BW The History Of Horror Film

I've done some background research into horror films throughout the ages, which can give us an idea as to the conventions of horror films, and the films through the years that have inspired filmmakers, and should hopefully inspire us too.

1896 - The first ever horror film, 'The House Of The Devil' was made by Georges Méliès. To the right I've included a still from the film, seeing as it is original horror. It's hard to tell what's going on, but the character shown seems

to be the archetypal villain, with the hunched back.

1910 - There were a few films between the last one and this one, but in 1910 'Frankenstein' was released. This was shortly followed by the German film, 'Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', a film which went on to inspire many film makers

1931 - In this year, Universal Studios - one of the first big studios to make horror films - released 'Dracular' and a remake of 'Frankenstein', leading the way for it to become one of the most remade horror film of all time.

1953 - In 1953, 'Ugetsu' was the first horror film made in Japan, as horror began to make it way around the world. 'House Of Wax' was also released in 3D, putting an age on the software we think of as being so new.

1960 - 'Psycho' was made by Hitchcock, argued to be the greatest and scariest horror film of all time. Hitchcock (the master of suspense) went on to make 'Birds' three years later

1971 - 'Vampryos Lesbos' proved a controversial film due to the amount of graphic sex. Pushing boundaries seems to be a trend in horror films, with the recent albeit popular controversial 'torture porn' in films such as 'Hostel' and 'SAW'.

The 1970s were an important year for horror, with 'The Exorcist' (1973), 'Jaws' in (1975), 'The Omen' (1976) and 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978).

1980 - Saw the release of 'The Shining', another film often topping lists for the best horror film of all time. Stephen King novels featured heavily through the 1980s, with 'The Shining' to 'Pet Sematary' (1989)

1999 - was the year of release of 'The Blair Witch Project', a film which reinvented horror, and broke down many of the horror conventions, managing to scare audiences without clever camera work or music. 'The Sixth Sense' was released in the same year, another critically acclaimed film.

2004 - Set the trend of the 'torture porn' films with the release of SAW. Otherwise, the 2000's mainly saw remakes of classic horror hits, such as 'The Ring' (2002), 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (2003) & 'Halloween' (2007).

2011 - A new horror, directed by Ben, Chris & Ali?