THE HISTORY OF THE

HORROR THRILLER GENREBy Cerys Kirby-Thirlwell

1920-1930

The 20s and 30s were the first decades to really show
films that were intended to scare the audience. Generally
this decade saw remakes of classic stories such as Bram
Stokers Dracula. However there were many other films
made in this decades and these are a fewNosferatu directed by F. W. Murnau
Frankenstein directed by James Whale
Bride of Frankenstein also directed by James Whale
The Mummy directed by Karl Freund

1940S

The 1940s saw a decline in the horror thriller movie

industry and this was mainly due to the fact of World War
II happening at the time. But even though this was
happening there was still a few classic horror thrillers
made includingWolf man directed by George Waggner
Cat People directed by Paul Schrader
House Of Dracula by Erle C. Kenton
House of Frankenstein Erle C. Kenton

1950S

Now the war had finished people returned to the

luxurious things in life such as the cinema. Rather than a
return of the classic gothic horror scene, the 50s
brought Mutants which featured gross, oversized
mutants that would reek havoc across the city. Other
horror thrillers made in the 50s includedThe Wasp Women directed by Roger Corman and Jack
Hill.
The Beast from 20,000 fathoms directed by Eugne
Louri
It came from Beneath the Sea directed by Robert
Gordon.

1960S-1970S

The 60s brought a new aspect to the horror thriller

genre and most of the horror thrillers were properly seen
in this decade. This mainly came from Alfred Hitchcocks
Psycho. Other movies made were-

The Birds also directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Carnival of Souls directed by Herk Harvey
Blood Feast directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
Night of the Living Dead directed by Duane Jones.
In the 1970s went to represent the grim mood of the
decade. A lot of famous people died in this decade but when
society goes bad, horror films get good and the 1970s
marked big budget horror films addressing genuine
psychological fears.

1980S

In the 1980s gory horror films as well as slasher movies

became very popular and their decent into postmodern parody
such as Scream written by Wes Craven. The television series of
Hammer House Of Horrors also started in the 1980s which
was created by David Lloyd, David Fisher and Anthony Read.
Slasher horror is a subgenre of horror and at times a thriller
that mainly involves psychopathic killers, in a lot of slashers
final girl theory becomes present, this means that there is a
last girl left to confront the killer, usually the good girl who is
left to tell the story, for example- Sid from Scream who is in the
sequel and lives to tell her story. The general plot for these
types of films is that the state of equilibrium which is then
affected by an event that upsets it, this event is usually the
killing of loads of people leaving the final girl alive and alone.
Clover suggests that in these films that in these films the viewer
begins by having the similar perspective of the killer, but
experiences a shift in identification to the final girl pathway.

1990S

In the 1990s horrors became more psychological and the

plot was more like a thriller. The first psychological thriller
we saw was The Silence Of The Lambs 1991 directed by
Jonathan Demme. This was very successful, the film was
about a man called Hannibal Lecter who messes with
peoples minds to make them think and do certain things, a
young FBI student is set a task to try and undermine
Hannibal.
A horror thriller made in 1995 was Se7en directed by
David Fincher and was a very popular thriller. The film is
about two police officers, played by Brad Pitt and Morgan
Freeman, that clash but a brought together by a shared
goal.

2000 ONWARDS-

From 2000 onwards there have been a lot of horror-thrillers and

now they have become even more imaginative and we see films
such as 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later in 2002 and 2007,
these are films about zombies. We also see Freddy V Jason in
2003 where we see two famous serial killers which battle against
each other. In 2005 we see a very gory horror-thriller called
Hostel which is about some American teens going to Amsterdam
where there are hostels where people pay to torture and kill people
however they want. We also see comedy horrors such as Shaun Of
The Dead 2004 which is a remake of Dawn Of The Dead a zombie
film, but this film makes fun of it. More legendary films made are Saw (2004 onwards)

The Ring (2002)

Thirteen Ghosts (2001)