Horror Film History

It is important to be aware of a film genre's historical background and its artistic framework. This website shows in context a brief history of the horror film genre. The writer explains how horror is a form of ancient art. Horror served as two purposes: to deliver thrills, and and tell stories of the dark, forbidden side of life and death. This article explains how each generation gets the horror film it deserves. One fascinating study of the genre is to see how the monsters change in nature. In the early 1940s, the appearance of the half human, halk wolf character was the monster posing the threat. In the 1990s, there was no need for such a character, for example, Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, 1991) was entirely human and had his own sadistic methods of killing. Then, as we move into the twenty-first century, the ghosts and zombies are back in the spotlight.