Since the early days of cinema, directors made movies that upset and provoked as much as they thrilled. Silent horror films of the 1920s brought the nightmarish tales of Edgar Allen Poe or Bram Stoker to life with their gloomy atmospheres and dramatic music. The German vampire film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror was considered so scary that it was banned in Sweden until 1972! American films The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera placed ghoulish characters in gothic settings.
ALIENS AND MONSTERS
In the 1930s, censors insisted on moral endings and less eroticism. Film noir developed in the 1940s, while the US became obsessed with creature features, a genre of TV show that broadcast classic and cult horror movies. The 1950s revelled in science fiction; who could forget the creeping threat of The Blob, an enormous alien amoeba that swallowed people and grew bigger and hungrier! Japanese giant monsters, such as Godzilla, inspired international filmmakers.
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SERIAL KILLERS & DARK FORCES
British director Alfred Hitchcock made horror mainstream in his ironic takes on Freudian themes. Topical psychological issues were also explored in 1960s films such as Peeping Tom, where a serial killer records dying women on his portable camera. The 1980s placed emphasis on visual effects; film series such as Poltergeist and the Freddy Krueger films were aimed at younger adult audiences and their fearful parents. The 1990s turned that around with found footage movie The Blair Witch Project, which left imaginative audience members to terrorise themselves with long silences and blackouts.
SOCIAL THEMES
Recent films play on contemporary fears, with a clever mix of horror and satire to make a social or political comment. Horror is one of those genres where cult films abound; take Gaslight for example, the 1940s film about psychological torture in an abusive relationship that seems more relevant now than ever.
Here are some of the most iconic horror movies of all time, guaranteed to give you goosebumps:
1. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
This classic film introduced Freudian elements and special effects to the gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. It features a splendid performance by Frederic March, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of a mild-mannered scientist who is transformed into a homicidal maniac.
2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Extra-terrestrial giant plant spores turn people into emotionless clones in Don Siegel’s memorable film. The movie has inspired opposing interpretations: some say it warns of the dangers of anti-communist paranoia in the US, known as McCarthyism, others that it fears the loss of personal autonomy of communist systems.
3. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Ira Levin’s hit book of the 1960s was turned into a psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski. It stars Mia Farrow as the woman raped by the devil. A rumour that the movie was cursed arose when a number of those connected with it suffered misfortune or even death.
4. Let the Right One In (2008)
The Swedish masterpiece directed by Tomas Alfredson was remade into an American version that could not capture the bleak beauty or the stunning performances of the original. A wintery Swedish landscape frames a romantic horror film in which a bullied twelve-year-old boy befriends a vampire child.
5. Get Out (2017)
African American writer and director Jordan Peele saw the massive potential for social and political comment in horror. His genre-defying film stars Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, a black photographer whose white liberal girlfriend and her family attempt to brainwash him into submission.