The concept of horror films is that they are intended to provoke fear in audience’s mood. As stated on filmsite.org, horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality (“Horror Films”).

         The development of horror films can be broken down by each decade. “The first depictions of supernatural events appear in several of the silent shorts created by film pioneers such as Georges Méliès in the late 1890s” (“Horror Film”). His film Le Manoir du diable ("The House of the Devil") in 1896 is considered as being the first horror film. Horror films I remembered watching in the early 1990’s were New Nightmare, The Dark Half, and the one I feared the most, Candyman. These films were part of a mini-movement of self-reflective horror films. Each touched upon the relationship between fictional horror and real-world horror (“Horror Film”).

         Horror films are one of the top-rated box office sellers. Personally, I am not a huge fan of horror films. I watch them from time to time but it is only by force. I could not watch a horror film by myself. If I am watching a television show and do not like the way a plot is going, I would turn the channel or walk away. I have to know what is going to happen at all times. Since horror films are intended to provoke fear in audience’s mood, people find it these films enjoying because of the thrill and fun factor in being scared or disturbing; however, I am not one of those people.

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