The genre of Horror has been loved by many for years, but how much do we know about this genre of film? How much has it changed throughout time? The genre was first introduced in literature with William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, said to be written in 1606. When Macbeth was first performed in a play, fans couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the character.
In addition to William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, more horror stories came out through plays, novels, and films. For example, George Mellies introduced his horror film “The Haunted Castle” in the late 1800s. In this film, characters such as skeletons, ghosts, bats, and an image of the devil are shown. This film was intended to create a sense of wonder for those who watched it, but to viewers, it was perceived as a horror film because of the characters in the short film. In today’s horror films, those creatures aren’t so used.
In the late 1970s the subgenre “Slasher” was popular in horror movies such as Psycho and the Scream series. Other subgenres that weren’t as popular or didn’t get good fan feedback, but are more popular now are possession films like Rosemary’s Baby in the late ‘60s and The Exorcist in the ‘70s. When these films first appeared on screen fans didn’t react so well there were reports of vomiting and fainting in theaters, some also sued filmmakers because of this. However that is not the case today, these films are more enjoyed because of the gore factor and especially the quality of film. This has gone up significantly since the late ‘60s and ‘70s and this means that these movies have been better in quality and plot because directors have had much more to work with.
