The Horror Cycle

Recently in Media Studies we have been talking about the horror genre and how it seems to have a cycle, as by looking at the horror genre through the years, since the 1930's. As you can see by the picture of my notes, the things in horror films that are made to scare the audiences change as time goes on. During the 1930's it was monsters that were the main attraction, such as Frankenstein, who is a man who has returned from the dead, werewolves, animal monsters etc. When these monsters were first introduced the audiences loved them, and they were entertained by this. But the problem with this was that it all became predictable; people could see what's coming with these types of horror films. Therefore the genre needed to evolve as the audience has become desentitised.

In the 1960's,  Alfred Hitchcock's revolutionary thriller/horror film 'Psycho' was introduced. This is an iconic film and is considered essential cinema. This is due to the fact that the film makes the audiences at the time ask themselves, 'Where are you safe?'. The main character in the film is murdered in her shower. Audiences were shocked to the bone with this, to think even in the comfort of your own bathroom you're not really safe; this was what Hitchcock intended for and what made Psycho so impactful. The shower scene nowadays is iconic for true horror, and a very famous scene in a film. In addition, the reason why this film was such a hit was because Hitchcock went against the audiences expectations. Audiences at the time expected the main character to be in the film at all times, throughout the film. It was only when Hitchcock killed off his main character quite early on in the film this changed the audiences mind, and the fact that the danger and horror of the film came to someones house, their bathroom, this terrified the audiences and even made them scared to have a shower, which seems irrational but at the time this was true.

The 1970's thrived on 'slasher' films. People wanted some more fun, gruesome horror films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  This grossed the audience out with all the blood in the films, but ultimately the audiences enjoyed these films.

Another iconic film came out in the 1980's 'A nightmare on Elm street'. This film was about people, in their dreams, getting violently hurt and murdered by a man with razor sharp claws for hands named Freddie Kruger. The tag line for the film was' If Sally doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all.' This made people terrified, and therefore sleeping became very uncomfortable for them, with the likes of the film in their mind. This then turned into a well known franchise across the world.

In the 1990's and onwards, horror was dominated by teen horrors. Films such as Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Friday the 13th etc were very popular. This had a targeted audience of young teenagers, to try and get them to spend their money and see these films, which succeeded. These films were very popular and are still popular nowadays, they are enjoyable as well as entertaining and bloody.