Silent era '' was produced in 1901 by
Paul's Animatograph Works in
Muswell Hill which, at the time, was Britain's largest film production company British silent horror drew its influence from
gothic literature of the nineteenth century. Influential works during the nineteenth century include
e.g.,
Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein (1818), and the gothic horror novel,
Dracula (1897), written by
Bram Stoker. The rise of British silent horror cinema coincided with
World War I. The War and the associated prevalence of violence, maiming and death had a profound impact on films produced in the subsequent years and decades. Specifically, filmmakers drawing inspiration from
Christianity, utilizing religious uncertainties and the surrounding perceptions of the after-life to create dramatic effect. Such films are exemplified by ''Dr. Trimball's Verdict
(1913), directed by Frank Wilson, and The Basilisk'' (1914), directed by
Cecil Hepworth. Barker's film tells the story of an Egyptian princess whose soul is transformed into a monster and is able to possess the commoners. As the British horror genre expanded, American horror cinema began to draw influence from the wave of British spiritualistic horror films. In 1913, American director,
George Loane Tucker, travelled to Britain to produce the 1916 film,
The Man Without a Soul, which was inspired by
Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The film depicts a protagonist attempting to create life by reanimating a man who would live without a soul.
1930s to 1940s The horror film was established as a genre in American cinema in the 1930s, most notably through the horror films of Universal. Author Ian Conrich noted that British horror cinema is often absent from historical discourse in 1930s films, and not usually acknowledged until film companies like Hammer developed their work in the late 1950s. Conrich stated there were no true horror films of the era, but films that had a "horrific" nature that were predominantly comedies, thrillers or melodramas. That the films that closely corresponded to Hollywood films of the era include
Castle Sinister (1932),
The Ghoul (1933),
The Unholy Quest (1934),
The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936),
The Dark Eyes of London, and
The Face at the Window (1939). During this period, British censorship in the form of the
British Board of Film Censors (BBFC), introduced a new film classification, the "H" rating, which lasted from 1933 to 1951. It grouped together films that were deemed 'horrific', leading to distributors promoting films as "uncanny", or as mysteries or melodramas. The H rating was predominantly introduced to deal with the influx of American horror films that were arriving from the United States. The president of the BBFC, Edward Shortt, stated in
Kinematograph Weekly in 1935 in regard to horror films that he hoped "producers and renters will accept this word of warning, and discourage this type of subject as far as possible." American productions listened and production on horror films slowed down in the United States, with an article in
Variety declaring that the reason Universal had abandoned their horror film productions, was that "European countries, especially England, are prejudiced against this type product[sic]." Of the 55 films rated "H", 38 were American productions. The first British production to be rated "H" was
The Ghoul. The film was promoted more as a mystery than a horror film, with its press book stating that the film "is thrilling and uncanny without being 'horrific'" Other early films are lost such as two by Widgey Raphael Lotinga Newman:
Castle Sinister involving a mad doctor who attempts to exchange the brain of a woman and an ape, and
The Unholy Quest also involving a mad doctor who attempts to revive the mummified body of a Crusader. Following
The Ghoul, five more British films were rated 'H':
The Tell-Tale Heart (1934), the short film
The Medium (1934)
The Man Who Changed His Mind,
Dark Eyes of London and
The Fall of the House of Usher (1948). Other works, such as those of Tod Slaughter including
The Face at the Window and
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936) were described by Conrich as being "intended as melodramas: highly theatrical, mischievous and pantomimical."
Hammer horrors From the 1950s to the 1970s, the British studio
Hammer Films made films adapted from
Gothic novels such as
The Curse of Frankenstein (1958). In his 1973 book
A Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema 1946-1972,
David Pirie declared that Hammer's perchant for this style was unique to Britain. The tranche of films developed at the studio and its rivals "remains the only staple cinematic myth which Britain can properly claim as its own, and which relates to it in the same way as the
western relates to America." Hammer would dominate the horror film market for nearly 20 years, with films that Pirier described as "no way imitative of American or European models but derive from [English] literary sources." Hammer's films were often mocked or shunned by contemporary critics.
1980s and 1990s The 1980s only saw a handful of British horror films which Johnny Walker, author of
Contemporary British Horror Cinema: Industry, Genre and Society declared to be "mostly thought of as American productions that had peripheral British involvement" noting
Stanley Kubrick's
The Shining (1980) and
Clive Barker's
Hellraiser (1987). Most other films from the decade were described by Walker as "arty one-offs" noting
Neil Jordan's
The Company of Wolves (1984) or were "amateurish flops" such as
Rawhead Rex. Most British horror films of this era were critical and commercial failures. The 1990s were described by Walker as "similarly dire" to the 1980s, noting only a few low-budget productions such as
Richard Stanley's
Hardware (1990), Simon Sprackling's
Funny Man (1994),
Jake West's
Razor Blade Smile (1998) and
Julian Richards's
Darklands (1996). Walker stated that the moral panic of the 1980s was similarly happening again in 1993 when
James Bulger was murdered by two children who had allegedly been inspired by a home video release of ''
Child's Play 3 (1991). The authors of British Horror Cinema'' stated that following the murder, "no one in their right mind" would produce a British horror film during this sensitive period.
21st century In 2002, director
Richard Stanley wrote what he described as an obituary in Petley and Chibnall's book "British Horror Cinema", lamenting "the general absence of any real directorial talent at the turn of the millennium" finding horror film directors "who really knew what they were doing escaped to Hollywood long ago." Stanley stated that the British horror cinema was "still a long way below the minimum standard of even the most vilified 1980s product." Walker would note that the 2000s and 2010s marked "a dramatic change in tide for the genre, and signalled the first sustained period of British horror productions since Hammer's golden era." In that year, one of the highest grossing British horror films of the period was released with
Danny Boyle's
28 Days Later (2002). Also released that year was
Dog Soldiers (2002), launching the career of horror director
Neil Marshall. Later horror films of the period were international box office hits such as
Resident Evil (2002) and its many sequels,
The Descent (2005) and
The Woman in Black (2012). British horror comedy films included the very popular
Shaun of the Dead (2004) and
Attack the Block (2011) along with less popular films such as
The Cottage (2008),
Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009),
Doghouse (2009), and
Stalled (2013). Hammer, under new ownership, resumed making films in 2007. Walker noted that "its name was nowhere near as central to British horror film culture as it had been in the previous decades". British horror films from the 2000s were detached from Hammer's gothic traditions, with the films being influenced by what Walker describes as a "whole host of cross-cultural factors." Pirie argued in a 2008 edition of
A New Edition of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema that themes from forgotten English gothic novels remain in the culture, as "idioms and emotions [that the original novels and poems] created have entered our DNA." Regionally set and occasionally regionally funded films also appeared during this period such as
Eden Lake (2008),
Outcast (2010) and
White Settlers (2014). International co-productions also appeared between countries such as New Zealand (
The Ferryman (2007)), South Africa (
Surviving Evil (2009)), Germany, (
Black Death (2010), and the United States (
Let Me In (2010)). ==Critical reception==