Fear is defined as “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.” Horror fans relish this time of year, as it allows the rest of the country to enjoy what it is that we champion all year round: the horror movie. As the Halloween season approaches and our fears (and sometimes desires) are packaged up and sold to us at retail, it’s hard not to think about where the ideas for horror films come from. Within the confines of our beloved genre, it is easy to determine, and take enjoyment in, the source of that which makes us afraid.

    Where do these irrational fears come from? What is it about horror movies that can make us want to hide our eyes and check every room before going to sleep? Like Mr. Lovecraft said, it’s the fear of the unknown; and as each generation changes and deals with society, the source of the unknown changes.  Dracula, released in 1931, is based on a book made during the Victorian Age and deals with society’s sexual repression and its ramifications. Society’s fear of sexual awakening still loomed large and a bloodsucking menace threatened our purity. During the ’40s man’s fear of wolves was prominently displayed in the film The Wolfman. Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler himself, whose first name means Noble Wolf and whose favorite tune to whistle was “Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf?”, was the source of this fear. The Atomic Age of ’50s brought us scores of science fiction films dealing with the horrors of space men ready to conquer the Earth. The Roswell incident of 1947 is a major cause of these decades’ science fiction/horror film hybrids, or was it simply the Golden Age of Sci-Fi leaping from the page to the screen? I want to believe.

    With Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho kicking off the ’60s, the source of our fears suddenly looked like us. Real life murderer Ed Gein (who is the inspiration for this film as well as later films The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lambs) was simply the boy next door to most people. Much like Norman Bates, he hid a terrifying secret, and more shocking to the public, he could have been one of us. The ’60s also brought us Night of the Living Dead, where once again, the monsters were our neighbors. This premise of “the villain among us” continued into the ’70s with films like The Shining, Halloween, The Omen and the Exorcist. No longer were horror icons the enemy, the enemy was potentially us, and that uncertainty was unnerving.

    With the excess of the ’80s came innovations in technology. This lead to films revisiting and trying to top films of the past, like An American Werewolf in London (the werewolf legend), The Thing (alien invasion) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (the murderer among us) with the main difference usually being more gore. In fact, the rule of the ’80s horror film seemed to fit in with the decade’s rule of excess is better. The ’90s brought us the film student as filmmaker. Horror films were no longer simply films for enjoyment. They became more visceral and the mindset of the genre began to change. Silence of the Lambs (while not a horror film for many) swept the Oscars and legitimized the genre once again. Films like American Psycho, Se7en, Natural Born Killers and Kalifornia all explored the psyche of the serial killer to much praise and accolades. Things come full circle towards the end of the decade with the inside out look at the horror genre and the Scream franchise. Because our real lives seemed so much more horrifying with constant wars and upheaval around the world, the horror genre had to take notice. The reality of life was prevalent in the horror films of the ’90s and with the unsettling nature of current events, the unknown fear continued to evolve.

    As we ventured into 2000 and beyond, the horror fan becomes jaded and turns to foreign horror and independent films to illicit a response.  The Blair Witch Project and the internet revolutionized marketing campaigns for horror films and still has some people wondering whether the events in Burkittsville really happened. The unfamiliar stories and folklore brought from other countries fascinated American audiences and soon long haired ghosts and even the familiar vampires and zombies were scaring us again, except this time with subtitles.  Unfortunately, it didn’t take long before Hollywood was remaking any foreign horror film they could get the rights to and the fascination was saturated.

    In present day, horror films are still as strong of a draw as ever. Familiar themes are being reworked and recycled for the newest generation. Technology has once again become a force of change and almost anyone who has the desire can make a film. This DIY nature carries over to the films themselves. Unfortunately, many of these offerings can be labeled amateur at best. Through all this, one fact remains constant. That which we fear the most, and the true source of our fears, will always be the unknown.