Horror movies generally are all the same. They all have been based off of something that has already happened or a previous movie. Society has paid to be entertained by these gruesome stories that we all truly fear. Before movies, people would purchase books of similar tramatic events to read in their spare time for amusement. Writters such as Bram Stoker created graphic novels that grabbed peoples attention for years to come. But the horror movie, The House Of The Devil(1896), was noted as being the first ever horror movie. And as the years pasted, the industry grew and became stronger.
The artist and creative portion of the movies became more gruesume and realistic. Now many of the horror films that have been creatured are said to be based off an events that were real. The fact of knowing that the events could be real attract millions of people, and keep the industy growing. Numerous people spend countless hours perfecting the art of terror for our amusement. Truly, they are looking at previous story lines and methods that had become successfull before.
The art of horror movies started long before televison was created. Gothic wrtitters suchs Mary Shelly and Bram Stoker created novels that horrififed people. And to this day Mary Shellys Frankenstein and Bram Stokers Dracula are continuously being recreated. For example, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu was an unauthorized version of Bram Stoker Dracula. F.W Murnau made a few changes in the details of the movie to seperate it from the orignal due to the fact he could not obtain rights to the origanl novel. Stoker’s heir still ended up sueing, and the courts ordered all copies of Nosferatu be destroyed. But a single copy of the film had been missed and later was revealed. The story of Dracula is continuly told and being remade even today.
It is something that has always frightened people, so the industry continues to build off it. The older generation of writters such as Bram Stoker and MAry Shelly are known for German Expresionism. German Expressionism is responsible for creating The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, which is still considered one of the greatest silence films created in the era. The film also took credit for being one of the first to example story board and having a twist ending. Once the film had been created it lead people to explore the posibilities of the art of horror. Following the creation of The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari was the making of The Golem.
This film continued to be remade over the years. It started with a man by the name of Paul Wegener. He was fascinated by the legend of the Golem. The story spoke of a giant clay monster that saved Pragues Jewish citizens for an emperor that believed they were ritually killing children.
Gothic Horror has to be one of the best forms of art. Which is probley why film markers continue to go back to it. It played on both the thrill and the fear of the unknown. It places a great importance on atmosphere. It’s usually heavily symbolic, sometimes even dreamlike. Universal and Hammer films are responsiable for adapting this genre onto the big screen. The House of the Devil, is thought to be the one of the first horror films created was created in France.The producer Georges melies was bold enough to make one of the first movie images. This drew in a large audience to the short film. The film ran for a total of three minutes. It turned into a silent film without any audio of any sort. The film was not intended to frighten people, but rather to amuse them. It was one of the first present a form of Dracula.
All horror movies are inspired by something. Most of the horror movies were inspired by actual events. The Texas chain Saw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper was release October 1, 1974 was based on a true story. The real story did not truly take place in Texas. It took place in Wisconsin, man by the name of Ed Gein is one of Americas most known and gruesome serial killer. Ed Gein did not reli on a chainsaw, but a gun to kill his victims. Ed gein was raised by a religious father who was also an alcoholic. The first person that he was accused of murdering was his one and only brother. But in the end the murder was never actually proven. Ed killed later tortured and killed two additional women. Ed was found not guilty due to pleading insanity. Due to the events, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was created as well as Phycho and Silence of the Lambs were created.
It is scary to know that the movies that scared us as children scould have some truth behind them. The Nightmare On Elm Street released on November 16, 1984. The film was inspired by a group of male immagrants from South East Asia.. There were several articals in the L.A times about three people dying in their sleep. The main insperation for the movie was from the third male who died. His family members keep telling him he had to sleep, but he would continously refuse. He claimed that these were not typical nightmares that he was having. His family resorted to giving him sleeping pills, but he keep spiting them out.
The L.A times stated that he stayed up for a tremendis amout of days. The gentlemen had hidden a coffee maker in his closet that nobody knew about. One night he was watching tv with his family and he fell asleep on the couch from exhaustion. His family carried him upstairs to bed before they all went to bed. Later that night, they were woken by his screams. They heard things crash and break, so they ran to his room to find him dead. They had an autopsy performed, but he did not have a heart attack. The doctor could not find any explination for his death.
The Exocism of Emily rose was also based on a true story. the film was released on September 9, 2005. The true story behind the movie was about Anneliesa Michell an old German Catholic. When she was sixteen she suffered a severe convulsion and ended up being diagnosed with epilepsy. After that whenever she would pray she would begin to hallucinate. In 1970 her health did not improve, and was soon confined to a hospital for long term medical treatment. Whenever the doctors would talk to her she claimed that she was seeing devil faces. A few years, 1973, she started her treatments with tegretol, anti-seizure drugs, and mood swing stabalizers.
She continued to take the medican, untill shortly before her death. The priests exorcised her several times, until finally they declined her and recommended she continue the use of the medical treatment.. There was a bishop in the next town over known a Viscar Ernst Alt. The priests recommended that she try her luck there. He analized Annelies and determind that she was not infact epileptic. He believed she was suffering from a demonic possesion. On September 24th, 1975 they performed another excorsim session. Similar sessions were performed up to two times a week for over 10 months. On July 1, 1976 Anneliese died in her sleep. The autopsy report stated that the cause of death was malnutrition and dehydration and almost a year of semi starvation. At her death she weighted 68 pounds.
Watching horror movies today, you will see they are not much different from eachother. There always seems to be a pattern that is followed. The films are guided by a specific formula because the industry knows it will create a popular movie that will make them money. Ten of the most common things that always happens in a success horror film are : opening the door slowly means a cheap scare is coming, the victum always falls down while running from the killer, someone will always slam on a the car window of a character sitting there minding their own, the love interest of the protagonist is not the best of person, you can pick the order people will die, the killer walks while the victum runs but always stays with them, the survivor will go toe to toe with the killer in the finale, the black male and blonde female die first, the killer will not die nomatter when they do, and when someone is washing up there will suddenly be a person behind them in the mirror.
These are all silly cliches that everyone follows. But companys would not bothering putting their time and money into such a large project if they did not have some sort of asserence that it would make them a profit in the end. This really restricts creators creativity. It puts to much risk into trying new ideas so they can not exspand the horror film industry. It is unfortunitate that all horror movies have to be the same.
