Skip to Main Content

History of Horror: Finding New Audiences

A cultural history.

Foreign Film Horror

  • 1967. Hour of the Wolf, Swedish horror by Ingmar Bergman.
  • 1975. Deep Red, Italian horror by Dario Argento.
  • 1977. Suspiria, Italian horror by Dario Argento.
  • 1998. Ringu, Japanese horror by Hideo Nakata
  • 1993. Cronos, Mexican horror by Guillermo del Toro.
  • 1999. Audition, Japanese horror by Takashi Miike,
  • 2002. Dark Water, Japanese horror by Hideo Nakata.
  • 2003. A Tale of Two Sisters, South Korean by Kim Jee-woon. 
  • 2014. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Iranian horror by Ana Lily Amirpour.
  • 2016. Train to Busan, South Korean horror by Yeon Sang-ho.

Animation

  • 1993. The Nightmare Before Christmas.
  • 1985. The Black Cauldron.
  • 1998. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.
  • 2008. Resident Evil: Degeneration.
  • 2009. Coraline.
  • 2010. Monster Zone.
  • 2012. Hotel Transylvania.
  • 2012. Frankenweenie.
  • 2017. Monster Family.
  • 2019. The Addams Family.

Horror adresses racism & discrimination

  • 1974. Story: "The Loves of Lady Purple" by Angela Carter.
  • 1975. Film: The Stepford Wives.
  • 1989. Novel: Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons.
  • 2001. Film: Ginger Snaps.
  • 2001. Novel: The Living Blood by  Tananarive Due.
  • 2010. Novel: White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi.
  • 2014. Novel: The Monster's Wife by Kate Horsley.
  • 2016. Novella: The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle.
  • 2016. Novel: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff.
  • 2017. Film: The Shape of Water.
  •  Begun 2020. TV series: Lovecraft Country (HBO). 

Horror Inspired Songs

  • Bad Moon Rising, Creedence Clearwater Revival.
  • Superstition, Stevie Wonder.
  • Thriller, Michael Jackson.
  • I Put a Spell On You, Nina Simone.
  • The Addams Family, Andrew Gold.
  • The Monster Mash, Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers.
  • House of 1000 Corpses, Rob Zombie.
  • The Werewolf, Paul Simon.
  • (Don't Fear) The Reaper, Blue Oyster Cult.
  • Ghostbusters, Ray Parker Jr.
  • Love Song for a Vampire, Annie Lennox.
  • The Purple People Eater, Sheb Wooley.

Spotify playlist: Halloween Songs.

Graphic Novels

  1. 1984-1987. The Swamp Thing, created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissett &John Totleben.
  2. Began 1989. From Hell, created by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell.
  3. Began 1998. John Constantine, Hellblazer, created by Alan Moore and Stephen R. Bissette.
  4. Began 1989. The Sandman, created by Neil Gaiman, etc.
  5. 1995-2005. Black Hole, created by Charles Burns.
  6. 1998-1999. Uzumaki, horror manga by Junji Ito.
  7. Began 2003. The Walking Dead, created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore & Charlie Adlard.
  8. 2009-2021. Attack on Titan, manga created by Hajime Isayama.
  9. Began 2010. American Vampire, created by writer Scott Snyder[1] and drawn by artist Rafael Albuquerque.
  10. Began 2014. Wytches, created by Scott Snider & Jock Hollingsworth.

Games

  • 1992. Alone in the Dark (Infogames).
  • 1996. Resident Evil (Capcom).
  • 2001. Silent Hill 2, (Konami).
  • 2013. The Last of Us (Sony)
  • 2013. Outlast, (Red Barrels).
  • 2014. Alien Isolation (SEGA).
  • 2016. Layers of Fear (Aspyr)
  • 2017. Friday the 13th: The Game (Gun Media).
  • 2017. Resident evil VII: (Biohazard)
  • 2017. Stories Untold (Devolver Digital).
  • 2019. The Sinking City (Frogwares).

Additional References

Cardin, M. (2017). Horror literature through history an encyclopedia of the stories that speak to our deepest fears (Kindle) Greenwood.
Jones, D. (2021). Horror a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
King, S. (2010). Danse macabre. Gallery. 
Luckhurst, R. (2018). The Astounding Illustrated History of Fantasy & Horror. Flame Tree Publishing.
Landis, J. (2016). Monsters in the movies: 100 Years of Cinematic nightmares. DK. 
Skal, D. J. (2020). Fright favourites: 31 movies to haunt your Halloween and beyond. Running Press. 
Turitz, N. and Zimmerman, B. (2020). Horror: An illustrated history of vampires, zombies, monsters & more. Centennial Books, an imprint of Centennial Media, LLC.