horror film

Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.

Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apocalyptic events, and religious or folk beliefs. Cinematic techniques used in horror films have been shown to provoke psychological reactions in an audience.

Horror films have existed for more than a century. Early inspirations from before the development of film include folklore, religious beliefs and superstitions of different cultures, and the Gothic and horror literature of authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley. From origins in silent films and German Expressionism, horror only became a codified genre after the release of ''Dracula'' (1931). Many sub-genres emerged in subsequent decades, including body horror, comedy horror, slasher films, supernatural horror and psychological horror. The genre has been produced worldwide, varying in content and style between regions. Horror is particularly prominent in the cinema of Japan, Korea, Italy and Thailand, among other countries.

Despite being the subject of social and legal controversy due to their subject matter, some horror films and franchises have seen major commercial success, influenced society and spawned several popular culture icons.

Characteristics

The horror film is defined by ''The Dictionary of Film Studies'' as representing "disturbing and dark subject matter, seeking to elicit responses of fear, terror, disgust, shock, suspense, and, of course, horror from their viewers." In the chapter "The American Nightmare: Horror in the 70s" from ''Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan'' (2002), film critic Robin Wood declared that commonality between horror films are that "normality is threatened by the monster." This was further expanded upon by ''The Philosophy of Horror, or Parodoxes of the Heart'' by Noël Carroll who added that "repulsion must be pleasurable, as evidenced by the genre's popularity."

Prior to the release of '' Dracula'' (1931), historian Gary Don Rhodes explained that the idea and terminology of horror film did not exist yet as a codified genre, although critics used the term "horror" to describe films in reviews prior to ''Dracula''s release. "Horror" was a term used to describe a variety of meanings. In 1913, ''Moving Picture World'' defined "horrors" as showcasing "striped convicts, murderous Indians, grinning 'black-handers', homicidal drunkards" Some titles that suggest horror such as ''The Hand of Horror'' (1914) was a melodrama about a thief who steals from his own sister. During the silent era, the term horror was used to describe everything from "battle scenes" in war films to tales of drug addiction. Historian Gary Don Rhodes stated that the term "horror film" or "horror movie" was not used in early cinema.

The mystery film genre was in vogue and early information on ''Dracula'' being promoted as mystery film was common, despite the novel, play and film's story relying on the supernatural. Newman discussed the genre in British Film Institute's ''Companion to Horror'' where he noted that Horror films in the 1930s were easy to identify, but following that decade "the more blurred distinctions become, and horror becomes less like a discrete genre than an effect which can be deployed within any number of narrative settings or narratives patterns".

Various writings on genre from Altman, Lawrence Alloway (''Violent America: The Movies 1946-1964'' (1971)) and Peter Hutchings (''Approaches to Popular Film'' (1995)) implied it easier to view films as cycles opposed to genres, suggesting the slasher film viewed as a cycle would place it in terms of how the film industry was economically and production wise, the personnel involved in their respective eras, and how the films were marketed exhibited and distributed.
Mark Jancovich in an essay declared that "there is no simple 'collective belief' as to what constitutes the horror genre" between both fans and critics of the genre. Jancovich found that disagreements existed from audiences who wanted to distinguish themselves. This ranged from fans of different genres who may view a film like '' Alien'' (1979) as belonging to science fiction, and horror fan bases dismissing it as being inauthentic to either genre. Further debates exist among fans of the genre with personal definitions of "true" horror films, such as fans who embrace cult figures like Freddy Kruger of the '' A Nightmare on Elm Street'' series, while others disassociate themselves from characters and series and focusing on genre '' auteur'' directors like Dario Argento, while others fans would deem Argento's films as too mainstream, having preferences more underground films. Andrew Tudor wrote in ''Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror Movie'' suggested that "Genre is what we collectively believe it to be"

Cinematic techniques

In a study by Jacob Shelton, the many ways that audience members are manipulated through horror films was investigated in detail. Negative space is one such method that can play a part in inducing a reaction, causing one's eyes to remotely rest on anything in the frame – a wall, or the empty black void in the shadows.

The jump scare is a horror film trope, where an abrupt change in image accompanied with a loud sound intends to surprise the viewer. This can also be subverted to create tension, where an audience may feel more unease and discomfort by anticipating a jump scare.

Mirrors are often used in horror films is to create visual depth and build tension. Shelton argues mirrors have been used so frequently in horror films that audiences have been conditioned to fear them, and subverting audience expectations of a jump scare in a mirror can further build tension. Tight framing and close-ups are also commonly used; these can build tension and induce anxiety by not allowing the viewer to see beyond what is around the protagonist.

Music

Music is considered a key component of horror films. In ''Music in the Horror Film'' (2010), Lerner writes "music in horror film frequently makes us feel threatened and uncomfortable" and intends to intensify the atmosphere created in imagery and themes. Dissonance, atonality and experiments with timbre are typical characteristics used by composers in horror film music.

Themes

In the book ''Dark Dreams'', author Charles Derry conceived horror films as focusing on three broad themes: the horror of personality, horror of Armageddon and the horror of the demonic. The horror of personality derives from monsters being at the centre of the plot, such Frankenstein's monster whose psychology makes them perform unspeakable horrific acts ranging from rapes, mutilations and sadistic killings. Other key works of this form are Alfred Hitchcock's ''Psycho,'' which feature psychotic murderers without the make-up of a monster. The second 'Armageddon' group delves on the fear of large-scale destruction, which ranges from science fiction works but also of natural events, such as Hitchcock's '' The Birds'' (1963). The last group of the "Fear of the Demonic" features graphic accounts of satanic rites, witchcraft, exorcisms outside traditional forms of worship, as seen in films like '' The Exorcist'' (1973) or '' The Omen'' (1976).

Some critics have suggested horror films can be a vessel for exploring contemporary cultural, political and social trends. Jeanne Hall, a film theorist, agrees with the use of horror films in easing the process of understanding issues by making use of their optical elements. The use of horror films can help audiences understand international prior historical events occurs, for example, to depict the horrors of the Vietnam War, the Holocaust, the worldwide AIDS epidemic or post-9/11 pessimism. In many occurrences, the manipulation of horror presents cultural definitions that are not accurate, yet set an example to which a person relates to that specific cultural from then on in their life.

History

In his book ''Caligari's Children: The Film as Tale of Terror'' (1980), author Siegbert Solomon Prawer stated that those wanting to read into horror films in a linear historical path, citing historians and critics like Carlos Clarens noting that as some film audiences at a time took films made by Tod Browning that starred Bela Lugosi with utmost seriousness, other productions from other countries saw the material set for parody, as children's entertainment or nostalgic recollection. John Kenneth Muir in his books covering the history of horror films through the later decades of the 20th century echoed this statement, stating that horror films mirror the anxieties of "their age and their audience" concluding that "if horror isn't relevant to everyday life... it isn't horrifying".

Early influences and films

Beliefs in the supernatural, devils and ghosts have existed in folklore and religions of many cultures for centuries; these would go on to become integral parts of the horror genre. Zombies, for example, originated from Haitian folklore. Prior to the development of film in the late 1890s, Gothic fiction was developed. These included ''Frankenstein'' (1818) and short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, which would later have several film adaptations. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, more key horror texts would be developed than any other period preceding it. While they were not all straight horror stories, the horrific elements of them lingered in popular culture, with their set pieces becoming staples in horror cinema.

Critic and author Kim Newman described Georges Méliès ''Le Manoir du diable'' as the first horror film, featuring elements that would become staples in the genre: images of demons, ghosts, and haunted castles.
The early 20th century cinema had production of film so hectic, several adaptions of stories were made within months of each other. This included Poe adaptations made in France and the United States, to ''Frankenstein'' adaptations being made in the United States and Italy. The most adapted of these stories was '' Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' (1886), which had three version made in 1920 alone.

Early German cinema involved Poe-like stories, such as '' The Student of Prague'' (1913) which featured director and actor Paul Wegener. Wegner would go on to work in similar features such as '' The Golem and the Dancing Girl'' and its related ''Golem'' films. Other actors of the era who featured in similar films included Werner Krauss and Conrad Veidt who starred in ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'', leading to similar roles in other German productions. F. W. Murnau would also direct an adaptation of '' Nosferatu'' (1922), a film Newman described as standing "as the only screen adaptation of ''Dracula'' to be primarily interested in horror, from the character's rat-like features and thin body, the film was, even more so than ''Caligari'', "a template for the horror film."

1930s

Following the 1927 success of Broadway play of '' Dracula'', Universal Studios officially purchased the rights to both the play and the novel. After the ''Dracula''s premiere on February 12, 1931, the film received what authors of the book ''Universal Horrors'' proclaimed as "uniformly positive, some even laudatory" reviews. The commercial reception surprised Universal who forged ahead to make similar production of ''Frankenstein'' (1931). ''Frankenstein'' also proved to be a hit for Universal which led to both ''Dracula'' and ''Frankenstein'' making film stars of their leads: Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff respectively. Karloff starred in Universal's follow-up '' The Mummy'' (1932), which Newman described as the studio knowing "what they were getting" patterning the film close to the plot of ''Dracula''. Lugosi and Karloff would star together in several Poe-adaptations in the 1930s.

Following the release of ''Dracula'', ''The Washington Post'' declared the film's box office success led to a cycle of similar films while ''The New York Times'' stated in a 1936 overview that ''Dracula'' and the arrival of sound film began the "real triumph of these spectral thrillers". Other studios began developing their own horror projects with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros. Universal would also follow-up with several horror films until the mid-1930s.

In 1935, the President of the BBFC Edward Shortt, wrote "although a separate category has been established for these orrificfilms, I am sorry to learn they are on the increase...I hope that the producers and renters will accept this word of warning, and discourage this type of subject as far as possible." As the United Kingdom was a significant market for Hollywood, American producers listened to Shortt's warning, and the number of Hollywood produced horror films decreased in 1936. A trade paper '' Variety'' reported that Universal Studios abandonment of horror films after the release of ''Dracula's Daughter'' (1936) was that "European countries, especially England are prejudiced against this type product ." At the end of the decade, a profitable re-release of ''Dracula'' and ''Frankenstein'' would encourage Universal to produce '' Son of Frankenstein'' (1939) featuring both Lugosi and Karloff, starting off a resurgence of the horror film that would continue into the mid-1940s.

1940s

After the success of ''Son of Frankenstein'' (1939), Universal's horror films received what author Rick Worland of ''The Horror Film'' called "a second wind" and horror films continued to be produced at a feverish pace into the mid-1940s. Universal looked into their 1930s horror properties to develop new follow-ups such in their '' The Invisible Man'' and '' The Mummy'' series. Universal saw potential in making actor Lon Chaney, Jr. a new star to replace Karloff as Chaney had not distinguished himself in either A or B pictures. Chaney, Jr. would become a horror star for the decade showing in the films in '' The Wolf Man'' series, portraying several of Universal's monster characters. B-Picture studios also developed films that imitated the style of Universal's horror output. Karloff worked with Columbia Pictures acting in various films as a " Mad doctor"-type characters starting with '' The Man They Could Not Hang'' (1939) while Lugosi worked between Universal and poverty row studios such as Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) for '' The Devil Bat'' (1941) and Monogram for nine features films.

In March 1942, producer Val Lewton ended his working relationship with independent producer David O. Selznick to work for RKO Radio Pictures' Charles Koerner, becoming the head of a new unit created to develop B-movie horror feature films. According to screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen and director Jacques Tourneur, Lewton's first horror production '' Cat People'' (1942), Lewton wanted to make some different from the Universal horror with Tourneu describing it as making "something intelligent and in good taste". Lewton developed a series of horror films for RKO, described by Newman as "polished, doom-haunted, poetic" while film critic Roger Ebert the films Lewton produced in the 1940s were "landmark in American movie history". Several horror films of the 1940s borrowed from ''Cat People'', specifically feature a female character who fears that she has inherited the tendency to turn into a monster or attempt to replicate the shadowy visual style of the film. Between 1947 and 1951, Hollywood made almost no new horror films. This was due to sharply declining sales, leading to both major and poverty row studios to re-release their older horror films during this period rather than make new ones.

1950s

The early 1950s featured only a few gothic horror films developed, prior to the release of Hammer Film Productions's gothic films, Hammer originally began developing American-styled science fiction films in the early 1950s but later branched into horror with their colour films '' The Curse of Frankenstein'' and '' Dracula'' (1958). These films would birth two horror film stars: Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and led to further horror film production from Hammer in the decade.

Among the most influential horror films of the 1950s was '' The Thing From Another World'' (1951), with Newman stating that countless science fiction horror films of the 1950s would follow in its style. For five years following the release of ''The Thing From Another World'', nearly every film involving aliens, dinosaurs or radioactive mutants would be dealt with matter-of-fact characters as seen in the film. Films featuring vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein's monster also took to having science fiction elements of the era such as have characters have similar plot elements from ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''. Horror films also expanded further into international productions in the later half of the 1950s, with films in the genre being made in Mexico, Italy, Germany and France.

1960s

The horror film changed dramatically in 1960, specifically, with Alfred Hitchcock's film ''Psycho'' (1960) based on the novel by Robert Bloch. Newman declared that the film elevated the idea of a multiple-personality serial killer that set the tone future film that was only touched upon in earlier melodramas and ''film noirs''. The release of ''Psycho'' led to similar pictures about the psychosis of characters and a brief reappearance of what Newman described as "stately, tasteful" horror films such as Jack Clayton's '' The Innocents'' (1961) and Robert Wise's '' The Haunting'' (1963). Newman described Roman Polanski's '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968) the other "event" horror film of the 1960s after ''Psycho''.

Roger Corman working with AIP to make '' House of Usher'' (1960), which led several future Poe-adaptations other 1960s Poe-adaptations by Corman, and provided roles for aging horror stars such as Karloff and Chaney, Jr. These films were made to compete with the British colour horror films from Hammer in the United Kingdom featuring their horror stars Cushing and Fisher, whose ''Frankenstein'' series continued from 1958 to 1973 Competition for Hammer appeared in the mid-1960s in the United Kingdom with Amicus Productions who also made feature film featuring Cushing and Lee. Like ''Psycho'', Amicus drew from contemporary sources such as Bloch (''The Skull'' (1965) and '' Torture Garden'' (1967)) led to Hammer adapting works by more authors from the era.

Mario Bava's '' Black Sunday'' (1960) marked an increase in onscreen violence in film. Earlier British horror films had their gorier scenes cut on initial release or suggested through narration while ''Psycho'' suggested its violence through fast editing. ''Black Sunday'', by contrast, depicted violence without suggestion. This level of violence would later be seen in other works of Bava and other Italian films such the ''giallo'' of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Other independent American productions of the 1960s expanded on the gore shown in the films in a genre later described as the splatter film, with films by Herschell Gordon Lewis such as '' Blood Feast'', while Newman found that the true breakthrough of these independent films was George A. Romero's '' Night of the Living Dead'' (1968) which set a new attitudes for the horror film, one that was suspicious of authority figures, broke taboos of society and was satirical between its more suspenseful set pieces.

1970s

Historian John Kenneth Muir described the 1970s as a "truly eclectic time" for horror cinema, noting a mixture of fresh and more personal efforts on film while other were a resurrection of older characters that have appeared since the 1930s and 1940s. ''Night of the Living Dead'' had what Newman described as a "slow burning influence" on horror films of the era and what he described as "the first of the genre auteurs" who worked outside studio settings. These included American directors such as John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven and Brian De Palma as well as directors working outside America such as Bob Clark, David Cronenberg and Dario Argento. Prior to ''Night of the Living Dead'', the monsters of horror films could easily be banished or defeated by the end of the film, while Romero's film and the films of other filmmakers would often suggest other horror still lingered after the credits.

Both Amicus and Hammer ceased feature film production in the 1970s. Remakes of proved to be popular choices for horror films in the 1970s, with films like '' Invasion of the Bodysnatchers'' (1978) and tales based on ''Dracula'' which continued into the late 1970s with John Badham's '' Dracula'' (1979) and Werner Herzog's '' Nosferatu the Vampyre'' (1979). Although not an official remake, the last high-grossing horror film of decade, '' Alien'' (1979) took b-movie elements from films like '' It! The Terror from Beyond Space'' (1958). Newman has suggested high grossing films like ''Alien'', '' Jaws'' (1975) and ''Halloween'' (1978) became hits by being "relentless suspense machines with high visual sophistication." He continued that ''Jaws'' memorable music theme and its monster not being product of society like Norman Bates in ''Psycho'' had carried over into ''Halloween''s Michael Myers and its films theme music.

1980s

With the appearance of home video in the 1980s, horror films were subject to censorship in the United Kingdom in a phenomenon popularly known as " video nasties", leading to video collections being seized by police and some people being jailed for selling or owning some horror films. Newman described the response to the video nasty issue led to horror films becoming "dumber than the previous decade" and although films were not less gory, they were "more lightweight ..becoming more disposable, less personal works." Newman noted that these directors who created original material in the 1970s such as Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Tobe Hooper would all at least briefly "play it safe" with Stephen King adaptations or remakes of the 1950s horror material.

Replacing Frankenstein's monster and Dracula were new popular characters with more general names like Jason Voorhees ('' Friday the 13th''), Michael Myers (''Halloween''), and Freddy Kruger ('' A Nightmare on Elm Street''). Unlike the characters of the past who were vampires or created by mad scientists, these characters were seemingly people with common sounding names who developed the slasher film genre of the era. The genre was derided by several contemporary film critics of the era such as Roger Ebert, and often were highly profitable in the box office. The 1980s highlighted several films about body transformation, through special effects and make-up artists like Rob Bottin and Rick Baker who allowed for more detailed and graphic transformation scenes or the human body in various forms of horrific transformation.

Other more traditional styles continued into the 1980s, such as supernatural themed films involving haunted houses, ghosts, and demonic possession. Among the most popular films of the style included Stanley Kubrick's '' The Shining'' (1980), Hooper's high-grossing '' Poltergeist'' (1982). After the release of films based on Stephen King's books like ''The Shining'' and ''Carrie'' led to further film adaptations of his novels throughout the 1980s.

1990s

Horror films of the 1990s also failed to develop as many major new directors of the genre as it had in the 1960s or 1970s. Young independent filmmakers such as Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater, Michael Moore and Quentin Tarantino broke into cinema outside the genre at non-genre festivals like the Sundance Film Festival. Newman noted that the early 1990s was "not a good time for horror", noting excessive release of sequels. Muir commented that in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War, the United States did not really have a "serious enemy" internationally, leading to horror films adapting to fictional enemies predominantly within America, with the American government, large businesses, organized religion and the upper class as well as supernatural and occult items such as vampires or Satanists filling in the horror villains of the 1990s. The rapid growth of technology in the 1990s with the internet and the fears of the Year 2000 problem causing the end of the world were reflected in plots of films.

Other genre-based trends of the 1990s, included the post-modern horror films such as '' Scream'' (1996) were made in this era. Post-modern horror films continued into the 2000s, eventually just being released as humorous parody films. By the end of the 1990s, three films were released that Newman described as "cultural phenomenons." These included Hideo Nakata's '' Ring'' (1998), which was the major hit across Asia, ''The Sixth Sense'', another ghost story which Newman described as making "an instant cliche" of twist endings, and the low-budget independent film ''The Blair Witch Project'' (1999). Newman described the first trend of horror films in the 2000s followed the success of ''The Blair Witch Project'', but predominantly parodies or similar low-budget imitations.

2000s

Teen oriented series began in the era with '' Final Destination'' while the success of the 1999 remake of William Castle's ''House on Haunted Hill'' led to a series of remakes in the decade. The popularity of the remake of '' Dawn of the Dead'' (2004) led to a revival in American zombie films in the late 2000s. Beyond remakes, other long-dormant horror franchises such as '' The Exorcist'' and '' Friday the 13th'' received new feature films. After the success of ''Ring'' (1998), several films came from Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan with similar detective plotlines investigating ghosts. This trend was echoed in the West with films with similar plots and Hollywood remakes of Asian films like '' The Ring'' (2002). In the United Kingdom, there was what Newman described as a "modest revival" of British horror films, first with war-related horror films and several independent films of various styles, with Newman describing the "breakouts of the new British horror" including '' 28 Days Later'' (2002) and '' Shaun of the Dead'' (2004).

David Edelstein of ''The New York Times'' coined a term for a genre he described as " torture porn" in a 2006 article, as a label for films described, often retroactively, to over 40 films since 2003. Edelstein lumped in films such as '' Saw'' (2004) and ''Wolf Creek'' (2005) under this banner suggesting audience a "titillating and shocking" while film scholars of early 21st century horror films described them as "intense bodily acts and visible bodily representations" to produce uneasy reactions. Kevin Wetmore, using the '' Saw'' film series suggested these film suggested reflected a post-9/11 attitude towards increasing pessimism, specifically one of "no redemption, no hope, no expectations that 'we're going to be OK'"

2010s to present

After the film studio Blumhouse had success with ''Paranormal Activity'' (2007), the studio continued to produce films became hits in the 2010s with film series '' Insidious''. This led to what Newman described as the companies policy on "commercial savvy with thematic risk that has often paid off", such as '' Get Out'' (2017) and series like '' The Purge''. Laura Bradley in her article for '' Vanity Fair'' noted that both large and small film studios began noticing Blumhouse's success, including A24, which became popular with films like ''The Witch'' (2015) and '' Midsommar'' (2019). Bradley commented how some of these films had been classified as "elevated horror", a term used for works that were 'elevated' beyond traditional or pure genre films, but declared "horror aficionados and some critics pushed back against the notion that these films are doing something entirely new" noting their roots in films like '' Night of the Living Dead'' (1968) and '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968). The increase in use of streaming services in the 2010s has also been suggested as boosting the popularity of horror; as well as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video producing and distributing numerous works in the genre, Shudder launched in 2015 as a horror-specific service. In the early 2010s, a wave of horror films began exhibiting what Virginie Sélavy described as psychedelic tendency. This was inspired by experimentation and subgenres of the 1970s, specifically folk horror. The trend began with '' Enter the Void'' (2009) and '' Beyond the Black Rainbow'' (2010) and continued throughout the decade with films like '' Climax'' (2018).

Adapted from the Stephen King novel, '' It'' (2017) set a box office record for horror films by grossing $123.1 million on opening weekend in the United States and nearly $185 million globally. The success of ''It'' led to further King novels being adapted into new feature films. The beginning of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the film industry, leading to several horror films being held back from release, or having their production halted. During lockdowns, streaming for films featuring a fictional apocalypse increased.

Sub-genres of horror films

Horror is a malleable genre and often can be altered to accommodate other genre types such as science fiction, making some films difficult to categorize.

Body horror

A genre that emerged in the 1970s, body horror films focus on the process of a bodily transformation. In these films, the body is either engulfed by some larger process or heading towards fragmentation and collapse. In these films, the focus can be on apocalyptic implication of an entire society being overtaken, but the focus is generally upon an individual and their sense of identity, primarily them watching their own body change. The earliest appearance of the sub-genre was the work of director David Cronenberg, specifically with early films like '' Shivers'' (1975). Mark Jancovich of the University of Manchester declared that the transformation scenes in the genre provoke fear and repulsion, but also pleasure and excitement such as in '' The Thing'' (1982) and '' The Fly'' (1986).

Comedy horror

Comedy horror combines elements of comedy and horror film. The comedy horror genre often crosses over with the black comedy genre. It occasionally includes horror films with lower ratings that are aimed at a family audience. The short story '' The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'' by Washington Irving is cited as "the first great comedy-horror story".

Folk horror

Folk horror uses elements of folklore or other religious and cultural beliefs to instil fear in audiences. Folk horror films have featured rural settings and themes of isolation, religion and nature. Frequently cited examples are '' Witchfinder General'' (1968), '' The Blood on Satan's Claw'' (1971), '' The Wicker Man'' (1973) and '' Midsommar'' (2019). Local folklore and beliefs have been noted as being prevalent in horror films from the Southeast Asia region, including Thailand and Indonesia.

Found footage horror

The found footage horror film "technique" gives the audience a first person view of the events on screen, and presents the footage as being discovered after. Horror films which are framed as being made up of "found-footage" merge the experiences of the audience and characters, which may induce suspense, shock, and bafflement. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas noted that the popularity of sites like YouTube in 2006 sparked a taste for amateur media, leading to the production of further films in the found footage horror genre later in the 2000s including the particularly financially successful '' Paranormal Activity'' (2007).

Gothic horror

In their book ''Gothic film'', Richard J. McRoy and Richard J. Hand stated that "Gothic" can be argued as a very loose subgenre of horror, but argued that "Gothic" as a whole was a style like ''film noir'' and not bound to certain cinematic elements like the Western or science fiction film. The term "gothic" is frequently used to describe a stylized approach to showcasing location, desire, and action in film. Contemporary views of the genre associate it with imagery of castles at hilltops and labyrinth like ancestral mansions that are in various states of disrepair. Narratives in these films often focus on an audiences fear and attraction to social change and rebellion. The genre can be applied to films as early as ''The Haunted Castle'' (1896), ''Frankenstein'' (1910) as well as to more complex iterations such as Park Chan-wook's ''Stoker'' (2013) and Jordan Peele's '' Get Out'' (2017).

The gothic style is applied to several films throughout the history of the horror film. This includes the Universal's horror films of the 1930s, the revival of gothic horror in the 1950s and 1960s with films from Hammer, Roger Corman's Poe-cycle, and several Italian productions. By the 1970s American and British productions often had vampire films set in a contemporary setting, such as Hammer Films had their ''Dracula'' stories set in a modern setting and made other horror material which pushed the erotic content of their vampire films that was initiated by ''Black Sunday''. In the 1980s, the older horror characters of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster rarely appeared, with vampire themed films continued often in the tradition of authors like Anne Rice where vampirism becomes a lifestyle choice rather than plague or curse. Following the release of Francis Ford Coppola's '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (1992), a small wave of high-budgeted gothic horror romance films were released in the 1990s.

Natural horror

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Also described as "eco-horror", the natural horror film is a subgenre "featuring nature running amok in the form of mutated beasts, carnivorous insects, and normally harmless animals or plants turned into cold-blooded killers." In 1963, Hitchcock defined a new genre nature taking revenge on humanity with '' The Birds'' (1963) that was expanded into a trend into the 1970s. Following the success of '' Willard'' (1971), a film about killer rats, 1972 had similar films with '' Stanley'' (1972) and an official sequel '' Ben'' (1972). Other films followed in suit such as '' Night of the Lepus'' (1972), '' Frogs'' (1972), '' Bug'' (1975), '' Squirm'' (1976) and what Muir described as the "turning point" in the genre with '' Jaws'' (1975), which became the highest-grossing film at that point and moved the animal attacks genres "towards a less-fantastic route" with less giant animals and more real-life creatures such as '' Grizzly'' (1976) and ''Night Creature'' (1977), ''Orca'' (1977), and ''Jaws 2'' (1978). The film is linked with the environmental movements that became more mainstream in the 1970s and early 1980s such vegetarianism, animal rights movements, and organizations such as Greenpeace. Following ''Jaws'', sharks became the most popular animal of the genre, ranging from similar such as '' Mako: The Jaws of Death'' (1976) and '' Great White'' (1981) to the '' Sharknado'' film series. James Marriott found that the genre had "lost momentum" since the 1970s while the films would still be made towards the turn of the millennium.

Slasher film

The slasher film is a horror subgenre, which involving a killer murdering a group of people (usually teenagers), usually by use of bladed tools. In his book on the genre, author Adam Rockoff that these villains represented a "rogue genre" of films with "tough, problematic, and fiercely individualistic." Following the financial success of '' Friday the 13th'' (1980), at least 20 other slasher films appeared in 1980 alone. These films usually revolved around five properties: unique social settings (campgrounds, schools, holidays) and a crime from the past committed (an accidental drowning, infidelity, a scorned lover) and a ready made group of victims (camp counselors, students, wedding parties). The genre was derided by several contemporary film critics of the era such as Ebert, and often were highly profitable in the box office. The release of '' Scream'' (1996), led to a brief revival of the slasher films for the 1990s. Other countries imitated the American slasher film revival, such as South Korea's early 2000s cycle with '' Bloody Beach'' (2000), '' Nightmare'' (2000) and ''The Record'' (2000).

Supernatural horror

Supernatural horror films integrate supernatural elements, such as the afterlife, spirit possession and religion into the horror genre.

Teen horror

Teen horror is a horror subgenre that victimizes teenagers while usually promoting strong, anti-conformity teenage leads, appealing to young generations. This subgenre often depicts themes of sex, under-aged drinking, and gore.Miller C, Van Riper A. Marketing, Monsters, and Music: Teensploitation Horror Films. Journal of American Culture erial online June 2015;38(2):130–141. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Retrieved 21 March 2017. Horror films aimed a young audience featuring teenage monsters grew popular in the 1950s with several productions from American International Pictures (AIP) and productions of Herman Cohen with '' I Was a Teenage Werewolf'' (1957) and '' I Was a Teenage Frankenstein'' (1957). This led to later productions like ''Daughter of Dr. Jekyll'' (1957) and ''Frankenstein's Daughter'' (1958). Teen horror cycle in the 1980s often showcased explicit gore and nudity, with John Kenneth Muir described as cautionary conservative tales where most of the films stated if you partook in such vices such as drugs or sex, your punishment of death would be handed out.
Prior to ''Scream'', there were no popular teen horror films in the early 1990s. After the financial success of ''Scream'', teen horror films became increasingly reflexive and self-aware until the end of the 1990s with films like '' I Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1997) and non-slasher ''The Faculty'' (1998). The genre lost prominence as teen films dealt with threats with more realism in films like ''Donnie Darko'' (2001) and '' Crazy/Beautiful'' (2001). In her book on the 1990s teen horror cycle, Alexandra West described the general trend of these films is often looked down upon by critics, journals, and fans as being too glossy, trendy, and sleek to be considered worthwhile horror films.

Psychological horror

Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequently overlaps with the related subgenre of psychological thriller, and often uses mystery elements and characters with unstable, unreliable, or disturbed psychological states to enhance the suspense, drama, action, and paranoia of the setting and plot and to provide an overall unpleasant, unsettling, or distressing atmosphere.

Regional horror films

Asian horror films

Horror films in Asia have been noted as being inspired by national, cultural or religious folklore, particularly beliefs in ghosts or spirits. In ''Asian Horror'', Andy Richards writes that there is a "widespread and engrained acceptance of supernatural forces" in many Asian cultures, and suggests this is related to animist, pantheist and karmic religious traditions, as in Buddhism and Shintoism. Although Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Korean horror has arguably received the most international attention, horror also makes up a considerable proportion of Cambodian and Malaysian cinema.

India

The Cinema of India produces the largest amount of films in the world, ranging from Bollywood (Hindi cinema based in Mumbai) to other regions such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Unlike Hollywood and most Western cinematic traditions, horror films produced in India incorporate romance, song-and-dance, and other elements in the "masala" format, where as many genres as possible are bundled into a single film. Odell and Le Blanc described the Indian horror film as "a popular, but minor part of the country's film output" and that "has not found a true niche in mainstream Indian cinema." These films are made outside of Mumbai, and are generally seen as disreputable to their more respectable popular cinema. As of 2007, the Central Board of Film Certification, India's censorship board has stated films "pointless or unavoidable scenes of violence, cruelty and horror, scenes of violence intended to provide entertainment and such scene that may have the effect of desensitising or dehumanizing people are not shown."

The earliest Indian horror films were films about ghosts and reincarnation or rebirth such as '' Mahal'' (1949). These early films tended to be spiritual pieces or tragic dramas opposed to having visceral content. While prestige films from Hollywood productions had been shown in Indian theatres, the late 1960s had seen a parallel market for minor American and European co-productions to films like the James Bond film series and the films of Mario Bava. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Ramsay Brothers created a career in the lower reaches of the Bombay film industry making low-budget horror films, primarily influenced by Hammer's horror film productions, with little known about their production or distribution history. The Ramsay Brothers were a family of seven brothers who made horror films that were featured monsters and evil spirits that mix in song and dance sections as well as comic interludes. Most of their films played at smaller cinema in India, with Tulsi Ramsay, one of the brothers, later stating "Places where even the trains don't stop, that's where our business was." Their horror films are generally dominated by low-budget productions, such as those by the Ramsay Brothers. Their most successful film was '' Purana Mandir'' (1984), which was the second highest-grossing film in India that year. The influence of American productions would have an effect on later Indian productions such as ''The Exorcist'' which would lead to films involving demonic possession such as '' Gehrayee'' (1980). India has also made films featuring zombies and vampires that drew from American horror films opposed to indigenous myths and stories. Other directors, such as Mohan Bhakri made low budget highly exploitive films such as ''Cheekh'' (1985) and his biggest hit, the monster movie '' Khooni Mahal'' (1987).

Horror films are not self-evident categories in Tamil and Telugu films and it was only until the late 1980s that straight horror cinema was regularly produced with films like '' Uruvam'' (1991), ''Sivi'' (2007), and '' Eeram'' (2009) were released. The first decade of the twenty-first century saw a flurry of commercially successful Telugu horror films like ''A Film by Aravind'' (2005), ''Mantra'' (2007), and '' Arundhati'' (2009) were released. Ram Gopal Varma made films that generally defied the conventions of popular Indian cinema, making horror films like '' Raat'' (1992) and '' Bhoot'' (2003), with the latter film not containing and comic scenes or musical numbers. In 2018, the horror film '' Tumbbad'' premiered in the critics' week section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival—the first ever Indian film to open the festival.

Indonesia

Japan

Some Japanese horror films have inspired American remakes. The visual interpretations of films can be lost in the translation of their elements from one culture to another, like in the adaptation of the Japanese film '' Ju on'' into the American film '' The Grudge''. The cultural components from Japan were slowly "siphoned away" to make the film more relatable to a western audience. This deterioration that can occur in an international remake happens by over-presenting negative cultural assumptions that, as time passes, sets a common ideal about that particular culture in each individual. Holm's discussion of ''The Grudge'' remakes presents this idea by stating, "It is, instead, to note that ''The Grudge'' films make use of an un-theorized notion of Japan... that seek to directly represent the country."

South Korea

The Korean horror film originated in the 1960s and became a more prominent part of the countries film production in the early 2000s. While ghosts have appeared as early as 1924 in Korean film, attempting to chart the history of the genre from this period was described by Alison Peirse and Daniel Martin, the authors of "Korean Horror Cinema" as "problematic", due to the control of the Japanese colonial government blocking artistic or politically independent films. Regardless of settings or time period, many Korean horror films such as ''Song of the Dead'' (1980) have their stories focused on female relationships, rooted in Korean Confucianism tradition with an emphasis on biological families. Despite the influence of folklore in some films, there is no key single canon to define the Korean horror film. Korean horror cinema is also defined by melodrama, as it does in most of Korean cinema.

'' The Housemaid'' (1960) is widely credited as initiating the first horror cycle in Korean cinema, which involved films of the 1960s about supernatural revenge tales, focused on cruelly murdered women who sought out revenge. Several of these films are in dept to Korean folklore and ghost stories, with stories of animal transformation. Traces of international cinema are found in early Korean horror cinema. such as Shin Sang-ok's ''Madame White Snake'' (1960) from the traditional Chinese folktale Legend of the White Snake. Despite bans of Japanese cultural products that lasted from 1945 to 1998, the influence of Japanese culture are still found in '' Kaibyō eiga'' (ghost cats) themed films, such as '' A Devilish Homicide'' (1965) and '' Ghosts of Chosun'' (1970). Other 1960s films featured narratives involving '' kumiho'' such as ''The Thousand Year Old Fox'' (''Cheonnyeonho'') (1969). These tales based on folklore and ghosts continued into the 1970s. Korea also produced giant monster films that received release in the United States such as '' Yongary, Monster from the Deep'' (1967) and '' Ape'' (1976).

By the end of the 1970s, the Korean horror film entered a period known commonly as the "dark time" for South Korean cinema with audience attracted to Hong Kong and American imports. The biggest influence on this was the "3S" policy adopted by the Chun Doo-hwan government which promoted the production of "sports, screen and sex" for the film industry leading to more relaxed censorship leading to a boom in Erotic Korean films. Horror films followed this trend with '' Suddenly at Midnight'' (1981), a reimagining of ''The Housemaid'' (1960). As of 2013, many pre-1990 Korean horror films are only available through the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) in Seoul. It was not until the 1998 release of '' Whispering Corridors'' was the Korean horror film reinvigorated, with its style containing traces of traditional Korean cinema (culturally specific themes and melodrama) but also the American pattern of making a franchise of horror films, as the film received four sequels. Since the film's release, Korean horror films had had strong diversity with gothic tales like '' A Tale of Two Sisters'' (2003), gory horror films like '' Bloody Reunion'' (2006), horror comedy ('' To Catch a Virgin Ghost'' (2004)), vampire films ('' Thirst'' (2009)), and independent productions (''Teenage Hooker Became a Killing Machine'' (2000)). These films varied in popularity with Ahn Byeong-ki's ''Phone'' (2002) reaching the top ten in the domestic box office sales in 2002 while in 2007, no locally produced Korean horror films were financially successful with local audiences. In 2020, Anton Bitel declared in ''Sight & Sound'' that South Korea was one of the international hot spots for horror film production in the last decade, citing the international and popular releases of films like '' Train to Busan'' (2016), '' The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale'' (2019) ''Peninsula'' (2020) and '' The Wailing'' (2016).

Thailand

Oceania

Australia

It is unknown when Australia's cinema first horror title may have been, with thoughts ranging from ''The Strangler's Grip'' (1912) to '' The Face at the Window'' (1919) while stories featuring ghosts would appear in '' Guyra Ghost Mystery'' (1921). By 1913, the more prolific era of Australian cinema ended with production not returning with heavy input of government finance in the 1970s. It took until the 1970s for Australia to develop sound film with television films that eventually received theatrical release with '' Dead Easy'' (1970) and '' Night of Fear'' (1973). '' The Cars That Ate Paris'' (1974) was the first Australian horror production made for theatrical release. 1970s Australian art cinema was funded by state film corporations, who considered them more culturally acceptable than local exploitation films ( Ozploitation), which was part of the Australian phenomenon called the cultural cringe. The greater success of genre films like '' Mad Max'' (1979), '' The Last Wave'' (1977) and '' Patrick'' (1978) led to the Australian Film Commission to change its focus to being a more commercial operation. This closed in 1980 as its funding was abused by investors using them as tax avoiding measures. A new development known as the 10BA tax shelter scheme was developed ushering a slew of productions, leading to what Peter Shelley, author of ''Australian Horror Films'', suggested meant "making a profit was more important than making a good film." Shelley called these films derivative of "American films and presenting generic American material". These films included the horror film productions of Antony I. Ginnane. While Australia would have success with international films between the mid-1980s and the 2000s, less than 5 horror films were produced in the country between 1993 and 2000. It was only after the success of ''Wolf Creek'' (2005) that a new generation of filmmakers would continuously make horror genre films in Australia that continued into the 2010s.

New Zealand

By 2005, New Zealand has produced around 190 feature films, with about 88% of them being made after 1976. New Zealand horror film history was described by Philip Matthews of Stuff as making "po-faced gothic and now we do horror for laughs." Among the earliest known New Zealand horror films productions are '' Strange Behavior'' (1981), a co-production with Australia and ''Death Warmed Up'' (1984) a single production. Early features such as Melanie Read

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