Task 3 - Research into the Genre

Christian Metz created a model for Genre Development which he used to catagorize horror genres.
He believed there were 4 Phases which films fit into.
These phases were:

• The Experimental Phase
• Where the earliest films experimented and explored with horror in their film narratives.
• These were often created by method of German Expressionism.

Films that fit into the Experimental Phase include Nosferatu (1922) and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919)

• The Classic Phase
• Where the genre is truly established, cementing the narrative conventions of the horror genre in it's most successful, and possibly its most defining period.

Films that fit into the Classic Phase include Frankenstein (1931) and Dracula (1931)

• The Parody Phase
• This is the phase where the genre has been mimicked in such a way as to make it comical to the audience.

• The Deconstruction Phase
• These are films that have taken the generic elements of horror, blending it into an amalgamation of sub-genres

However, it could be argued that during the 1970's-1980's, there was a rebirth of re-imagined films, a new age of classic films such as Psycho, Halloween and Friday the 13th were created, these do not fit into the model, and it can be argued that the model needs expansion to allow for these new-age films.


During the 50's, Hammer Films churned out a number of Horror "Classics", featuring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee together in a number of films with numerous sequels, these often featured graphic violence such as staking vampires, setting Frankenstein on fire, and shooting the Mummy to pieces.