Horror movies have a long history that began with the ultra-classics dating back to the first half of the 20th century. On the eve of Halloween, it is worth looking at the films left in the history of popular culture and cinematography as great milestones that, even today, are worth reliving in the month of October.
The horror genre hasn’t been the same since Psycho premiered in 1960. Alfred Hitchcock, one of the fathers of horror on the big screen, has managed to bring a new proposition to the cinema: a menacing killer can hide in everyday life, as a deranged landlord named Norman Bates and played by Anthony Perkins. This film laid the groundwork for the films that would follow and its importance is demonstrated by its solid 8.4 rating on the Filmaffinity film website.
Stephen King wrote “The Shining” in 1977. King tells the story of Jack Torrance, a writer who accepts a job as a keeper of the Overlook Hotel with his family. However, the building has a curse that makes Torrance lose his mind and tries to kill his wife and his son. The story, revolutionary for the time, came into the hands of Stanley Kubrick, who, with Jack Nicholson in the lead role, brought it to the big screen. This classic has a score of 8.2 points given by 146.941 users.
Nosferatu and Dr. Caligari’s Cabinet are ultra-classic films that may not appeal to all audiences, precisely because in 1922 and 1920, the years they were released, terror was anything but what scares today’s viewers. These are pieces that are worth reviving to know the filmic basis of the genre.
The 1970s left several horror movie classics in history. One of the most remembered is The Exorcist, a 1973 William Friedkin film that revolutionized the industry for its special effects, soundtrack and novel narrative to tell the story of a girl possessed by an ancient demon. The film was so shocking to viewers at the time that many left the film halfway through and walked out of the dark rooms; many even reported feeling “possessed” by the harshness of the images.
John Carpenter’s filmography also offers films considered cult in the world of the seventh art. This is the case of The Thing or “The Thing”, translated into Spanish, and Halloween, one of the most remembered sagas of the masked killer Michael Myers and which is essential to remember at this time of year.
It is also important to mention more contemporary films that have changed the narrative of the horror genre. Sixth Sense, directed by M-Night Shyalaman in 1999, is one of them. At the end of the millennium this director managed to tell a different story by giving an unexpected “twist” at the end of the film. This formula was replicated in Los otros, a 2001 film and both are considered cult within the genre.
