1900's - 1930's
It didn't take long after the advent of motion picture technology in the late 19th century for filmmakers to experiment in the horror genre, as witnessed by French director Georges Méliès' 1896 short The House of the Devil, often credited as being the first horror movie. Although America was home to the first Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde movie adaptations, the most influential horror films through the 1920s came from Germany's Expressionist movement, with films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu influencing the next generation of American cinema. Actor Lon Chaney, meanwhile, almost singlehandedly kept American horror afloat, with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera and The Monster, which set the stage for the Universal dominance of the '30s.
It didn't take long after the advent of motion picture technology in the late 19th century for filmmakers to experiment in the horror genre, as witnessed by French director Georges Méliès' 1896 short The House of the Devil, often credited as being the first horror movie. Although America was home to the first Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde movie adaptations, the most influential horror films through the 1920s came from Germany's Expressionist movement, with films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu influencing the next generation of American cinema. Actor Lon Chaney, meanwhile, almost singlehandedly kept American horror afloat, with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera and The Monster, which set the stage for the Universal dominance of the '30s.
1910: Frankenstein
1913: The Student of Prague
1920: Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
1920: The Golem: Or How He Came into the World
1920: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1922: Haxan
1922: Nosfertu
1923: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1924: The Hands of Orlac
1924: Waxworks
1925: The Monster
1925: The Phantom of the Opera
1926: Faust
1927: The Cat and the Canary
1930's
Building upon the success of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera , Universal Studios entered a Golden Age of monster movies in the '30s, releasing a string of hit horror movies beginning with Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931 and including the controversial Freaks and a Spanish version of Dracula that is often thought to be superior to the English-language version. Germany continued its artistic streak in the early '30s, with Vampyr and the Fritz Lang thriller M , but Nazi rule forced much of the filmmaking talent to emigrate. The '30s also witnessed the first American werewolf film
1931: Dracula
1931: Drácula
1931: Frankenstein
1931: M
1931: Vampyr
1932: Freaks
1932: The Mask of Fu Manchu
1932: The Mummy
1932: The Old Dark House
1932: White Zombie
1933: The Invisible Man
1933: Island of Lost Souls
1933: King Kong
1934: The Black Cat
1935: The Bride of Frankenstein
1935: The Werewolf of London
1940 - 1950's
Despite the success of The Wolf Man early in the decade, by the 1940s, Universal's monster movie formula was growing stale, as evidenced by sequels like The Ghost of Frankenstein and desperate ensemble films with multiple monsters, beginning with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man . Eventually the studio even resorted to comedy-horror pairings, like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein , which met with some success. Other studios stepped in to fill the horror void with more serious-minded fare, including RKO's brooding Val Lewton productions, most notably
Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie . MGM, meanwhile, contributed The Picture of Dorian Gray , which won an Academy Award for cinematography, and a remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , while Paramount released the highly regarded haunted house picture The Uninvited . Notable international entry Mahal marked India's first foray into horror.
1941: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1941: King of the Zombies
1941: The Wolf Man
1942: Cat People
1943: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
1943: I Walked with a Zombie
1944: The Uninvited
1945: Dead of Night
1945: The Picture of Dorian Gray
1948: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
1949: Mahal
1949: Mighty Joe Young
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