The First Horror Film

Horror movies are famous all over the world for theirCave of the Demons"). The early 20th century brought
essence of thrill, shock and suspense. It is violent, andmore milestones for the horror genre including the first
enjoyment of them depends on an enjoyment ofmonster to appear in a full-length horror film,
violence and is. All of the Characters from horrorQuasimodo, the hunchback of Notre-Dame who had
movies are important, but the BEST HEROES have aappeared in Victor Hugo's book, "Notre-Dame de
special place in our hearts.Paris" (published in 1831). Many of the earliest feature
In horror film plots, evil forces, events, or characters,length 'horror films' were created by German film
sometimes of supernatural origin, intrude into themakers in 1910s and 1920s, many of which were a
everyday world. Early horror films often drewsignificant influence on later Hollywood films.
inspiration from characters and stories from classicCaligari was both controversial with American
literature, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy,audiences, due to postwar sentiments, and influential in
The Wolf Man, The Phantom of the Opera and Dr.its Expressionistic style; the most enduring horror film of
Later horror films, in contrast, often drew inspirationthat era was probably the first vampire-themed
from the insecurities of life since World War Two,feature, F. His most famous role, however, was in The
giving rise to the three distinct, but related subgenres ofPhantom of the Opera (1925), perhaps the true
the horror-of-personality film, thepredecessor of Universal's famous horror series. ,
horror-of-Armageddon film, and thepopularized the horror film, bringing to the screen a
horror-of-the-demonic film. The last subgenre may beseries of successful Gothic features including Dracula
seen as a modernized transition from the earlier horror(1931), and The Mummy (1932), some of which blended
films, expanding on the earlier emphasis onscience fiction films with Gothic horror, such as James
supernatural agents that bring horror to the world.Whale's Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man
Nonetheless, some major studios and respected(1933). Universal's horror films continued into the 1940s
directors have made forays into the genre, and morewith The Wolf Man 1941, not the first werewolf film, but
serious critics have analyzed horror films through thecertainly the most influential. With the dramatic changes
prisms of genre theory and the auteur theory. Somein technology that occurred in the 1950s, the tone of
horror films incorporate elements of other genres suchhorror films shifted away from the gothic towards
as science fiction, fantasy, black comedy, and thrillers.science fiction. The classier horror films of this period,
The horror genre is nearly as old as film itself. The firstincluding The Thing from Another World (1951;
depictions of supernatural events appear in several ofattributed on screen to Christian Nyby but widely
the silent shorts created by film pioneers such asconsidered to be the work of Howard Hawks) and
Georges Méliès in the late 1890s, theDon Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
most notable being his 1896 Le Manoir du diable (akamanaged to channel the paranoia of the Cold War into
"The House of the Devil") which is sometimes creditedatmospheric creepiness without resorting to direct
as being the first horror film. Another of his horrorexploitation of the events of the day.
projects was the 1898 La Caverne maudite (aka "The