Since the beginning of time, people have been fascinated by death and obsessed with seeking thrills. Horror is an ancient art form. It's no wonder horror movies are so popular.
Last weekend, the two top-grossing movies at the box office were "Paranormal Activity" and "Saw VI." "Zombieland" held the top spot just three weeks before that. It seems people will flock to see scary movies for as long as they can get thrills out of them.
In the case of the horror film's success, history can do the talking. After the invention of motion pictures in the late 20th century, it didn't take long for filmmakers to create the horror genre. French director Georges Melies' 1896 short "The House of the Devil" is often credited as the first horror movie. Since then, trends in the genre have come and gone, and each decade in the last 113 years has evolved the horror movie into what people know it to be today.
The beginning of the 20th century saw the first productions of "Frankenstein" in 1910 and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in 1920. Lon Chaney became a well-known horror movie actor for roles in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1923 and "Phantom of the Opera" in 1925, among others.
The 1930s saw the introduction of iconic monsters such as the vampire in 1931's "Dracula," the zombie in 1932's "White Zombie", and the werewolf in 1935's "The Werewolf of London."
"The Wolf Man" was an early success in the 1940s. However, monster films were getting old. Movie studios stepped in to make more serious horror movies such as 1943's "I Walked with a Zombie" and 1945's "The Picture of Dorian Gray "which won an Academy AwardTM.
There were various cultural changes that occurred between the two decades of the ‘40s and'50s, which showed in its horror films. Nuclear expansion fed visions of rampaging mutants in 1954's "Them!" and "Godzilla." The Cold War fed fears of invasion in 1956's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and 1958's "The Blob."
The 1960s was a time for social revolution. It was also a time for suspense thrillers. The undisputed master of the thriller, filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, released such films in this decade as "Psycho" in 1960 and "The Birds" in 1963. Hitchcock's goal in making his films was to "give them pleasure, the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare."
Between "Psycho" and the Manson family murders in 1969, there was a great change in what the public perceived as terrible. Films were more edgy and movies like "Psycho" were precursors to slasher movies of the coming decades. Also, 1968's "Night of the Living Dead" would change zombie movies forever.
Horror movies in the 1970s reflected the grim mood of the country at the time: the Beatles had just split up, Jimi Hendrix had just died and problems occurred with Nixon and Vietnam. However, when society goes bad, horror movies prevail. Movies of the ‘70s boldly showed violence like in 1974's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and 1977's "The Hills Have Eyes." Even films like 1973's "The Exorcist" saw blockbuster success. The modern slasher film was also born in the decade in 1978's "Halloween" which introduced the slasher character of Michael Myers.
The first half of the 1980s can be summed up by slashers like 1980's "Friday the 13th" and 1984's "A Nightmare on Elm Street." Iconic murderers Jason and Freddie Kruger were created in these two movies. The decade also showcased Stephen King's film adaptations of his books in movies like 1980's "The Shining." King was once quoted about why he wrote about horrors: "We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones." Despite efforts like 1988's "Child Play," which featured the introduction of Chucky the doll, the end of the ‘80s saw a drop in the box office appeal of the horror movie.
The early 1990s brought critical acclaim to the horror genre with 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs." In 1996, the success of "Scream" reignited the slasher films, inspiring others that followed like 1997's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and 1998's "Urban Legend." 1999 saw two of the biggest surprise hits of the decade, regardless that they were scary movies, in "The Sixth Sense" and "The Blair Witch Project."
Though the new millennium saw re-makes of many horror films such as "Dawn of the Dead" in 2004 and "Halloween" in 2007, the new century brought innovations to the horror genre- most notably the "torture porn" of "Saw" and "Hostel."
Presently, there has been a surge in the vampire fascination with 2008's "Twilight" and its highly anticipated sequel "New Moon." Other vampire-related dramas are following in its footsteps, even on television.
This fall's hit movie "Zombieland" has created a surge in the zombie film's popularity. Perhaps building more to the pop-culture zombie phenomenon is the re-ignition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video that followed his death in June. The song lyrics of "Thriller" sum up why people love to see horror films: "'Cause this is thriller, thriller night. So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller tonight." t&c;
