For more than 100 years, horror movies have terrified audiences through jump scares, psychological horror, gore, and more. Horror films have been a worldwide sensation for years and have been around since 1896. The most well-known horror films are some of the first, like Nosferatu (1929), Frankenstein (1931), and Dracula (1931). These horror films, although they were made nearly 100 years ago, are still talked about today.
Though Nosferatu, Frankenstein, and Dracula are pretty old films, they aren’t the oldest. The oldest horror film is actually “Le Manoir du Diable,” which translates to “The Haunted Castle” or “The House of the Devil.” This film was made in 1896 and is only 3 minutes long, but it is still considered a film.
Nosferatu was sued by Dracula in the 1920s. Albin Grau, the creator of Nosferatu, was not able to gain rights to Dracula, so instead he just made the movie Nosferatu very similar to Dracula while tweaking the story to avoid a lawsuit, but a lawsuit for infringement was still filed. The court ordered all the copies of the film to be destroyed, but as bad as this might seem, this wasn’t the end of Nosferatu. One copy of the film survived, and that one copy is the one we used for every copy that we have today.
In the 1930s-1940s, movies like Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, and The Invisible Man were released. These films were some of the most popular horror films and have contributed largely to what horror films are today. These films, unlike modern films, didn’t rely on lots of blood, scares, and gore to be good. They were more reliant on the story of the film.
Nowadays, most horror films don’t have the best stories and rely much more on kills and scares, but this is killing the horror industry. Horror movies with stories often show the process of rising action, which helps to build suspense for the audience and, in turn, leads to a scarier movie. Not to mention, character development does help to make the audience more invested in the film, and if something happens to a character, it has that much more effect on the audience. It seems that the more time that passes, the rarer good horror films are.
Around the 1970s and 1990s, movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Child’s Play, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Scream, and A Nightmare on Elm Street came out. These films are considered cult classics, and some consider this period to be the best time for horror movies. These films are more reliant on their kills rather than their story but they still are a fun watch. Halloween was about a creepy serial killer in a white mask named Michael Myers who couldn’t die. Friday the 13th is most famous for the killer Jason Voorhees, but believe it or not, he wasn’t the killer in the original movie. The killer in the original movie was Jason’s mother, Pamela Voorhees, who, unlike Jason Voorhees, Pamela Voorhees could die. Child’s Play is about a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray who used voodoo to become a doll named Chucky. Chucky takes a liking to Andy, a six-year-old boy, and throughout the movie, Chucky attempts to possess Andy to return to human form. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is about a cannibal named Leatherface who brutally kills people with his chainsaw. Scream is about a murderer(s) named Ghostface who wears a white ghost mask along with a black robe with a hood. He uses a knife and throughout the movie goes after Sidney Prescott. A Nightmare on Elm Street is about a man named Freddy Krueger who kills people in their dreams.
Around the 2000s, popular movies like The Blair Witch Project, Jeepers Creepers, The Ring, and Saw came out. The Blair Witch Project was filmed like a “found footage” movie, and it really convinced the audience that it was true. Not only did the filming style convince audiences that it was real, but so did the website. Blairwitch.com. On this website, there were missing persons posters of the filmmakers, and audio and video clips were on the website that were found in the woods. None of this was true, and this entire movie was a work of fiction, still a terrifying movie though, and it doesn’t have much gore either. Jeepers Creepers is a successful franchise with its main antagonist, “The Creeper.” The Creeper was a demonic lizard-like creature that, every 23rd spring, eats humans for 23 days. This movie is part of a four-movie franchise, and although it has gore, it doesn’t rely on it to be a good horror movie. The Ring is a popular movie whose main antagonist is a little girl’s ghost who kills anyone who watches her cursed tape. Anyone who watches the tape will die exactly seven days later. This film is a part of a 14-movie franchise, and none of them have much gore. Saw, however, is famous for its gore, and is arguably the most successful horror franchise from this time, started in 2004. This movie is immensely gory and relies on both its visual and implied gore. Although it doesn’t show too much of the gore, it is still very disturbing to know what’s happening, even if the viewer can’t see it. This movie is successful and is a part of a 10-movie franchise, with another one coming out later in 2025.
Around the 2010s, movies like Tucker & Dale VS. Evil, Insidious, Terrifier, and The Conjuring came out. Tucker and Dale VS. Evil is a comedy/slasher movie which is about two hillbilly friends who get mistaken as kidnappers by a group of college kids. The college kids attempt to kill these hillbillies but instead mistakenly kill themselves throughout the movie. This movie doesn’t particularly rely on its gore, but the gore does add to the movie. Insidious is a paranormal horror movie that’s about the Lambert family. They move into a new home where their son falls into a random coma. They figure out that their son’s soul is trapped in a spirit world. The entire movie consists of the father and mother trying to save their son. This movie isn’t gory at all and instead relies on its suspense and atmosphere to scare the viewer. Terrifier is about a white and black clown/mime called Art the Clown. Art the Clown stalks and brutally kills people, meaning this movie relies on its kills. The Conjuring is about a family that moved into a house in the middle of nowhere. The house they moved into used to be owned by a woman who killed her child and herself for satan. The home where this family moved is now haunted. The Conjuring is a wildly popular horror film and does not rely on its gore to be scary. Instead, this movie slowly builds up the scare factor as the movie goes on, which creates an intense feeling of discomfort throughout the entire movie.
Around the 2020s, movies like Smile, Barbarian, Talk to Me, and Late Night with the Devil came out. Smile is about a demon who infects people and causes them to commit suicide. The part that makes this entity especially deadly and terrifying is that anyone who sees the person commit the act of suicide will also be infected and die. The entity makes the people it infects see visions and smile before they die. Barbarian is about a woman with a disability who kidnaps people and acts like their mother. Talk to Me is about some teens who contact the spirit world using a severed hand, which leads to unfortunate events. Late Night with the Devil is about a late-night talk show host who brought on a girl who was thought to be possessed by a demon.
These movies have shown the history of horror movies all the way from 1896 to the present day. Overall, horror movies have changed a lot from when they originally began, and still manage to haunt the audience, even after the credits roll.