One of the common theories used to explain the horror paradox is that people watch horror movies as a way of coping with actual fears or violence. Since one source of our fears in undoubtedly the world in which we live, I thought it would be interesting to look at the popular horror movies of different decades to see how they reflect the general fears and uncertainties of the times.
The 1950s
Horror output remained low during the first part of the 1950s; however, beginning mid-decade, the number grew each year resulting in the most horror movies yet in 1959. It seems there were two main reasons for the horror explosion: a major shift in the popular consciousness of American movie goers and a lifting of the horror ban in Britain.
While the actual horrors of World War II had ended, there soon rose something more unnerving: the threat of another war. While the United States had to deal with the trauma of dropping the bomb, it also lived under the fear of a future apocalypse. As the Cold War began, a new monster was spawned and it was more human than ever before. These monsters were mad scientists, the extreme representations of the men who created the atom bomb and facilitated the Holocaust.
The horror movies of the 1950s reflected society's mistrust of science and technology. During this era, the iconic monsters of previous decades had all but vanished. The new monsters were not only the mad scientists, but the mutations resulting from their experiments and from science run amok. There were giant beasts from beneath the sea, giant ants, giant tarantulas, giant crabs, giant preying mantises and more. The pinnacle of this era came from Japan in a movie we called Godzilla, King of the Monsters.
In 1947, the first flying saucer had been spotted in the skies, soon followed by the incident at Roswell. So, in the 50s, many of our monsters also came from outer space. Most of the horror/sci-fi movies were pessimistic, but even when the aliens were friendly, they were misunderstood and the stories ended on a dark note. In the pinnacle of this era, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the aliens became us and we could not distinguish them from humans.
Two of my favorite all-time horror movies were 50s sci-fi: The Day the Earth Stood Still and
The Thing from Another World.
Two of my favorite all-time horror movies were from Hammer Films in the 50s: The Curse of Frankenstein and
(The Horror of) Dracula.
Speaking of drive-ins, they must also be credited for the proliferation of horror movies in the late 50s. At this time, the primary audience for horror was teenagers. With quantity doesn't necessarily come quality, and it's quite evident in these "B movies" (of which American International Pictures was king) as story and production values were sacrificed purely for action and thrills.
Along with the times, the landscape of horror was changing quickly throughout the 50s. While the 30s and 40s represented distinct evolutions, the 50s represented three and didn't follow the cycle of the two previous decades. Horror seemed to be snowballing. Would this phenomenon continue into the 1960s? Check back tomorrow and find out...
Other 1950s milestones:
1951. Transcontinental television service inaugurated on September 4.
1952. The first passenger jets entered service in Britain.
1952. The United States conducts its first hydrogen bomb explosion test.
1954. The world's first nuclear power plant opened near Moscow.
1957. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite to orbit the earth.
Sources:
Some of those 50s era Hammer films are Halloween staples for me!
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