“The moral of the [Medusa] myth is, of course, that we do not, and cannot, see
actual horrors because they paralyze us with blinding fear; and that we
shall know what they look like only by watching images of them which
reproduce their true appearance.”
-Sigfried Kracauer, The Redemption of the Physical Reality”
Horror is one of the most popular film genres worldwide. It is no surprise that every year hundreds of horror features are produced, both backed by big studios and independent projects, many enjoying great success critically and commercially, others failing to live up to the expectations or simply fading away in an overcrowded market. The reasons for this may vary, but there are some recognizable traits and cycles, not to mention the machinations of the human psyche, that can help us shed a light on the subject. Like I said on my last post, it’s almost Halloween and what better time of the year to go into this highly interesting genre.
The Psychology of Horror Movies
First, we must take into account that what follows is by no means the deepest and most comprehensive text on the matter, it is rather an attempt to summarize this subject in an understandable fashion. There are many reasons to why we are attracted to the genre as much as there are films and filmgoers, but many scholars have tried to shed a light on this question. The quote above by German film theorist Sigfried Kracauer applies to almost any genre and any film (why then would be watch war movies or films about poverty?), but it is probably nowhere truer than in horror. We watch a movie with the knowledge that what we are seeing is fake, this way we can experience certain situations that can be traumatizing or life threatening. Psychologist Glenn D. Walters attributes our fascination with he genre, among other things, to Aristotle’s Catharsis theory: through the portrayal of dramatic events can a human being cleanse itself from negative emotions. It is still debatable whether or not that is true, many arguing that being exposed to violent content makes a person more violent. On the psychoanalytic perspective, our attraction to horror may be linked to Freud’s theory of the “Uncanny”: “reoccurring thoughts and feelings that have been repressed by the ego but which seem vaguely familiar to the individual”. However, the problem with any psychoanalytic reading is the limited or almost non-existent possibility of proving this empirically.
Film scholar Noël Carroll cites in his book “The Philosophy of Horror or Paradoxes of the Heart” three factors for the popularity of horror: interest, fascination and curiosity. It may seem like common sense, but he then delves into how these factors and the genre in general are linked with the (political) ideologies of the culture and time in which a specific film is produced. In truth, many of the themes and subjects of horror movies are intrinsically connected with contemporary social fears: the many alien invasion films like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) during the cold war era, the mutated monsters liked Godzilla (Godzilla, 1954) after the explosions of the nuclear bomb, the rise of the zombie subgenre in the early 21st century due to our fear of global epidemics, and many other examples. And while this may touch on our fears as a society, it does not fully explain why some subgenres appeal more to some than to others. Also, many of those subgenres don’t seem to be connected to these issues at all: slasher films and torture porn, for example, are more about the natural fear for our lives and fear of physical pain, instead of a more widespread societal angst.
While the reasons may vary and there is still lots to be learned of the subject, the truth is that we’ll always be attracted to horror stories, and we’ve always have been. With so many different styles, currents and subgenres it is hard to pinpoint what exactly is horror cinema. Let’s now have a look at the evolution of the genre through the years.
The Evolution of the Genre
Horror film finds its roots in gothic literature. Authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley (the works of all three being adapted several times to the screen to varying levels of success) pioneered and made popular the genre within fiction, and this success would translate years later into the screen. During the early days of cinema, the period known as the “Cinema of Attractions”, the Lumiere Brothers did a kind of proto-horror film, an experiment on stop motion and surreal images called Le Squelette Joyeaux (1897) (which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knSXkvluA8o). Georges Melies followed with Le Manoir du Diable (1896) (can also be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw8bzC33CGY), widely considered the very first horror movie of all time. But the epitome of the silent era in all matters horror was the German Expressionism, with their fascination for unnatural shapes and creepy (and often hand drawn) shadows. Some of the most known examples of this era are “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919, Robert Wiene) and “Nosferatu” (1922, F. W. Murnau), two of the most influential and (truth be told) best films of all time.
Many of the German expressionists moved to Hollywood the following years, for political and economic reasons too complex to go into in this short essay, and brought their talents and visions into the mix. The studio that rose as the father of horror in Hollywood was Universal, with their line of Universal Monsters taking the spotlight. Films like “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1931), “The Mummy” (1932), “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) and “The Wolfsman” (1941) proved to be financial successes for Universal, and soon other studios followed. During this time the Production Code was implemented. Headed by Will Hayes, the Production Code was a mean of censorship that pretended to promote morally acceptable filmmaking, that means, films that adjusted to the church’s morality. Unsurprisingly, the horror genre suffered, being relegated to B-status in Hollywood.
In the 1950s we saw a rise of interest in “creature features”, a mash-up between horror and science fiction that depicted end-of-the-world-scenarios like huge monsters destroying entire cities. As stated before, these films showcased the fears at the time of atomic weapons and the invasion of communism, most notably in the already mentioned Godzilla, produced by the country victim of the atomic bomb, and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which featured an alien invasion by a civilization that seeks to assimilate every person and make them all equal.
It was in the 1960s that horror films started to get psychological. With removal of Production Code in 1964, filmmakers were free to explore darker and touchier subjects, depict sexuality and violence, and delve deep into the human psyche. Of course, the master of this was Alfred Hitchcock, his 1960 film “Psycho” being the very best example of such filmmaking (interestingly, it was released before the Production Code was removed). The 60s saw many societal changes, from the Cuba missile crisis to the counterculture movements and the sexual revolution, it is understandable that film in general would go through changes as well. The world was more openminded, film productions had less restrictions and the horror panorama changed. It is from this point on that we began to see so many different subgenres popping around: the zombie subgenre, which started in 1968 with George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”; the so called “occult horror”, to which films like “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968, Polanski), “The Exorcist” (1973, Friedkin) and “The Omen” (1976, Donner) belong; the slasher subgenre, which started with Tobe Hopper’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974); the “splatter” horror, which includes Sam Raimi’s “The Evil Dead” series (starting in 1981); etc.
In the late 1990s and early 21st century we saw the rise of two very popular subgenres: found footage films, which depict the final moments of victims of supernatural (or not) entities “recorded by themselves” (examples include “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) and “Paranormal Activity” (2007)) and torture porn, films focusing on the gore and pain inducing imagery (movies such as “Saw” (2004) and “Hostel” (2005). While the quality of the horror features of this period is debatable, their influence is undeniable. And now we’ve arrived at the true reason why I decided to make this essay: the revival of the genre in mainstream cinema in the second decade of the 21st century.
Today: a modern revival?
The first decade of the new century brought not only the two aforementioned subgenres, but also tons of unoriginal remake, unnecessary sequels and hundreds of copycats. And while I’m not saying that this period was all bad, there were still many good horror movies released in these years, especially in the foreign and independent film industry, the mainstream American horror market saw a deep in quality. That is ‘til recent years. A wave of strong, smartly written and often with an awareness for many of today’s issues has surged in the last decade. “The Cabin in the Woods” (2012) effectively mixes horror with self-referential humour and mashes many of the genre’s classic tropes together in a fun and exhilarating ride; “It Follows” (2014) tells a sort of allegorical fairy tale about the dangers of promiscuity and venereal diseases; “The Witch” (2015) tells the story of a family’s downfall because of religious paranoia; “Get Out” (2017) deals with racism and stereotypes in a so called “post-racial” society. There are many other examples, many of which I’ve unfortunately not yet seen, but the trend is showing. It is also worth mentioning that this year, 2017, has seen the release of many great horror films, both from the independent scene, like the above mentioned “Get Out” and “It Comes at Night”, and bigger studio productions, like the new adaptation of Stephen King’s “It”, even Aronofksy’s new arthouse project “mother!” arguably falling under the category. Does this mean that the genre is finally back on track? Or is it just a cycle and we’ll see in a couple of years how it suffers from low quality on all fronts again? It may be too early to tell, but what’s for sure is that the genre is all but dead.
Conclusion
Horror is a very rich, versatile and ever-changing genre. It does have many issues, but it is still one of the most popular movie categories all around the world. From a production standpoint is very easy to see why it is so popular, being relatively inexpensive to shoot a scary movie and being almost a guarantee that it’ll attract audiences. The reasons to why it is so popular are many: be it a cathartic feeling, the resurface of unconscious thoughts and desires, the reflection of our fears as a society, or simply humanity’s voyeuristic nature, there is no way of telling for sure. The evolution of the genre permits us a glance into all these topics, regardless of the current or subgenre. In recent years we’ve seen a kind of artistic and intellectual renaissance on the mainstream horror scene, but it is still hard to predict where the genre is going. One thing is for sure: horror is one of the most interesting film genres to explore and analyse.
Happy Halloween!
Sources and further reading material:
“Theory of Film: The Redemption of the Physical Reality”, Sigfried Kracauer (first published in 1960)
“Understanding the Popular Appeal of Horror Cinema: An Integrated-Interactive Model”, Glenn D. Walters (first published by Journal of Media Psychology, Volume 9, No. 2, Spring, 2004)
“The Philosophy of Horror or Paradoxes of the Heart”, Noël Carroll (first published in 1990)
“A History of Horror”, Wheeler W. Dixon (first published in 2010)
“Horror Film History”, Karina Wilson (http://www.horrorfilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=home)
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