The Evolution Of Horror Cinema, and How It Has Affected Our Halloween Culture

In today’s day and age, horror films continue to captivate audiences, and studios attempt to one-up each other each and every October by releasing countless horror films into theaters. These films, while they are often amusing and do their job of frightening audiences throughout, are usually forgotten not long after. However, there are times when a film comes along that leaves a mark on Halloween and changes how we view and celebrate the season. From the early days of cinema to the present day, horror films through the years have left an eternal mark on Halloween culture.

Although horror films have been around almost as long as film itself (tracing back to the late 19th/early 20th centuries), the beginnings of their lasting popularity started in the 1930s, roughly the time when films went from silent to sound. At this time, Universal Pictures was on the financial brink, and over the coming years they would find their winning formula: horror movies, many being adapted from literature. Films like Dracula, Frankenstein and The Invisible Man were huge commercial successes, and made way for many Halloween costumes and pieces of merchandise. Since many of these films were literary adaptations, the looks of the various monsters were almost entirely invented for the movies. It is because of these films (and because of actors Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains, Lon Chaney, etc.) that we associate monsters like Frankenstein and Dracula with certain definite traits and images.

This filmmaking formula started to wane towards the start of the 1940s. Monster movies, while still relatively successful, were no longer seen as scary. Moviegoers were understandably more afraid of the horrors of real life, with the threats of World War II and atomic destruction hanging over the American consciousness. In this period, Universal settled on making a high volume of monster movie sequels and crossovers, being less focused on scares and more on entertainment and escapism. By the end of the decade, Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolf Man were paired with one of the most famous comedic duos of all-time, Abbott and Costello, for laughs, a far cry from the chilling masterpieces of the early 1930s.

Horror cinema continued to take a backseat throughout the atomic age of the 1950s, where it would often blend together with science fiction. True horror cinema would not come back until 1960s Psycho, which pushed boundaries in ways never before seen in not only horror films, but films in general. It also originated the “slasher” genre, which is characterized by a crazed killer with a body count causing terror to a society. 

Over the course of the decade, restrictions on film content began to lift, bringing with it some of the most violent and gruesome horror films that had ever been made. 1968’s Night of the Living Dead not only popularized the zombie film and the independent film, but it also caused controversy due to the highly graphic content, especially for the time. It is because of this film (and many other horror films such as Rosemary’s Baby) that the MPAA movie rating system came into effect that same year.

The 1970s and 80s saw a renaissance in the horror genre, and many other iconic horror villains were born. Killers such as Halloween’s Michael Myers, Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees and A Nightmare On Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger are still famous today, and are seen in popular culture every October. All of these films are not only still watched by countless people today, but many, Halloween in particular, receive sequels, prequels and reboots continuing to today, with varying quality.

The present day has seen many horror films that have achieved worldwide recognition. Horror films in recent years such as Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out and the 2018 film Hereditary have proved that the horror genre has shown no signs of slowing down. Many of these modern horror films have not only set out to both entertain and scare audiences, but also to gather critical acclaim and to tackle and symbolize a myriad of social issues.

Horror films have evolved from exterior scares to interior scares; from exploring not only the actions of the villains, but their innermost thoughts as well. From classic monsters to psychopathic killers, these movies have all left a lasting impact on our collective Halloween culture over the course of a century, and they will continue to for many generations to come.