, he churned out a ton of stories which became smash hits, including Christine (1983) and Children of the Corn (1984).

In my opinion, this decade was dominated by three previously mentioned directors: Carpenter (4), Cronenberg (5), and Argento (4). Note those numbers are just ones I have seen. If there are more I should check out, lmk.

Carpenter: The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982), Christine (1983), Prince of Darkness (1987)

Cronenberg: Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983), The Dead Zone (1983), The Fly (1986), Dead Ringers (1988)

Argento: Inferno (1980), Tenebrae (1982), Phenoma (1985), Opera (1987)

These 12 films combined for over $180m at the box office, with a third of that coming from The Fly alone.

Some notable films from the 1980s not mentioned above:

The Changeling (1980), Dressed to Kill (1980), Possession (1981), Slumber Party Massacre (1982), The Hunger (1983), Sleepaway Camp (1983), The Hitcher (1986), Manhunter (1986), Hellraiser (1987)

1990s Stagnation

The 1990s were the decade of sequels and stagnation, with the first of these being The Exorcist III (1990), directed by Exorcist original writer William Peter Blatty. We also saw entries into popular franchises such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th.

However, the slasher genre was revived with the meta horror hit Scream (1996) and its follow-up Scream 2 (1997). At this point Wes Craven was lowkey was washed as hell, so with Scream he made a historical comeback. Writer Kevin Williamson also wrote teen slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). Both films carried on the teenager trope, with Neve Campbell's character Sydney Prescott probably being the most recognizable final girl in horror film history.

Gothic horror also made a small comeback, with Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) and Interview with a Vampire (1994) being the most successful. I would also count my personal favorite horror film In The Mouth of Madness (1995) in the gothic subgenre, same with Sleepy Hollow (1999).

Some notable films from the 1990s not mentioned above:

Jacob's Ladder (1990), Misery (1990), Funny Games (1997), Ringu (1998), Ravenous (1998)

Zombies and Found Footage in the 2000s

The decade ended on a strong note with the invention of the ever popular subgenre - found footage film - in The Blair Witch Project (1999). Following the box office success of this, found footage films absolutely exploded in the 2000s, albeit it was not until the advent of YouTube in 2006 that we saw this subgenre really explode; the most recognizable being Paranormal Activity (2007) and its many sequels. The other major subgenre that was development in this decade was torture porn, described films being shocking to the point to where it's basically disgusting schlit and probably shouldn't be seen by human eyes. The Saw Franchise invented this in 2004.

Zombie films also made a comeback, with the first being British made 28 Days Later (2002) and its subsequent sequel 28 Weeks Later (2007). Others include Shaun of the Dead (2004), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Land of the Dead (2005), I Am Legend (2007), and Zombieland (2009).

Some notable films from the 2000s not mentioned above:

The Others (2001), House of 1000 Corpses (2003), Van Helsing (2004), Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), Silent Hill (2006), Anti-Christ (2009)

The Rise of Horror Studios

Following their giga successful hit Paranormal Activity, Blumhouse Productions opened the decade with Insidious (2011) and continued their success with Sinister (2012), The Purge (2013), Oculus (2014), Creep (2015), Hush (2016), Happy Death Day (2017), Truth or Dare (2018), and Ma (2019). These mofos had a hit every year damn. They also developed what is probably the most popular horror franchise of our generation, The Conjuring Universe. A24 became a massive player beginning with folk horror hits The Witch (2015), Hereditary (2018), and Midsommar (2019).

The 2010s saw a shift from previous decades being defined with specific subgenres, shifting to more studio based. That being said however, as stated above we saw folk horror take center stage and to a lesser extent psychedelic horror, such as Enter The Void (2009), Under The Skin (2013), and Climax (2018). To be clear all other subgenres are still represented by different films but this decade is really defined by the studios making the films. Also in the 2010s we also saw lesser known horror films rise to the forefront of culture due the popularity of boutique film distributors such as Arrow Video, Vinegar Syndrome, Synapse Films, and countless others.

2017 saw box office records get smashed by Stephen King's It (2017), with the film grossing over $123.1 million on opening weekend. A sequel was made the following year and in 2019 saw the Pet Semetary remake. Side note Stephen King needs to be deported to Neptune.

Some notable films from the 2010s not mentioned above:

Kill List (2011), V/H/S (2012), A Field in England (2013), The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015), Bone Tomahawk (2015), Split (2016), A Cure for Wellness (2016), Mandy (2018), The House That Jack Built (2018), Ready or Not (2019)

2020s and Beyond

Being almost done with the 2020s, unfortunately there have not been that many original horror films that are memorable; however, the ones are memorable are that for a reason. These include Possessor (2020), The Black Phone (2021), Smile (2022), Talk to Me (2022), The Menu (2022), X (2022) and its sequels, Infinity Pool (2023), Longlegs (2024), The Substance (2024), Weapons (2025), and Backrooms (2026).

The decade is also defined by countless remakes and sequels which I am not going to name because there's a schlit ton.

Looking ahead, I hope we continue to see evolutions in all the previously mentioned subgenres. I do not know if any news will be invented anytime soon but I am looking forward to stuff being built upon.

Some notable films from the 2020s not mentioned above:

Barbarian (2022), Late Night with the Devil (2023), Strange Darling (2023), Together (2025)

Thank you for taking the time to read this long ahh article. If theres a horror film I didnt mention feel free to post about it on X and tag me @methalcohol for further discussion.