A short paper I completed during my undergrad that studied Horror movies and the way they have effected our culture in positive ways.

1. Study of Horror Films
Sociology 308
Assignment 3
Rob Newman
April 15, 2011
Monika Stanelle
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2. Abstract:
Horror is a genre of entertainment spanning across films, comics/graphic novels, novels,
television, painting, radio and clothing. Horror films are meant to startle, surprise, scare,
repulse and instill fear in the viewers. Horror movies in the US have continued to change
and evolve over time, often recalling past ideals and motifs while constantly pushing and
somehow striving to be different. In a sense horror has very similar elements to hip hop
and rap music as style and substance are often prized over polished production and
marketing. An Emcee can launch a career off of developing a distinct style and delivery
or cadence that separates him from his contemporaries, jointly a new director in horror
films can create a buzz and a name for himself by creating a new style of plotline or some
different or unusual camera angles that can gain popularity and add to his recognition as
an originator of some aspect.
In the following research paper these topics and ideas will be acknowledged and
confronted:
1.) History
2.) Genres
4.) Influence on Music
5.) Written Literature
6.) Radio
7.) Television series
8.) Conclusion
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3. History
The history of horror movies, especially in America begins mostly in Europe in
the medium of books. Gothic writers such as Bram Stoker while being innovators of the
time unknowingly become the originators of horror and film. Even in the 1800's it was
still a basic human trait and desire to be frightened within reason. These authors created
books that would be widely celebrated though publicly banned and even considered
sacrilegious similarly when horror was first translated into film the creators of the
original horror films leaned on the creators of these novels to create newly stylized
versions of these classics. This sort of recognition and respect given to their
entertainment ancestors would soon become common place in this genre and continues
on to this day. (Milne, Willemen, Hardy, 1986).
The original horror movies created in Europe often attempted to follow the
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original story lines and plots of such classics as Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, and Dracula to the letter. A little known fact is that the first vampire movie
Nosferatu was a blatant copy of the original Bram Stoker's Dracula that had not gotten a
legal copyright to use the name, image, and ideas of the original Dracula. This is why
Nosferatu had such strange inconsistencies, such as rat like teeth instead of the more
common fangs where the canine teeth should be. Also this would become the studio’s
first and only film as they immediately filed for bankruptcy after being sued for copyright
infringement by Bram Stokers wife, Florence Stoker (Hantke, 2004).
Besides for updates and adaptations of the classics, films typically took on the
aspects of the occult, torture, werewolves, demons, ghosts, Satanism, aliens - specifically

4. alien invasions, cannibals, zombies, monsters - specifically large monsters, plagues and
serial murderers. As horror and its most famous medium for acceptance, being film
continues to grow and change how people perceive it and become frightened. Movies
must be there to change with their viewers and what scares them. When fears of Satanism
were being brought up in the public, the horror industry answered with The Exorcist.
When fears of serial murders came up, the industry converted to making “slasher flicks”
such as Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th series. Horror has continually proved itself
to be a true fan favorite of its audiences. Horror movies will give the fans what they want
and pride themselves on changing continuously where as most films in the genre of say,
romantic comedies have been virtually the same from the 1970s unto the present with
nothing changing but clothing styles and the background soundtracks. Yet horror films
continue to not be respected by others within the film industry. In short, there is no “best
horror picture” category at the academy awards and probably never will be. (Heffernan
2004)
Genres
Genres in horror are as flexible and diverse as the average audience in the theater
on any given weekend. Horror has many related and overlapping categories such as
science fiction, thriller, suspense, mystery, and fantasy. Subgenres are just as varied and
include some of the brief descriptions and examples of the most popular examples listed
below.
Science Fiction Horror usually includes aliens or space monsters and often will
include some series of events leading up to an invasion or hostile takeover. Examples
include: Mars attacks, The Blob and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
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5. Fantasy is a sort of paradox saying within horror because with a few exceptions
obviously most horror movies are a sort of fantasy. Many films that would fall within this
fantasy genre include mythical beasts or demons from long ago such as The Leprechaun
Series or The 9th gate. Some also include religion-based horror such as Stigmata into this
category while others choose to subjugate it to its own religious-horror category.
Zombie Horror is undoubtedly one of the most popular, maybe even more popular
than serial killer / slasher movies. Zombie movies typically begin with an outbreak or a
curse that spreads to the population and makes the infected become dead or dead-like and
typically have a hunger for some kind of human flesh or brain matter. The undoubted
godfather of this genre is George A. Romero who basically invented the ideas of zombie
films. Later on there have been many advancements and additions to zombie lore, The
Resident Evil Series brought about a newer high-tech like zombie film. Later, the film 28
Days Later would introduce the idea of fast zombies, literally zombies that can run
instead of limp toward their intended victims (Newsom, Lee 2000).
Although that may not sound like a very interesting development it is
important to note that the fear that comes from zombie movies are not so much the fear of
the slowly stalking dead creature lurching slowly towards your home as zombies are
typically modeled as slow to no witted creatures. The fear of a traditional zombie is that
there is never such an idea as a singular zombie in fact they are always attached to a
much larger hoard of hundreds or even thousands of fellow zombies slowly making you
realize that escape is hopeless and that everyone you may have ever cared for is more
than likely infected or already dead and or eaten.
Music
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6. Music has been influenced by horror movies greatly over the years. Glenn Danzig
is a strong example of the reach of horror-influenced culture; his first band spawned the
use of the crimson ghost as their mascot. The Misfits’ crimson ghost is a symbolic image
of youth and punk culture, however similar to the image of the infamous revolutionary
Che Guevarra, it has also become a symbol many people truly don’t know about, and
much like Che Guevarra not many of the few who brandish their symbol know what that
symbol may have stood for. The Misfits became the forefront and originators of the genre
known as "horror-punk". Horror punk has lyrics that orbit around the ideas of many B-Horror
movies such as aliens, zombies and giant monsters attacking the city or humanity
as a whole. The chords are often played just as fast if not faster than traditional American
or English punk rock and the vocals often have a much more smooth bravado to them and
is often a tribute of sorts to Glenn Danzig and his strong use of his own baritone vocal
range (McNeil, 1991).
Another example of the reach of horror influences in music would be the
Gothabilly and Psychobilly genres that borrow heavily from the swing and do wop of
earlier times with the distorted guitar and break beats of punk rock. This highly dramatic
form of rock in roll could also have credited influences much like Alice cooper, the
inventor of shock rock who owes a lot of the inspiration for ghoulish make up and
guillotines in his elaborate stage show to the images of many classic and golden era
horror movies. Cooper's influence ranges now to the thematic of Rob Zombie and fast
and brutal stage show of The Order of the Fly.
Also, horror and hip hop are two genres that are unique in that they make no
apologies for using the art of "sampling" or taking a previous work and making it their
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own through slight changes. For instance in early rap songs it was common to take
obscure loops of James brown or Parliment Funkadelic songs and tie them together until
they made the melody of a song. Or to take a line famously said by another rapper and
change a few words while keeping the delivery and making it your own. Similarly in the
world of horror movies it is common to take a scene from a lesser known older horror
movie and lace it into a newer movie making an added treat for eagle eyed fans who
rabidly try to catch such nods to the older creators and artists. Another example of this is
to take a scene from an older horror movie and recreate a famous scene that is usually
well known, such as the stabbing/blood going down the drain scene of Alfred Hitchcock's
famed movie "Psycho". Hip Hop possibly has been more deeply affected by the horror-core
style genre popularized by artists such as Broth Lynch Hung, The Grave Diggaz, and
the rapper known as Necro. These individual groups come from across the continental
United States and have recreated the images and scenes of modern horror movie by
borrowing beats, sounds and adding a usually space or frantic melody to increase the
feeling of unease (Mercer, 2009).
Written Literature
All of these forms of fiction owe a great deal of credit to the originators of
suspense and horror such as Edgar Allen Poe, whose stories of being buried alive, murder
and psychosis are still copied and replicated nearly word for word almost yearly. Poe
would die poor never truly knowing the great influence his body of work would leave
behind such as the creation of the horror drama in literature and in graphic novels or
comic books (Mainville, 1982).

8. Comic books and graphic novels are also subject to a personalization and
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representation of different art works and styles melded into the media of animation.
Comic books were originally the cause of a great alarm due to the effect of so called pulp
fiction and short murder suspense stories that were seemingly connected to a string of
crimes in the 1940s and 1950s. The question of their influence arose from the supposed
interest that many of the criminals had in reading these short works of fiction. Comic
books have the advantage of not being nearly as noticed as television, radio, or movies.
Therefore it is often much more free to experiment with extreme subjects and plots. It is
not uncommon for many comics from this genre to deal with sexual assaults and
gruesome discoveries (Tudor, 1989).
Tales from the Crypt was a particular target of outrage during the
congressional subcommittee hearings that created the controversial "Comics Code" laws.
These laws supported a strictly enforced set of codes that made rules against how
violence or crimes were portrayed as well as so called mystical elements such as
vampirism were portrayed (Nyberg, 1998). The code stayed in affect for many years and
was only recently completely abandoned in 2011.
Radio
Radio has a history with horror as sordid if not more so than comic books have
had. It is important to acknowledge that at one time radio was not merely a form of
entertainment and news. In many cases to the rural American it was practically their only
daily life line to the outside world off the property of the family farm. This was the cause
of many of the supposed panics and deaths caused by the production of H.G. Wells’ War

9. of the Worlds in 1938. Although the supposed mass panic and suicides had been widely
falsified and embellished, it made the program it was created for a success and the genre
took off in other forms and shows such as The Dark Adventure Radio Theater, The Black
Mass, The Price of Fear starring the well known vocal talent of Vincent Price, the
narrator for Michael Jackson's hit song and album "Thriller" (Hantke, 2004).
Radio is not as noticed as it used to be but these different works of audio
cinema would deeply affect the growing genre of film as film would borrow such things
as sound effects and dramatic music to create a mood of fear, suspense, or despair.
Television
Television has had a massive influence on people who may have not paid
attention to the genre otherwise. The above mentioned record breaking music video for
Michael Jackson's hit song and album "Thriller" was a very good video that came with a
disclaimer to ward off easily frightened viewers and also addressing the issue of
Jackson's strict Jehovah's Witness religion (Newsom, lee, 2000).
Tales from the Crypt aside from being a well-known comic also became a
well-received television series that has influenced a whole new generation in the genre of
horror. Before Tales from the Crypt, the competing Twilight Zone and Outer Limits
pioneered the genre of horror on television. These shows, though heavily relying on the
science fiction, genre used many classic elements of horror or mixed the two genres
interchangeably (Hantke, 2000).
Dark Shadows, was a television show unique as a soap opera that dealt
with vampires and other mystical creatures. It was a huge hit despite its extremely cheap
settings and seemingly ridiculous initial premise. The show has been revised and
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recreated multiple times as well as appearing in different forms of media such as comics
and a full length feature film. These examples can only partially describe the vast amount
of noteworthy broadcasts and works of art that have kept civilization scared for sheer
entertainment values (Hantke, 2000). .
Conclusion
The horror genre will most likely always be short handed when it comes to
recognition for their efforts from the peers of other genres. However, it is paramount that
people realize that the horror genre, regardless of supplied media services a very
important aspect of life to humans that we are happily missing even if humans do not
realize they are missing it. In generations past the saying “tomorrow is not promised”
could not be truer. Diseases killed or crippled people indiscriminately, animal attacks
happened much more frequently as humans expanded into former areas dominated by
wilderness and wild animals. Many aspects of what used to be considered the unknown
are now well documented and able to be viewed on the internet or on different television
shows.
With all these former everyday occurrences that were causes of terror mostly
subsided it is still built into the human brain that we as a species should be afraid
sometimes, humans should have regular increases of heart rate and speed and that should
be accompanied by the sudden urge to run. Horror movies, music, television, radio and
literature has provided that and continues to provide this form of needed entertainment to
keep those aspects of our brains active and healthy. A good metaphor to explain this
would be as such: Even though humans have created bikes and motor vehicles that does
not mean they should never use their feet and legs to transport themselves ever again.

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Likewise just because humans have created DNA testing, video cameras, police stations
and marvels of science to explain previous phenomenon, does not mean that human
beings no longer want to be scared. Humans need to be scared and they will continue to
search for that feeling even if they do not realize they are actively pursuing that feeling
while they are watching a movie in a theater or skydiving out of a plane.

12. References:
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Hantke, S. (2004). Horror film: Creating and marketing fear. Jackson: University Press
of Mississippi.
Heffernan, K. (2004). Ghouls, gimmicks, and gold: Horror films and the American movie
business, 1953-1968. Durham: Duke University Press.
Mainville, S. (1982). Language and the void: Poe's discourse of horror. Norman: s.n..
Mercer, M. (2009). Music to die for: [the intenational guide to the last great
underground scene ; ambient, cabaret noir, deathrock, goth, gothic metal, horror punk,
melodramtic song, post punk, psychobilly]. London: Cherry Red Books.
McNeil, L. (1991, January). Danzig. Spin, 06(10), 27-30-83.
Milne, T., Willemen, P., & Hardy, P. (1986). The encyclopedia of horror movies. New
York: Harper & Row.
Newsom, T., Lee, C., Passport International Productions, Inc., & Passport Video (Firm).
(2000). 100 years of horror. North Hollywood: Passport Video.
Tudor, A. (1989). Monsters and mad scientists: A cultural history of the horror movie.
Oxford [England: B. Blackwell.