A
Discussion of Horror Movie
Landmarks
I love horror movies! I
have ever since I was a kid cowering in the dark
scared witless by some monster flickering on a
screen. Having watched quite a few, I have developed
a theory over which modern horror films made an
impact on the direction of the genre. Not to sound
stuffy, here is my list with a brief description and
the reason why it is a turning point:
THE
HORROR OF
DRACULA
When an upstart British movie
company named Hammer decided to start making its
mark, it decided on the tried and true. It would
make low budget versions of the classic tales of the
horror films of the past, but with one major
addition: blood! This 1958 film was the first not to
turn away when Count Dracula fed on his victims, or
cover the act with a cape. Blood virtually
splattered all over the screen - opening the way for
more graphic horror.
PSYCHO
In the'50s and early '60s another phenomenon was
occuring in America; the cheap drive-in horror movie.
Teens were flocking to the local "passion pit" to
view such classics as "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" and
"Bucket of Blood." British master of suspense Alfred
Hitchcock, well-known for suspense films such as
"Rebecca" and "North by Northwest" took on the
challenge - on a bet he made to himself - that he
could take a
comparatively low budget and limited filming time and
make a quality film. Thus "Psycho" came to be. The
theme of the mad killer would never be the same, and
it spawned a host of imitators.
THE EXORCIST
In the early '70s, a
blockbuster bestselling book was in almost everyone's
hands - William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist", the
story of a young girl possessed by a demon based on a
true story (it was a young boy in real life). The
project was announced as a film, and many held their
breath. Could Hollywood special effects do justice
to the story? Indeed it could - as it became the
most graphic horror film of its time, causing an
upsurge in church attendance and finally laying to
rest more "gentle" depictions of Satan such as
"Rosemary's Baby."
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
NIGHT OF THE LIVING
DEAD
A year later, two films would change
the face of low budget, drive-in horror fare
forever.The first, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
based loosely on Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein (who
also inspired "Psycho"), was about a crazed Texas
family who waylaid passersby for...um...dinner. The
other film, "Night of the Living Dead, was about the
unexplained reanimation of corpses into cannabalistic
zombies. These movies weren't going for the little
scares and happy endings of other drive-in movies:
they were going for sheer terror and endings that
continued to scare after the lights came up. Both
films were condemned in the national press on their
release - even rating stories on all of the major
networks' evening news shows.
HALLOWEEN
Later that same decade, a little independent
horror film by a young director named John Carpenter
would take the country by storm, "Halloween." Mixing
the mad killer theme with the supernatural, this
story of a small town's horrifying Halloween would
become one of the highest-grossing ($) independent
films. It would also, thanks to its many imitators,
create a new genre: the slasher" film.
SCREAM
<
p>By the '90s, most of the genres in horror had been
done and redone so often that horror movies were
laughable and had become their own cliche. Despite
some notable earlier efforts, such as "A Nightmare on
Elm Street" and the Oscar-winning "The Silence of
the Lambs", horror movies were in need of a
transfusion. A low-budget slasher named "Scream"
came onto the scene, mixing horror with a sly wink to
the audience over horror movie formulas, became a
huge hit (much to the surprise of director Wes
Craven), and has revitalized horror for
the'90s.
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
Just when we thought
horror in the 90s was going to be defined as a
revival of the "slasher" genre, along came a little
indie film to rip up that idea. Filmed for less than
$70,000 - this movie was a "documentary" of the
"found" footage of three students who set out into
the woods in search of an area witch myth....and
disappear. No overblown special effects, no buckets
of gore - just nerve-ripping suspense and just enough
imagery to let your mind fill in the horrifying
details. All dialogue was improvised....the actors
did the camera work....all to end up with a scare
that goes home with you.
OTHER NOTABLES
Here's a list of some other
horror films that deserve your attention because of
their unusual take on old themes and the
like:
*Near Dark
*The Haunting
(original)
*The
Howling
*An American Werewolf in
London
*Carrie
*Fright Night
*The
Fog
*The Hills Have Eyes
*The Craft
*In The
Mouth of Madness
*Nightbreed
*The Hellraiser
Films
*The Prince of Darkness
*Dementia
13
*Count Yorga, Vampire
*Peeping
Tom
*Phantasm
*Firestarter
*Blood and
Donuts
*Scanners
*Blade
*Vampires
*Stir
of Echoes
*Jeepers Creepers
*The Ring...and
others to be named later!
Thanks for sitting
through my lecture - I hope you enjoyed it! If you
think I have neglected something in my list of horror
milestones, please let me know through email or
signing my guestbook.
Click here
to EMAIL ME!
