Classic Horror Directors

Alfred Hitchcock - The master of suspense

Many believe that Alfred Hitchcock films are at the top of the 'best movies ever made' list, may it be of the horror genre or any other. Hitchcock takes in our worst fears and turns them into something which feels realer than a movie should. The 'villains' or 'antagonists' are believable and feel like they could really exist in parts of everyday life e.g. a creepy next door neighbours. Suspense thrillers like 'Psycho' 'Rear Window' and 'Vertigo' prove its possible to scare just through anticipation and mental disintegration built up through music, off kilter camera angles and playful misdirection.

James Whale - Gothic horror

James Whale was recognised for his work on 'Frankenstein' notable for its sympathetic presentation of the monster and elements of German expressionism to 'The invisible man' and 'The bride of Frankenstein' recognised for the humour in horror.

Eli Roth -

Eli Roth is an American director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for directing the sequel of 'Hostel' (2006, 2007) The genre of horror includes explicitly violent and bloody films

Conventions in Horror

Conventionsin horror from Matthew Brown

A brief history of the Horror Genre

THE SILENT ERA

-Germany became a part of the international film industry.

-Germany expressionism 1920's-1930's.

-Horror film production raised from 24 films to 130 within four years.

MONSTERS AND MAD SCIENTISTS

Having monsters in the early years horror raised the popularity for this genre,in this era were for example Dracula, Frankenstein, mad scientists were introduced to horror films the decade for example invisible man.  

THE PRIMAL ANIMAL WITHIN

In the early 1940's animals were introduced to horror movies and were often seen as half humans/half animal, one of the most famous and successful examples is ''The wolf man'' which became one of the main factors.

MUTANTS AND MONSTERS

When it came to 1950's the style of horror movies has turnt into scifi horrors and unknown, a lot of the time aliens and other non existing creatures were used. Example- ''The Blob - 1958''

GHOSTS ,SATANISM AND BODY HORROR

Horror films got much better and real around the 1970's, ghosts and demons came on the scene around these times. The most popular of this was ''Ghost stories''. In the 1980's body horror, blood and brutality came into cinemas.