Pre-film , a
ghost in Thai culture, that has been prominent in many
Thai horror films. Legends from folklore of many cultures would go on to influence horror upon the development of film. Forms of filmmaking that would become film genres were mostly defined in other media before
Thomas Edison devised the
Kinetograph in the late 1890s. Genres, such as adventure, detective stories, and Westerns were developed as written fiction while musical was a staple to theatre. Author and critic
Kim Newman stated that if something was referred to as a horror film in 1890, no one would have understood what it meant as a specific genre, while following up that these types of films were being made but were not categorized as such at the time. Early sources of material that would influence horror films included gruesome or fantastical elements in the
Epic of Gilgamesh, where heroes fight monsters, and the
Bible, where
plagues and
apocalypses are discussed. Beliefs in
ghosts,
demons and the
supernatural have long existed in
folklore of many
cultures and
religions, that would go on to be integral elements of horror films.
Zombies, for example, originated from
Haitian folklore. In
Asian Horror, Andy Richards suggests that there is a "widespread and engrained acceptance of
supernatural forces" in many Asian cultures, and suggests this is related to
animist,
pantheist and
karmic religious traditions, as in
Buddhism and
Shintoism; these would go on to strongly influence horror cinema from the region. Classical dramas also include elements later expanded upon by horror films, such as
Hamlet, which includes vengeful spectres, exhumed skulls, multiple stabbings and characters succumbing to madness. Early
Gothic fiction such as
The Castle of Otranto (1764) and works of
Ann Radcliffe dealt with the stories involving seemingly supernatural doings and magnetic yet repulsive villains set in castles, but with their supernatural pretenses often explained in the end. The most famous of these gothic novels was
Frankenstein (1818) which would be adapted into several film adaptations. American writer
Edgar Allan Poe wrote several stories in the 1830s and 1840s that would be translated to the film screen in the future. These included "
The Black Cat", "
The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "
The Pit and the Pendulum", "
The Fall of the House of Usher", and "
The Masque of the Red Death". Poe's tales often presented women who were dead, dying or spectral and focus on the obsessions of their male protagonists. More key horror texts would be produced in the late 1800s and early 1900s than in all centuries preceding it, including:
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886),
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890),
Trilby (1894),
The King in Yellow (1895),
The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896),
Dracula (1897),
The Invisible Man (1897),
The Turn of the Screw (1898),
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902),
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), and
The Phantom of the Opera (1911). As these and many similar novels and short stories were being made, early cinema began in the 1890s. Many of these stories were not specifically focused on the horrific, but lingered in popular culture for their horrific elements and set pieces that would become cinema staples.
Early film (1896) The first horror film is usually considered to be
Le Manoir du diable (1896) by
Georges Méliès, with its imagery coming from centuries of books, legend and stage plays, featuring imagery of demons, ghosts, witches and a skeleton and a haunted castle which transforms into
the devil. The film has no story, but a series of
trick shots and
vaudeville acts filmed. While the word "horror" began to be used as a generic signation in the 19th century, its use was initially rare. In early cinema,
trick films were sometimes described with various terms:
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company sometimes called their films "fantastic",
Selig Polyscope Company called such films "mythical and mysterious" while
Vitagraph Studios both "mysterious" and "magical". During the era of
Nickelodeon exhibits, exhibitors would use the label "weird", with
Frankenstein (1910) being advertised as "weird and wonderful" and
Arturo Ambrosio's
La maschera tragica (1911) a "weird story". In the early 20th century as films became popular around the world films were production was so hectic that often told tales were made and then remade within months of each other. Adaptations of the work with Poe were often adopted in France such as
Le Puits dett le Pendule (1909) and America with
The Sealed Room (1909)
The Raven (1912) and
The Pit and the Pendulum (1913). Other famous horror characters made their film debut in the era including
Frankenstein's monster with Edison's
Frankenstein (1910),
Life Without Soul (1915), and the Italian production
Il mostro di Frankenstein (1921). Several adaptations of other novels like
The Picture of Dorian Gray were adapted around the world, including Denmark (''Dorian Gray's Portaet
(1910)), Russia (Portret Doryana Greya
(1915)), Germany (Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray) and Hungary (Az élet királya (1918)). The most adapted horror story was Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'', which included early adaptations like
William Selig's
Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1908). This was followed by several versions, including a British version of the story (
The Duality of Man (1910)), a Danish production (
Den skæbnesvangre Opfindelse (1910)), and another American film in
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1912. In 1920, three versions were made:
J. Charles Haydon's
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,
John S. Robertson's
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and
F. W. Murnau's
Der Januskopf. A film movement that appeared in Germany in the first half of the 1920s labeled the
German expressionist film closely resembled the horror film. The term is borrowed from art groups such as
Der Blaue Reiter and
Der Sturm. These films feature sensationalist titles such as
Warning Shadows (1923),
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and
Secrets of a Soul (1926). German film historian
Thomas Elsaesser wrote that what was retained in popular film memory of these films were the characters who resembled
bogeymen from children's fairy tales and folk legends. These included characters like the mad Dr. Caligari, Jack the Ripper from
Waxworks (1924) and
Nosferatu as well as actors like
Conrad Veidt,
Emil Jannings and
Peter Lorre. Director
F.W. Murnau, made an adaptation of
Dracula with
Nosferatu (1922). Newman wrote that this adaptation "stands as the only screen adaptation of
Dracula to be primarily interested in horror, from the character's rat-like features and thin body, the film was, even more so than
Caligari, "a template for the horror film."
Hollywood would not fully develop horror film stars, but actor and make-up artist
Lon Chaney would often portray the monsters in film, such as the ape-man in
A Blind Bargain (1922),
Quasimodo in
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and
Erik in
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and a false vampire in
London After Midnight (1927). While horror was provided as an occasional adjective to the films of Chaney such as
The Unknown (1927) and
West of Zanzibar (1928), the actor was mostly known for the
melodramas he made with director
Tod Browning. The term "horror film" was used with various interpretations during this period, such as
Evening Star which told readers that Horror' Films May Be Barred [in] Transit," a reference to US Senator
Thomas Gore's bill that would have prohibit interstate transportation of films that showcased "activities of ex-convicts, bandits, train robbers or other outlaws." In 1928, the
Warren Tribune of Pennsylvania reviewed the film
Something Always Happens (1928) and compared it
The Bat (1926) and
The Wizard (1927) and "other films of the same type" in an article titled "Horror Film Thrills Audience at Columbia." Rhodes noted that different descriptions were used for films like
The Bat,
The Wizard, and
The Cat and the Canary (1927), but they were most commonly referred to as
mystery films." == 1930s ==