The horror genre was first introduced in 1896, with the silent short film Le Manoir du Diable directed by Georges Mèliès, which was the first horror movie and the first vampire flick. The movie only lasted two minutes, but audiences loved it, and Mèliès took pleasure in giving them even more devils and skeletons.
In the early 1900's German filmmakers created the first horror-themed feature films, and director Paul Wegener enjoyed great success with his version of the old Jewish folk tale Der Golem in 1913. This fable about an enormous clay figure, which is brought to life by an antiquarian and then fights against its forced servitude, was a clear precursor to the many monster movies that flourished in Hollywood during the Thirties.
It was in the early 1930's that Universal Studios, created the modern horror film genre, bringing to the screen a series of successful gothic-steeped features including Dracula, Frankenstein (both 1931) and The Mummy (1932), all of which spawned numerous sequels. Horror movies became a lot more lurid -- and gorier -- in the late Fifties as the technical side of cinematography became easier and cheaper.
Horror movies turned to self-mocking irony and downright parody in the 1990's -- the teenagers in Scream often made reference to the history of horror movies. In 1975, Jaws, directed by a young Steven Spielberg, became the highest grossing film ever.
Very interesting that the horror movie goes back so far! Clearly it's a timeless genre that audiences love over and over again.
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