History of Scary Movies

Since the beginning of film, horror movies have provided audiences with thrills and chills while at the same time exploring the complex psychological aspects of the horror genre. From Frankenstein's monster to Freddie Krueger, the genre of scary movies has provided audiences with entertainment that scares and delights and keeps the ever-changing audience coming back for more.

The Origins of the Scary Movie

To find the origins of scary movies, one must look to the beginning of the genre and the "King of the Fantasmagoria," Frenchman George Melies. At the end of the 19th century, Melies used scenery filmed on traditional theater stages to scare and mesmerize his audiences. Some of Melies' popular films included "The Vanishing Lady," "The Haunted Castle" and "The Conjurer." According to Frank Manchel in "Terrors of the Screen," by 1902, Melies had made more than 350 films devoted to illusions, surprises and tricks, and no other moviemaker was his rival in the early years of the cinema. By the onset of World War I, Melies was seen as amusing rather than fearful and was forced to stop film making in 1913.

German Terror Films of the Early 20th Century

In the years after World War I, the German producer and director Max Reinhardt emerged as the guiding force in the new theater of the macabre. Reinhardt was revolutionary in the genre with his use of simple, but artistic, sets and his use of lighting. Paul Wegener emerged as another force in the German horror genre, and according to Manchel, Wegener resembled Melies in his rich theatrical backround, his vision for the potential of the big screen for depicting the fantastic and his ability to prove himself as an extremely innovative artist. Wegener films featured renditions of traditional legends including tales by Edgar Allan Poe and E.T.A Hoffman and the legend of Faust. "Nosferatu," released in 1922 and directed by Freidrich Wilhelm Murnau, is a movie loosely based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" that made groundbreaking use of outdoor sets and odd camera angles to create a sinister yet artistically bold film.

The Move to America

With the decline of the European market in scary films came the rise of the U.S. film industry and its subsequent takeover of the horror genre. John Robinson and Wallace Worsley emerged as leading directors in this new U.S. genre, while actors such as John Barrymore and Lon Chaney, "the man of a thousand faces," came to the forefront of the horror market. From the years 1913 to 1919, Chaney was featured in more than 100 different roles. Two of Chaney's more famous roles were in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "The Phantom of the Opera."

The Emergence of Hollywood Horror

With the death of Lon Chaney, other actors emerged to become horror kings. Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi appeared in 1931's "Dracula." In the same year, Boris Karloff appeared as the monster in "Frankenstein" and seemed destined to carry on the role that Chaney had abandoned with his death. Karloff appeared the next year in "The Mummy" and again in 1935 as Frankenstein's monster in "The Bride of Frankenstein." Lon Chaney Jr. appeared in 1941's "The Wolf Man" and created a considerably successful character in his portrayal of Lawrence Talbot.

Scary Movies of the 1950s and 1960s

With the emergence of space travel, producers and directors looked to the stars for their scares. "The War of the Worlds" in 1953 and "The Thing" in 1951 gave audiences scares based on the invasion of earth by extraterrestrial beings. Alfred Hitchcock also emerged as a director of scare-based cinema with his masterpieces, "The Birds" and "Psycho." 1968's "Rosemary's Baby," directed by Roman Polanski, features Mia Farrow as a pregnant mother, Rosemary Woodhouse, who is surrounded by neighbors who are part of a satanic cult and whose child is believed to be the spawn of Satan.

The Horror Films of Today

Much of the horror industry since the middle 1970s has been based on shock value and the subsequent body counts that make up the movie. Beginning with Tobe Hooper's 1974 cult classic, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," audiences have been confronted with shocking and psychopathic protagonists who randomly butcher their victims in alarmingly violent fashion. With the exceptions of movie such as 1999's "The Blair Witch Project" and a sampling of director M. Night Shyamalan's films, audiences are being confronted with less to think about and more to wince at.

References

• "Terrors of the Screen"; Frank Manchel; 1970