Living the Nightmare: The Cultural Fears Driving The Horror Film Genre

Frankenstein (1931). Universal Studios, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s spooky season and you may be racking your brain as to which horror films to watch to get you in the mood. While the following suggestions are perfect for some entertainment on a scary night in, there’s a lot of learn from them. Horror movies exist to incite fear, so it is no surprise that they often seem to draw on the cultural anxieties of the time. It’s not a genre that we would necessarily assume bestows any historical significance. However, from fantastical monster movies in the thirties to gory slasher-flicks in the seventies, there are clear societal parallels within some of our horror favourites. What trends might we start to see in the horror world in the wake of the pandemic?

During the Great Depression and in the aftermath of World War One, popular horror films included Dracula (1931),[1] Frankenstein (1931),[2] The Mummy (1932),[3] King Kong (1933),[4] and The Invisible Man (1933).[5] There seemed to be an emphasis on monstrous threats from faraway lands; The Mummy draws on Ancient Egyptian history and Dracula is set in Eastern Europe, highlighting fears of foreign influence that assisted American isolationism in the wake of the First World War. 

In Frankenstein, it is difficult not to draw parallels between the monster and the soldier who has returned from the war; they both bear battle wounds, they both struggle to live a normal life. The film even used left-over sets from All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).[6] W. Scott Poole makes a direct connection ‘between the piles of bodies a soldier would have seen to the imagery used in Whale’s Frankenstein.’[7] ‘It’s a very direct experience,’ Poole argues, ‘that some of the iconographic horror images of the 1920s and 1930s…deal with.’

McCarthyism was also reflected in the horror films of the time. It was a period of distrust and paranoia in America as there was widespread fear of the infiltration of Communism. Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)[9] is the perfect allegory for these fears. In the film, Dr Miles Bennell’s patients claim their loved ones have been replaced by emotionless impostors, reflecting the anxieties surrounding a strange and disturbing ideology transforming those around us.

In the seventies, there is a movement from the subtle undertones of psychological trauma and frightening ideologies to outright violence and gore with slasher-flicks such as The Last House on the Left (1972),[10] The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974),[11] and The Hills Have Eyes (1977).[12] These films arguably draw on the visceral horrors and human-on-human violence many experienced directly and indirectly during the Vietnam War; an event which, according to John Muir, ‘may have been the catalyst for the 1970s “savage” cycle. After all, that war (and the media) had brought atrocities into American living rooms with stunning news footage’.[13]

Seventies horror films were, therefore, very much characterised by the threatening of the normal, and violence in the domestic sphere.​ They were grounded in the everyday, focusing on real-life horror (as seen on the news), as opposed to the distant supernatural threats popular in the thirties. It is worth noting that during this time, with society’s daily exposure to graphic images of war, street riots and police brutality, extreme violence may have also been somewhat necessary to stir a desensitised audience.

Entering the eighties, the 1930s Dracula-style vampire is developed into a symbol of sexuality as well as disease. Thus, it became a potential metaphor for the AIDS pandemic, especially with its connection to blood. Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)[14] adds to the allusion with references to curing blood diseases, the use of intravenous drugs, and the inclusion of blood transfusions.

However, in recent years the fear has shifted from death as a result of AIDS to living with the disease. Vampires are now a depiction of what comes after death; they are survivors but also subject to eternal suffering, and their immortality is often depicted as a burden. Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive (2014)[15] tells the story of two vampires, Adam and Eve, who have been together for hundreds of years. They spend the film trying to find meaning in their immortal lives and maintaining the will to survive. At one point in the film, Adam even contemplates suicide.

Host (2020). Vertigo Releasing.

It will be interesting to see how COVID-19 impacts the horror landscape. As well as a growing fear of non-human enemies, like viruses, COVID-19 and the lifestyle change it came with has opened doors for new kinds of horror. Quarantine has led to a fear of isolation, and the quick spread of the virus has led to a fear of being out of control and unprepared as a society. Rob Savage’s Host (2020)[16] depicts a Zoom call between a group of friends who perform an online séance, taking advantage of the growing fear of extended isolation.

There is also something to be said about horror films that depict a worse situation than our own. Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion (2011)[17] went from being the 270th most-watched Warner Bros film in December 2019 to its 2nd most-watched film in 2020. There may be a comfort in watching something that sympathises with our global situation; we’re likely to watch and think, “at least it’s not that bad!”.

However, it seems we are becoming a society that is increasingly difficult to scare, and so it will be interesting to see how the genre adapts and caters to our new fears and ever-increasing expectations. 

By Lily Roberts - Film Pathway

[1] Dracula, dir. by Tod Browning & Karl Freund (Universal Pictures, 1931).

[2] Frankenstein, dir. by James Whale (Universal Pictures, 1931).

[3] The Mummy, dir. by Karl Freund (Universal Pictures, 1932).

[4] King Kong, dir. by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack (RKO Radio Pictures, 1933).

[5] The Invisible Man, dir. by James Whale (Universal Pictures, 1933).

[6] All Quiet on the Western Front, dir. by Lewis Milestone (Universal Pictures, 1930).

[7] Christopher Michael Davis, ‘The Awful Smell of The Dead: WWI and The Frankenstein Monster’, Vault of Thoughts, (2018) < http://www.vaultofthoughts.com/2018/11/24/the-awful-smell-of-the-dead-wwi-and-the-frankenstein-monster/> [accessed 24/10/2021].

[8] Daniel Lefferts, ‘A Century of Screams: PW Talks with W. Scott Poole’, Publisher’s Weekly, (2018) < https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/77499-a-century-of-screams-pw-talks-with-w-scott-poole.html> [accessed 24/10/2021].

[9] Invasion of the Body Snatchers, dir. by Don Siegel (Walter Wanger Productions, 1956).

[10] The Last House on the Left, dir. by Wes Craven (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1972).

[11] The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, dir. by Tobe Hooper (Bryanston Distributing Company, 1974).

[12] The Hills Have Eyes, dir. Wes Craven (Vanguard, 1977).

[13] John Kenneth Muir, Horror Films of the 1970s, (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002), p.27.

[14] Bram Stoker's Dracula, dir. by Francis Ford Coppola (Columbia Pictures, 1992).

[15] Only Lovers Left Alive, dir. by Jim Jarmusch (Recorded Picture Company, 2014).

[16] Host, dir. by Rob Savage (Vertigo Releasing, 2020).

[17] Contagion, dir. by Steven Soderbergh (Warner Bros. Pictures, 2011).