Timeline Of The Horror Genre 1910's-60's

One Hundred Years Of The Horror Genre (Part 1)

1910's
Many German horror movies were produced this decade with the premise of creating artificial creatures and the introduction of sophisticated, miniaturized sets used in place of locations. These set the stage for many paranormal and supernatural horror films and tv series as films were still silent and technology was too crude for sophisticated special effects.
Many of the films featured around physical effects such as explosions and prosthetics to create supernatural creatures, usually based from legends, myths and 19th century novels.
e.g. Der Golem (1914), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913), The Student of Prague (1913)

1920's
1922 - First 3D movie The Power of Love is aired.
1927 - First feature length "talkie" called The Jazz Singer.
1928 - First "talkie" horror film, The Terror, based on a play of the same name by Edgar Wallace. It was a rudimentary supernatural horror which used suspense as the main feature as the enigma of the murderer's identity deepens.
e.g. Nosferatu (1922), The Golem (1922), London After Midnight (1927)

1930's
Deindustrialisation age.
The great depression meant unemployment levels rocketed.
Films were "exotic fairy tales" based off 19th century novels like Grimm's Fairy Stories and Frankenstein. This meant that exotic or far away locations, strange accents and clothes were common themes which were likely to have reflected how people viewed foreign soldiers from the war effort.
e.g. Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1932), King Kong (1933)

1931 - Stereophonics invented.
1935 - First colour feature film using Process 4 is released. Technicolour followed soon after.
'39-'45 - WWII happens.
Horror movies are not longer produced in Europe due to the war effort and all movies are instead filmed in America until 1941 when America joins the war.
Due to limited budgets and an unstable economy and society, horror films evolved little and tried to remain "safe" however the idea of human's having primitive, animal-like instincts was re-occurant and sparked a season of creature features. This is likely because people viewed jews and nazi soldiers as not-quite-human and dangerous.
e.g. Werewolf of London (1935), The Wolf Man (1941)

1947 - Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting. Start of modern UFO era inspires hundreds of new sci-fi horrors however technology is still basic and special effects are crude.

1950s
Post war feelings of horror over the brutal nature of humans still lingered and was echoed in TV and film. An influx of supernatural and psychological horrors involved humanoids and sentient, mercy-less monsters.
e.g. Mutant Madness (1950), Godzilla (1954), Them! (1954)

Teenagers at drive-in cinemas were the primary audience for horror movies so low budget films (B movies) were abundant and involved a focus on cheesy jump scares instead of quality of plot line, special effects of character development.
e.g. I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), The Fly (1957), Attack of a Fifty Foot Woman (1958)

Sci-fi horrors involving aliens and UFO's became increasingly popular as the technology improved and special effects became more real. Shape shifting aliens movies attack society and question what it means to be human; "He looks just like uncle Joe, and he acts like uncle Joe, but he ain't uncle Joe".
e.g. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

1960s
The sexual revolution of the cinema. The social stability of post was was destroyed and the gap was filled by uncensored underground cinema which allowed the public to rethink what they thought about sex and violence. These low budget horrors were significantly more open to nudity and onscreen violence and became more believable and sophisticated, allowing teen audiences to relate to the issues each character.
e.g. Psycho (1960), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Rosemary's Baby (1968)