Horror Research: The 80's (Continued)

As well as the numorous mass murderers that the decade brought, the 80's also saw the return of Sci-Fi Horror movies, even bigger and better than before!! Because of the new and improved technology, it gave the writers and directors of horror movies a chance to really go all out and make aliens, monsters and un-human beings look realer and scarier that ever! Two films released at the time that really pushed the technowlogical boundries were "Alien" and "Predator". Both films used the new found technology to the max, creating various flesh eating beings.

Other Sci-Fi horror movies of the the 80's include The Thing, The Fly and The Toxic Avenger.

 

Horror Research: The 80's

The 80's was when teen slashers were at the best. After Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the 70's, the 80's saw many sequals made to carry on scaring audiences. However, the 80's saw the introduction of two of the most iconic mass killers of the horror genre; Freddy Kruger (Nightmare on Elm Street series) and Jason Voorhees (Friday The 13th series). These two crazed murderers prey on teen victims. Freddy Kruger kills his victims when they are most vunerable; in their dreams, and Jason Voorhees tracks and kills a group of teens who go camping. Because the victims in both sets of films are just normal teens doing normal things it made audiences fear that it could happen to them and this really scared people at the time.





Another crazed killer of the 80's was an unusual one; a doll that goes by the name "Chucky". "Child's Play" is about a young boy who recieves a doll for his birthday. Little does the boy know that his doll has been posessed by the soul of a cereal killers who goes by the name the "Lakeshore Strangler". In an attempt to leave this plastic body, Chucky goes around killing anyone who gets in his way!

Horror Research: The 70's

The 70's is most commonly known as the era of the creepy kids. Horror wanted to scare their audiences with something new and unexpecting. In the past, children in films are very harmless but during the 70's horror writers decided to change this image by making children scary! Films such as, the Exocist, the Omen, Carrie along with many others are examples of horror films which had young people as the main character/ killer.

The 70's also brought about the true birth of the sub-genre 'Slasher'. Slasher films consist of a crazed killer going around, killing anyone and everyone. 'Halloween' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' are just two of the 70's slasher films.

Horror Research: The 60's

The 'swingin Sixties' brought about yet another new era of horror. The fear of nuclear attacks from the 50's had passed so the horror genre needed something new to do. One of the most iconic horror directors of the 60's was Mr Alfred Hitchcock, who directed some of the most well known horror films in history such as 'The Birds' and 'Psycho'.


This scene from 'Psycho' is arguably the most famous scene in horror history!

The 60's also brought the start of the 'Undead' craze. In 1968 the horror film 'Night of the Living Dead' was realised. This film is about a group of people running from hoards of undead Zombies trying to feed on living flesh. Below is the trailer for Night of the Living Dead.

Horror Research: The 50's

The 50's brought the world a new sub-genre of Horror; Sci-Fi (Science Fiction)!

Because of the horrific ending of the Second World war when American Troops were ordered to drop nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more that 150,000 people, horror in the 50's aimed to prey on the peoples fears of nuclear warfare. Films such as Godzilla, The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Beast with a Million eyes along with many others are examples of horror using public paranoia to their advantage.

 

Horror Research: The 40's

Many sequals were made in the 40's for the popular horror characters of the 30's (Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy). House of Dracula, The Mummy's Curse and The Ghost of Frankenstein are 3 of the sequals to be made in the 40's.

However, we also see some new faces on the horror scene, such as The Wolf Man and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

All in all, the 40's wasn't really Horror's best moment as the world was at war for the second time, therefore, people were too busy either helping with the war effort or trying to stay safe!

Horror research: the 30's

The 1930's was the real birth of the horror genre. 1931 was the year that the two most well known horror films were released: Dracula and Frankenstein. These two films were adapted from the books which they are based. Dracula was played by a young Transylvanian man named Bela Lugosi and the part of Frankenstein's monster was played by Boris Karloff.



Karloff as the monster

 

Lugosi's version of the Count.

 Other horror films that were made in the 30's include: The mummy (1932), Freaks (1932) and King Kong (1933).



 

  We see Karloff once again in 'The Mummy'. A beauty and the beast love story of a mummified man who wants to bring his dead lover back to him.

 

Freaks is about a circus that goes around, showing off its acts, these are in fact various people who have dis-figurements or un-natural atributes to their bodies (sort of a 'Freak show') These 'Freaks' include a dwarf man, a man with no limbs, a bearded lady and many others with mental or physical disabilities. Towards the end of the film we see all the 'Freaks' cralling through the mud and chase the peolpe who had laughed at them. This film was banned from many countries because of its horrific images.

 King Kong is about a giant ape is brought to America from foreign lands who runs riot through New York City, destroying buildings, crashing planes and climbing atop the famous Empire State Building. This, like the Mummy is about a beast that falls in love with a beauty.