The Horror genre has been around for over a century as the first filmed video classed as a horror was filmed in 1895, the same year the first porjected film was released. This film was called The execution of Mary Queen of Scots , in which camera angles were used to portray the execution. While this film only lasted 18 seconds, this short film still has the horror element of gore and graphic scenes. It is only when French filmaker and magician George Melies released The Haunted Castle in 1896 did people start to consider the horror genre possible in films and not only in gothic literature. He used trick photography, double exposure and early special effects

A scene from the 1896 horror 'The Haunted Castle'

By the 30s, talking had started to become frequently used within horror now, when in 1931 both classics Dracula and Frankenstein being released in 1930. These two films lay the groundwork for modern horror which paved the way for gothic literature to be adapted and brough onto the movie screens.

By the 1940s low budget films became more popular due to World War two, where the concentration became less on large props and monsters and focused more on mood, suspense and atmosphere. This time produced classics such as 'The Ghost Ship' in 1943 and 'The Uninvited' in 1944.

Poster for the 1944 horror film 'The Uninvited' During the 1950s, America and England took completely different directions in their productions of horror films. America took the route of making parodies and horror comedies, whereas England took the route of introducing controversial themes of blood, violence and sex into their films. Hammer films proved to be most popular as they as a studio went on to produce spin offs and sequels to their character well into the 60s and 70s. His influence moved the genre from the supernatural and relgious themes to reality focusing on real world terrors like killers, stalkers and the abuse of power.

Fast forward to the 1990s, studios moved away from big budget studios and props, focusing more on found footage films with the most popular being 'The Blair Witch Project' which ran with a small crew and a small budget of $60,000. During this time and into 2000s, studios made low budget found footage films, sequels or remakes of classics before moving back to slasher films which were more commonly known as torture porn which relied heavily on gore and violence to drive the plot instead of a storyline or use of cameras.