The History of Horror

As the spooky season nears, discussions of costumes, treats, and other plans start to emerge. However, there’s something that’s clearly missing: horror movies. In fact, even outside of October, horror movies tend to be dismissed and ditched for other genres. They’re unfairly labeled as content that scares people and causes anxiety for no reason. Horror movies are under-appreciated and deserve far more credit because of their evolution over the years, the immense range of storylines, as well as the mental benefits and unification they provide through fear. 

The word “horror” comes from the Latin verb horrēre, which means “to shudder” or “to tremble,” both of which are actions typically evoked by fear or anxiety. Despite the thrill evoked by the horror genre when it first emerged, it also sparked concern among the public, especially among adults in a morally conservative society. Controversy over the horror genre is prevalent to this day and is particularly a nuisance when trying to force that one friend who is terrified of horror movies to watch one with you. While horror movies may not be everyone’s cup of tea, most can agree that horror provides escapism from real-world problems.

The film The House of the Devil, directed by Georges Méliès in 1896, is considered the first-ever horror movie. Despite this, it lacked many of the elements present in horror movies today due to its short length of three minutes. The film involved supernatural beings such as ghosts, transforming bats, and animated skeletons. Filmmakers utilized special effects to portray the transformation of a bat into a human and the appearance of these entities out of thin air. However, at that time, the production was not put under the label of “horror.” It wasn’t until the 1930s that the word “horror” started to be used to describe the genre. With Hollywood’s production of classics, including Frankenstein (1931) and Dracula (1931), the 1930s were deemed the “Golden Age” of horror, which was characterized as an artistic exploration of societal fears, primarily violence and evil. During conflicts such as the Vietnam War, audiences were exposed to the horrors of war in real life and on the news. The horror films that emerged during this period, like the infamous The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), were filled with blood, violence, and gore. 

When analyzing the history and significance of horror movies, it’s critical to look back and understand how the genre evolved into its present-day form. Ancient Greeks and Romans were the first to popularize horror fiction and turn it into an art form. Ghost stories have been told for thousands of years, even before Halloween was celebrated, and have elicited immense interest in audiences. Folklore and mythology involving the supernatural were intriguing to humans because they opened up a new world—a world in which imagination takes over in all of its depth and complexity. 

Contrary to popular belief, horror movies have been proven to provide benefits for viewers. Watching them gives our body the same kind of response as a fight or flight situation as we release neurotransmitters and hormones that force our metabolism to speed up. Some of these chemicals include endorphins and dopamine, which leave us feeling good as they send more oxygen to our brains. This process is called an adrenaline rush, and we get to feel it during horror movies without the worry of an actual threat being present. 

For example, as we watch the horror movie killer slowly corner a victim in the alley of a dark road, our hearts begin beating faster as we imagine ourselves in their shoes. What if that happened to us? The reason horror movies are so scary is because they are built upon our fears as a society. Clowns? Check. Creepy-possessed dolls burning down houses? Check. Themes we’ve feared from a young age have continuously made their appearances in horror movies. Surprisingly, this imagination aspect provides a way out of the complexities of reality, which people began to appreciate more and more as time progressed. Death is one of these major complexities that people tend to avoid thinking about due to its disturbing nature. Ghost stories take some of the weight off of death, especially when they involve humor or are told in a group setting that intensifies the dramatics. 

Of course, we must look into the role of technology in boosting the demand for horror movies. Recent advancements in cameras and the computer-generated world allow filmmakers to display ghouls and demons that no amount of makeup can achieve. Back in the early stages of movie production, most visuals were done by hand, from makeup to costumes. Usually, when people can easily tell that the actual horror aspect is unrealistic, the fear factor drops. But even though we know at the back of our minds that whatever freaky thing that pops out at us is not real, it is without a doubt more frightening when it seems real—which is possible as a result of the mind-blowing technological advancements that producers have at their disposal in the modern world. 

In recent years, as the lasting effects of the pandemic were imprinted within us while locked up at home during quarantine, feelings of hopelessness, fear, and boredom took over. It was during this eventful year that many people took to indulging in horror movies, both to utilize their excessive free time as well as to reassure themselves in a seemingly dark time that worse things could happen, as seen in horror movies.

Additionally, the uptick in diversity shown in horror movies demonstrates to us that scary situations escape no one. As freedom of speech in media and differences in identities become increasingly frequent, the range of films widens correspondingly. For example, religion is a common theme in horror franchises. To scrape the surface, The Nun (2018) takes place in a church, and the main character is a nun; The Offering (2022) has Jewish themes such as the Hebrew language and other practices common in Judaism; and the Dabbe collection explores Islamic ideologies such as jinns, black magic, and possessions. While horror movies filmed decades ago featured predominantly white characters, today, people of all races, ages, and sexual identities can be seen on the big screen. These representations help movie-goers feel connected, thus drawing them in and increasing the popularity of horror films.

In a world as radical as ours today, disagreements about interpretations of any movie are unavoidable. However, horror movies tend to tame these arguments, as they bring viewers together with fright. By focusing on the horror aspect, consumers are often united through fear as thousands of hearts simultaneously pick up pace.