British horror cinema
A distinguishing feature of British horror cinema from its foundations in the 1910s until the end of Hammer's prolific output in the genre in the 1970s was storylines based on, or referring to, the gothic literature of the 19th century.
[1] Influential works during the nineteenth century include e.g., Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), and the gothic horror novel, Dracula (1897), written by Bram Stoker.
[4] Specifically, filmmakers drawing inspiration from Christianity, utilizing religious uncertainties and the surrounding perceptions of the after-life to create dramatic effect.
[2] Short silent films had become an increasingly common cinematic form of entertainment during the time of the surge in popularity of gothic horror filmmaking.
In 1913, American director, George Loane Tucker, travelled to Britain to produce the 1916 film, The Man Without a Soul,[2] which was inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
[8] The president of the BBFC, Edward Shortt, stated in Kinematograph Weekly in 1935 in regard to horror films that he hoped "producers and renters will accept this word of warning, and discourage this type of subject as far as possible.
[11] Other works, such as those of Tod Slaughter including The Face at the Window and Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936) were described by Conrich as being "intended as melodramas: highly theatrical, mischievous and pantomimical.
[13] In his 1973 book A Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema 1946-1972, David Pirie declared that Hammer's perchant for this style was unique to Britain.
[16] Most other films from the decade were described by Walker as "arty one-offs" noting Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves (1984) or were "amateurish flops" such as Rawhead Rex.
Walker stated that the moral panic of the 1980s was similarly happening again in 1993 when James Bulger was murdered by two children who had allegedly been inspired by a home video release of Child's Play 3 (1991).
"[16] Walker would note that the 2000s and 2010s marked "a dramatic change in tide for the genre, and signalled the first sustained period of British horror productions since Hammer's golden era.
[20] International co-productions also appeared between countries such as New Zealand (The Ferryman (2007)), South Africa (Surviving Evil (2009)), Germany, (Black Death (2010), and the United States (Let Me In (2010)).
[24] Petley noted that horror films were often viewed in terms of previously mentioned critical standards and "roundly condemned for not being what they never set out to be in the first place.
[27] Criticism was often levelled that they lacked the social relevance that Robin Wood praised in 1979 for such American productions as Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, while others were called out for what Walker summarized as "just not being very good.
"[28] He noted a "general lack of interest in new British horror cinema at this time, then, may well be attributed to a possible assumption that the films are not dissimilar enough from similarly terrible contemporary American productions to warrant extended analysis on their own terms.
