The Drumbeat

by Alicia Polson

Horror is a genre that seems to be intertwined with controversy, constantly being under scrutiny by conservative politicians and prudish parents alike. But one cannot deny that the genre has changed cinema forever. This column serves as a timeline for the most influential horror movies from the 1960s through the 2010s.

Note: This list will only feature American films, but foreign films will be mentioned.

1960: Psycho

Created by acclaimed director Alfred Hitchcock, his 1960 film Psycho is notable for two reasons. Before its release, the horror genre was dominated by mostly monster movies like Godzilla and Dracula, so Hitchcock decided to go in the other direction by making the villain of Psycho an ordinary human, the seemingly mild mannered but secretly insane Norman Bates (portrayed by Anthony Perkins), setting the trope of the unsuspecting killer. Another reason why Psycho is notable is that it lures the viewer in with the promise that the main character Marion Crane (played by the acclaimed Janet Leigh) will survive, only to kill her off in the now iconic shower scene.

Movies that came before Psycho: Peeping Tom

Movies that came after Psycho: Black Christmas, Halloween, Friday The 13th

1968: Night of The Living Dead

Written and directed by indie filmmaker Geroge A Romero, 1968’s Night of The Living Dead–the first in the “Living Dead” trilogy–is a pivotal moment in the evolution of the horror genre for 2 main reasons. For one, it gave us the zombie as we know it today. Previously, zombies were ordinary, alive humans simply being mind controlled by an outside force; but Romero’s zombies were undead, hulking beasts of former humans that craved the flesh of their own. Another reason why Night of The Living Dead is so impactful is because the main protagonist, Ben (played by Duane Jones) is a black man, something unheard of in films of the era and now. What’s interesting about this is that George A Romero didn’t write Ben as a black character (having only been described as a truck driver), and yet he still serves as a social commentary on the African American civil rights movement (remember, 1968 was the year of the DC Riots and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination). At the end of the film, Ben is the last man standing after everyone else has died, and when he turns to leave, he is mistaken for a zombie and is killed by the police. One can state that his death is surface level and say that he was simply mistaken for a zombie, but the meaning, I feel, is much deeper, signifying how hundreds of innocent black men are killed each year for their race.

Movies that came before Night of The Living Dead: N/A

Movies inspired by/that came after Night Of The Living Dead: REC, Train to Busan, #ALIVE, The Girl With All the Gifts, Zombieland, Shaun of The Dead

1974: Black Christmas

Okay, now I know I said I would only feature American films, but Black Christmas is so influential to the slasher subgenre that I had to bend the rules. By now, holiday themed horror movies are common (Trick ‘r Treat, Leprechaun and Thankskilling being just a few examples), but Black Christmas was not only the earliest holiday horror film, but also the earliest slasher film, depending on who you ask.  Black Christmas is notable for the fact that it introduces the concept of a detached killer who is unknown to the characters, making him all the more terrifying, coupling that with the fact that Billy is unseen, save for a shot of his eye. It also introduces the age-old trope of “the calls from the killer are coming from inside the house”, which is commonly misattributed to the 1978 film When a Stranger Calls. 

Movies that came before Black Christmas: Peeping Tom, Psycho

Movies that came after Black Christmas: Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play

1975: Jaws

Jaws not only revitalized the horror genre (ushering in a new wave of creature feature films), but cinema as a whole. Directed by a then 26 year old Stephen Spielberg, Jaws changed how movies perform and how they are marketed. The media blitz for Jaws included a dozen 30-second advertisements airing each night on prime-time network TV between June 18, 1975, and the film’s opening two days later. It also introduced the concept of a summer blockbuster–a highly successful movie that brings  its producing studio commercial success.

Movies that came before Jaws: Dracula, The Wolfman, The Creature From The Black Lagoon

Movies that came after Jaws: John Carpenter’s The Thing, The Blob, Gremlins

1996: Scream

Written by Kevin Williamson in 1993 after seeing the televised arrest of the Gainsvillie RIpper, Scream’s legacy is not to be underestimated: it was a beacon of hope for the slasher genre as it became stale with Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street sequels. Scream was the first in a very long line of teen horror movies headlined by big name actors, starring Henry Winkler, Courtney Cox, Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard and David Arquette. It was the first mainstream horror film to make fun of itself (though Wes Craven, the film’s director did make Wes Craven’s New Nightmare as a testing ground for meta horror), ushering in a wave of metatextual horror that lasted from 1996 to around 2003. It’s also terrifying because the landscape of who the killers are changed. Before in slashers, the killer was some 6 ‘5, lean mean fighting machine of a man with a machete that was unknown to the victims; but in Scream, the killers were two ordinary teenage boys, boys who could be your classmates, your friends, your boyfriends, making Scream all the more terrifying now that the terror was right next to you (remember, this is pre-Columbine). Scream is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable horror films ever made, and its influence has been felt in the 28 years since its release in 1996.

Movies that came before Scream: Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street

Movies that came after Scream: I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, Final Destination

1998: The Blair Witch Project

While not the first found footage horror movie ever made, 1998’s The Blair Witch Project is undoubtedly the one that started found footage horror movies as we know them today. In an age when the internet was new, directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez took advantage of webrings and angelfire websites to market their mockumentary about three Maryland filmmakers who went missing in 1994, releasing a fictional documentary about three missing teenagers alongside a fake website and fake police reports, citing the three main actors on iMDB as either missing or deceased. Audiences were convinced the film was real and that the hikers were dead, and the lead actress; Heather Donahue’s mother received a sympathy card from a distant relative.

Movies that came before The Blair Witch Project: N/A

Movies that came after The Blair Witch Project: Paranormal Activity

2004: Saw

Despite its controversial legacy, James Wan and Leigh Whanell’s 2004 horror film Saw is pivotal in the shift from the post-Scream era of horror in the 1990s and early 2000s to the Saw-era in the mid to late 2000s. Filmed on an extremely low budget over a period of eighteen days in late 2003, Saw went on to become one of the most commercially successful and well known horror franchises, with a new installment being released every October. Multiple well known actors have been in Saw, from Cary Elwes to Shawnee Smith to Devon Bostick. Saw ushered the 2000’s craze of torture movies, with movies like Eli Roth’s Hostel following after. It, in my opinion, is a fantastic commentary on the post- 9/11 landscape of horror, making the genre all the more real.

Movies that came before Saw: Wrong Turn

Movies that came after Saw: Hostel, Wolf Creek, Would You Rather

2007: Paranormal Activity

Filmed on a $15,000 budget, Oren Peli’s 2007 film Paranormal Activity is our last stop on this list. It came 9 years after The Blair Witch Project, and while that film is not to be discredited, it did not make as big an impact on the found footage subgenre like Paranormal Activity did. After Paranormal Activity released, a mini wave of found footage movies came after, like 2009’s REC, 2012’s V/H/S and 2014’s Unfriended just to name a few. It’s indie and horrifying and real, choosing to have the main actors use their real names (Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloan), and slowly building up suspense until the final night (the movie is structured to be recorded clips from around twenty nights) when Micah dies and Katie is possessed.  Paranormal Activty got its wide release in 2009, using word of mouth and screening in college towns as its main marketing strategy, and made $194.2 million worldwide. 

Movies that came before Paranormal Activity: The Blair Witch Project

Movies that came after Paranormal Activity: REC, V/H/S, Unfriended, The Visit, Host, Spree

Honorable mentions:

2002: The Ring: Started the J-Horror remake craze of the early 2000s. Other remakes include The Grudge, One Missed Call and Dark Waters.

2003: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: First horror movie in the remake craze from 2003-present. Some notable remakes include House of Wax, Halloween, Friday The 13th, Carrie and Child’s Play.

2010: Insidious: Marks horror’s return to domestic dramas/haunted house films. Movies that followed include Sinister, The Conjuring and Hereditary.