Who says you have to wait until Halloween to watch a good horror film? All year round we can rattle our teeth, sweat and get goosebumps watching scary films - well, apart from at Christmas, granted. What are the essential references to the horror genre in cinema? If you're looking for an introduction, this is the place, in the dark depths of Shop for Geek.
Different types of horror film
Ever since the early days of cinema, certain sick minds have been having fun terrifying audiences in cinemas. Think of Murnau's Nosferatu, released in 1922... yes, over a century ago. Since then, we've seen a whole host of horror films, to the point where we can classify them into a dozen or so sub-genres:
Monsters: a bit of a catch-all category, where the horror is caused by monstrous and abominable supernatural creatures, such as Dracula, Frankenstein's monster... Aliens can also be included, as in Alien.
Vampires: a sub-sub-genre, these are films in which the main antagonists are vampires. Or protagonists, since vampires have become good guys, as in Twilight or Vampire Diaries. For example, Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Zombies: a category of monsters in their own right, whatever the cause of the zombies, this type of film tends to present the collapse of our society and the transformation of humans into brainless creatures - just to be socially critical. We're all familiar with George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, or the Walking Dead series.
Demonic possession: here, the monsters are more like spirits or ghosts that haunt a place and take possession of a fragile victim to carry out their dark intentions. This often takes place in a haunted house, as in Conjuring, and tends to end with an exorcism session, as in... The Exorcist.
Paranormal: this type of film deals mainly with spirits and other creatures from the beyond who try to interact with our world. They can take possession of a human being, but this is not necessarily the central theme of the film. One example is 2007's Paranormal Activity.
Splatter/Gore: as the name suggests, this is all about scaring the audience with special effects involving blood and torn organs. It's reminiscent of the Saw film series.
Slasher: the horror comes from a monstrous person who spends his time killing innocent people, in the most violent way possible. The supernatural nature of this person remains ambiguous, as in the "Halloween" film series.
Witchcraft: witches and sorcerers also have their own sub-genre of horror films, but they can come across all sorts of monsters and supernatural spirits. This brings to mind 1999's Blair Witch Project, which launched the found footage craze.
Psychological: rather than showing monsters and spirits, the film tends to suggest them, while creating a paranoid feeling in the viewer's mind. The best known of this genre is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
Comedy: yes, you can have a laugh at horror films too, like Tim Burton's Beetlejuice or Scream.
The modern horror film
Many filmmakers are trying to revive the various sub-genres of the horror film, as James Wan did so well with his first Conjuring. There's also the sequel/reboot to the Halloween series released in 2018, featuring an aged but still just as dangerous Michael Myers, battling it out with a Laurie Strode who has become a half-crazed survivalist, but almost as dangerous as her tormentor.
In modern horror, there's a new sub-genre that seems to be gaining in importance: retro horror. These are films and series that play on nostalgia by reviving old horror films, such as "Ca" and its terrible clown Pennywise, or that pay homage to the horror of the 1980s, such as the Netflix series "Stranger Things".
We could also mention the 'Goosebumps' films, a tribute to the literary work of R.L. Stine, whose horror novels 'rocked' young people in the 1990s.
Find your favourite monsters at ShopForGeek
Would you like to redecorate your room in the horror style of the films that most traumatised you? That's perfect, you'll find all the goodies and franchise products you need in our geek shop. Tribute to old films like Gremlins or Beetlejuice, or more modern ones like Annabelle and Conjuring... and why not get everyone to agree with a Hannibal Lecter figurine, or someone will get devoured!
