Horror Genre Cycles
First came the cycle of “monsters” with films such as “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” in 1931. the next year came the “Mummy”, It did not take long to realise the market potential, if audiences were scared of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy once, the studios thought, then audiences ought to be scared of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy three or four more times. in 1935 “The bride of Frankenstein” was bought out, by the mid 40’s many monster films had sequels- Son of Dracula, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, “Son of Frankenstein”, “The Mummy’s Hand”, “The Mummy’s Tomb”, “The Mummy’s Curse”. The monsters from the films became iconic characters, their faces became well known and seen on posters and comic books. Their familiarity destroyed the scariness.
The next cycle was the “slasher” films, first came “Friday the 13th”, Jason and his iconic mask frightened cinema’s of people with 7 “Friday the 13th” sequels. Although the most successful “slasher” movie is “Nightmare on Elm Street” featuring the demonic “Freddy Kruger”. Released in 1984, “Freddy Kruger” had been effective because he hid in the shadows and had only briefly appeared, but sequel after sequel ruined the horror. Paramount sold its “Friday the 13th” franchise to “Nightmare on Elm Street” studio New Line Cinema, they then bought out “Freddy Versus Jason”.
Eventually along came a highly artistic film that bridged the gap between the monsters and slashers- that film was 1979’s “Alien”, directed by Sir Ridley Scott. What made this film such a hit was that you never really saw the monster, it was always lurking in the shadows and this was far more effective than any kind of action sequence. Although when “Alien 3” can out in 1992 there was only a fraction of the effectiveness of the original film left. A year later “Predator” became a big hit, But the film could only be as effective as its featured creature, and despite having one of the biggest onscreen gun caches, “Predator” took the lead of “Alien” and refused to show its monster, utilising suspenseful Point Of View shots and invisibility effects for most of the film, only revealing the monster in the final climax. A sequel was made shortly after, but after showing the creature in the originals climax everyone knew what the monster looked like, therefore made the film lack suspense. Eventually the two films merged making “Alien Versus Predator”, it hit the cinemas in 2004.
Then along came the “slasher” films again, most popular were the holiday themed films, including “My Bloody Valentine” and “Prom Night”, these holiday themed films originated from the “Black Christmas” and “Halloween” slasher movies. “Scream” was bought out in 1996, the film was both a critical and commercial success, which attracted a new generation to the genre.
After the “slasher” there came the “splatter”, typically this sub-genre if gore and blood, the most popular would be the “Saw Series”, six bloody films featuring the now iconic “Jigsaw Killer” who instead of murdering his victims finds a way to make them kill themselves. While the films are often compared to “Hostel” and classified as “torture porn” by the media, the creators of Saw disagree with the term.
First came the cycle of “monsters” with films such as “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” in 1931. the next year came the “Mummy”, It did not take long to realise the market potential, if audiences were scared of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy once, the studios thought, then audiences ought to be scared of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy three or four more times. in 1935 “The bride of Frankenstein” was bought out, by the mid 40’s many monster films had sequels- Son of Dracula, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, “Son of Frankenstein”, “The Mummy’s Hand”, “The Mummy’s Tomb”, “The Mummy’s Curse”. The monsters from the films became iconic characters, their faces became well known and seen on posters and comic books. Their familiarity destroyed the scariness.
The next cycle was the “slasher” films, first came “Friday the 13th”, Jason and his iconic mask frightened cinema’s of people with 7 “Friday the 13th” sequels. Although the most successful “slasher” movie is “Nightmare on Elm Street” featuring the demonic “Freddy Kruger”. Released in 1984, “Freddy Kruger” had been effective because he hid in the shadows and had only briefly appeared, but sequel after sequel ruined the horror. Paramount sold its “Friday the 13th” franchise to “Nightmare on Elm Street” studio New Line Cinema, they then bought out “Freddy Versus Jason”.
Eventually along came a highly artistic film that bridged the gap between the monsters and slashers- that film was 1979’s “Alien”, directed by Sir Ridley Scott. What made this film such a hit was that you never really saw the monster, it was always lurking in the shadows and this was far more effective than any kind of action sequence. Although when “Alien 3” can out in 1992 there was only a fraction of the effectiveness of the original film left. A year later “Predator” became a big hit, But the film could only be as effective as its featured creature, and despite having one of the biggest onscreen gun caches, “Predator” took the lead of “Alien” and refused to show its monster, utilising suspenseful Point Of View shots and invisibility effects for most of the film, only revealing the monster in the final climax. A sequel was made shortly after, but after showing the creature in the originals climax everyone knew what the monster looked like, therefore made the film lack suspense. Eventually the two films merged making “Alien Versus Predator”, it hit the cinemas in 2004.
Then along came the “slasher” films again, most popular were the holiday themed films, including “My Bloody Valentine” and “Prom Night”, these holiday themed films originated from the “Black Christmas” and “Halloween” slasher movies. “Scream” was bought out in 1996, the film was both a critical and commercial success, which attracted a new generation to the genre.
After the “slasher” there came the “splatter”, typically this sub-genre if gore and blood, the most popular would be the “Saw Series”, six bloody films featuring the now iconic “Jigsaw Killer” who instead of murdering his victims finds a way to make them kill themselves. While the films are often compared to “Hostel” and classified as “torture porn” by the media, the creators of Saw disagree with the term.
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