Unleashed from the constraints of reality, horror films offer viewers space to experience personal and societal fears from the safety of our seats, vindicating the decades-spanning success of the genre and the twists and turns that have made it a perennial fixture in theaters.
Key to any good horror film is eliciting emotion from watchers, whether it be fear, exhilaration or even catharsis. Through narratives centered on out-of-this-world scenarios, filmmakers magnify both conscious and subconscious terrors, at times wrapping them in the trappings of science fiction or the supernatural to offer engaging social commentary unbound by the limitations of reality—but no less affecting in their moral quandaries.
Looking closely at horror offerings past and present, the sublimation of real anxieties through dramatic storytelling has been a mainstay of the genre from the outset. While the nascent film industry relied on tried and tested tales of vampires (a not-so-veiled examination of predation and addiction) and Frankenstein’s Monster (harkening back to man’s fears of losing control of his own creations), it quickly added its own stories to the canon. Among the key offerings of yesteryear was Night of the Living Dead (1968).
A time of civil unrest and global conflicts, the ‘60s evoked fears of anarchy, a societal collapse of our own making. Living Dead capitalized on these fears by taking the zombies of Haitian folklore and repackaging them as mindless flesh-eaters, emphasizing the horror of the “other” and mounting concerns about the thoughts and actions of our neighbors. Rendering cannibalism a metaphor for the poisons of capitalist structures, it depicted a society without any safety nets, as the government, military, and police all proved worthless against the swarms of decay. But while the bulk of the movie concerned the battle between the humans and the zombies, its ending served as grim reminder of reality: the African-American hero beat back the hordes of the night but was brought down by a mob of white men in the light of day, a reflection of the racial injustices that persist today.
The ‘70s saw a rise in slasher films, with larger-than-life killers preying on their victims in suburbia. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Black Christmas (1974), Halloween (1978) all played on growing apprehensions regarding the idea of violence invading seemingly safe spaces. Partially reflecting the mounting media coverage of serial killers such as Ted Bundy, these films furthered fears of the evil within and the fracturing of societal norms. The grounded and grotesque scare tactics of the ‘70s continued into the ‘80s, as filmmakers incorporated elements of “body horror” to depict the visceral terror of disease through metaphors and allegories.
A mainstay of the subgenre is David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986). In it, the protagonist has his genes spliced with those of a common housefly, triggering a transformation into a monstrous, human-sized bug. Releasing during the height of the AIDS epidemic, the film reflects the agony felt by victims abandoned by their families as they became shells of themselves, losing control of their own bodies.
The ‘90s proved a dark time for the horror genre in film, with postmodern tropes and meta humor taking center stage. Wes Craven’s Scream (1996), ostensibly a slasher film, poked fun at the genre tropes that featured in most horror films of the time, depicting savvy characters that seemed as capable of recognizing the tropes, as they were at dying by them. It wasn’t until the late ‘90s that horror returned to its roots of depicting societal angst, thanks in no small part to industries beyond Hollywood who were enjoying the benefits of increasing globalization and easier access to previously untapped markets.
Ringu (1998) is one such film—eventually adapted for western audiences as The Ring—highlighting society’s fears of technology and how it could, and eventually would, upend life. In it, a vengeful spirit trapped inside a videotape relentlessly haunts anyone who watches it, killing all its victims within 7 days. What followed was a decade focused more on torture and pain than the headier fare of the previous decades. A notable example is 2008’s French film Martyrs, a movie heavily criticized for its gruesome depictions of torture. The trend is not surprising considering the brutalities witnessed by society globally amidst the war on terror in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The trend persisted through much of the 2000s, with gory splatterfests commonplace and representing the bulk of the genre’s output.
Recent years, however, have seen a shift, with creators opting for more heady fare that couples psychological horror with physical terror. Last year, The Substance (2024) made waves with award nominations—a rarity for genre fare. Starring Demi Moore as an aging film star who undergoes an experimental treatment to regain her youth, the movie examines the dangers of addiction and society’s obsession with youth. In an increasingly curated world where looks are currency, the movie serves as warning while also putting a mirror up to modern trends, a hallmark of any classic.
Ultimately, all horror relies on the universally relatable emotion of fear. In yesteryear, when humanity’s biggest concerns stemmed from a decline in morality or societal upheaval, the genre featured monsters as stand-ins. As fears become more existential, it has veered toward the perils posed by technological advancement or social isolation, in line with audience expectations. The genre may change shape with every decade, but its beating heart remains the same: our need to look at what terrifies us and not look away.