Help needed: History of Horror
 

My local newspaper has asked me to submit a column for a Halloween issue that summarizes the history of the horror genre. I quickly need some requests from you all as to what titles I MUST mention (those that are most influential, or seem to embody the trends of the era in which they were created). Remember, this is a SUMMARY of the history, so I can only have the essential titles.

What do you think?

mention halloween the birth of the slasher film

texas chainsaw massacre one of the most influental films of all time

cabinet of dr.colargi is credited with being the first horror film

dracula-original

Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Friday the 13th
Psycho
NOES
Romeros Dead Trilogy
Halloween
Hellraiser
Childs Play
Evil Dead Trilogy
Dead Alive

I was going to mention the cabinet, and I was going to also mention the original TCM in a paragraph about 70's horror, culminating in Halloween which launched the shit-ass mess of slasher films in the 80's (I won't use the words "shit-ass mess" though).

nostifurto
frankenstine

and what HB said

Oh and

Reanimator
Bride of Frankenstein


You can also do a Japanese section with like:

Ju-on
Ringu
Battle Royale
Audition and stuff like that.

mention blacula so it doesn't seem racist

I was going to write a paragraph that mentions the basic differences in international horror. Japanese: creepy, atmospheric; Italian: Gory; American: action.

Any more ideas on international horror? Also, when you mention a title, it would help me out if you specify HOW that title is essential to the horror genre. Thanks for the quick replies! I knew I could count on you all.

Definetly mention Suspiria, for which it is one of Dario Argento's best. Zombie(79') would be another good one because it has some good gore scenes.

You could do a remake section with like The new Dawn of the Dead and Texas Chainsaw

Or you could do a crappy movie section with Leprechaun:Back to the Hood or They.....or Darkness Falls........:mad:

its BACK 2 THA HOOD

haha look at my avatar

I was thinking about mentioning "formula" horror, and throwing in a few shitty titles for examples. But I'm not so sure. I need to write the thing first, and see what I can do with it.

How about today's horror? At one point do you think we finally got away from the slasher film, and started producing more heady horror? Was it with "The Sixth Sense"? (and I know I'm going to get flamed for saying that), or "The Blair Witch Project"? (for which I will also get flamed.) Maybe it was "Se7en"? (which I don't think I'll get flamed for.)

Hmm you might want to mention the Ring. That kinda creeped me out....but Stir of Echoes was pretty good in my opinion..

Se7en definatly was a turning point. Brought us out into more.....inteligent horror. Not saying that there wasnt any before, god no....but it brought us back to the light, so to say.

Dead trillogy, definatly. Shock value, plus a "biting" (Bad pun, sorry) social commentary. Even with the zombies, it was more real than most reality shows....

Depending on your opinion, TCM or Halloween, both are kinda credited with beginning slasher...

I guess thats all for me

if i might throw in some names...

early german horrors (cabinet of dr caligari, nosferatu, der golem)

then came the universal era (dracula, frankenstein etc..)
then some rko magical films (cat people, i walked with a zombie etc..)
the emergence of hammer in the 50's
era of atomic horrors in the us
low budget american indepedant films (roger corman)
italian giallo films
the bloody movies of the 70's and early 80's
mainstream studios taking over and diluting
asian extreme.

I think you should.

If you need some more films do a Black Comedy section with such titles as:

Shaun of the Dead
Dead Alive (Brain Dead)
Bad Taste
Evil Dead 2
Army of Darkness

and so fourth..

As usual zwoti stole some of my thunder.
I also was going to mention the classics, i.e. Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein. A little nugget I also picked up , the first silent horror movie was a 1896 two minute vampire movie from director Georges Melies called "Le Manoir du Diable".
From the 40s we have The Cat People, The Wolfman.
50s brought us horror/sci-fi The Thing from Another Planet as well as Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The Haunting in the 60s, Rosemarys Baby.
The 70s gave us Jaws and the start of the slashers, Halloween, Friday the 13th , Nightmare on Elm Street.

i occasionally feel the need to flex my mental muscles


http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html

Nice link, thanks zwoti.:)

just sowing seeds....we'll see if any knowledge takes root

Very nice link, thanks a lot for that. And thank everyone who has thus far contributed. I've decided to open with a very brief history of horror's roots in the mythologies of early civilizations, then mention the first tangible "evil" emerging in Beowulf. From there, I was going to briefly mention the middle ages with Germanic and Romanian folk and fairy tales, then move to the English (where I will have to mention Shakespeare). A brief talk about the gothic novel in the eighteenth century and its influence on Shelley, Stoker, Blackwood, and Poe.

The twentieth century will have to start with a discussion of pulp magazines, and a brief talk about Lovecraft. Also, I will have to point out the eventual collapse of the magazine market with the advent of television and film.

I will discuss the 40's and 50's briefly, and spend the majority of the article discussing the 70's, 80's, 90's and today (mentioning, along the way, TCM, Halloween, The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, Stephen King, Interview with the Vampire, Psycho, Hell House, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Scream, Se7en, The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project, and the recent rise of Asian horror.)

One more question:

Do you see the horror genre moving more strongly into the video game market? I see the video game as being the perfect medium for horror, bringing fans of the genre into the story on levels that they have never before been. With fiction and film, the audience still has the safety of detachment. It isn't THEM fighting the evil, it's the character on page or screen. But in video games, the player becomes the character on a level that page and screen cannot reach. The actions of the character in the game are the actions of the player. And the outcome depends solely on the player. What do you guys think about this? Should I mention video games?

Thanks again for all of your help, and I will use the link you posted zwoti. Much appreciated.

Yes you should mention it. But i could see it moving more strongly into the video game genre although there arent very many horror suggested games out there nowadays. I think they should make a Silent Hill movie. If they then proceed to fuck that one up then they should quit.

I hope i was of some help in this thread Stingy..

stingys writing a article for the newspaper? o my they're gonna have to cut down half the amazon rain forest for the extra paper for that edition:rolleyes:
p.s dont mention wendigo.

Blacula? I wouldn't really call him Horror. More of a comedy.

So you want to know about the History of Horror? Or is it the History of Halloween?

P.S. For Wufong:
Well, he IS king of the long post...

The history of horror (even though The History of Halloween would seem more appropriate). This came about after I delivered a lecture to my Creative Writing class on writing horror stories. The son of the editor of the paper is in that class, and he (the editor) gave me a call when his son came home talking endlessly about the stuff I talked about. The editor thought that if it interested his son so much, I should write an article about it in the hopes of getting more young people to read the paper. Go figure.

And I don't plan on making it a long article ... although, any "history" has to be longer than your average newspaper article in order to be done justice. I think I can write about 4 pages, typed. I'll then let the paper hack and slash to its heart's content (shudder).

you might want to mention independent and low budget horror

it was a joke

I would say village of the damned
house on haunted hill
Pantasm
hellraiser
Blairwitch
And american psycho
TCM
NOES
Thats my list and im stickin to it