12 Horror Movies That Revolutionized The Genre

The horror genre has evolved over the years, and it is easy to identify the horror movies that revolutionized the industry and drove these changes. The advent of horror really took off in the 1910s, with the silent era producing early Frankenstein stories, and the German Expressionist movement revolutionized the look of horror.

However, things changed drastically with the advent of sound in movies and the creation of Universal Studios’ horror film slate. Since then, there have been prestige horror, monster movies, slashers, found-footage films, and self-referential horror. Each subgenre had at least one horror movie that helped change the genre.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

In the 1910s, German Expressionism turned its eyes to horror and released some masterworks in the silent film era. This started with the brilliant The Student of Prague in 1913. However, the movie that really revolutionized the genre and influenced even American cinema came seven years later with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Directed in 1920 by Robert Wiene, this movie used skewed angles and distorted production design to create a horror film that not only frightened audiences but also kept them disoriented, heightening the effect. The story of a hypnotist using a somnambulist to commit murders was a massive success and popularized horror cinema.

The movie led to other German Expressionist masterpieces, including The Golem (1920) and Nosferatu (1922), and influenced later crime movies, with the Film Noir genre a direct continuation of the style. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari also influenced the next big turning point in horror with Dracula.

Dracula (1931)

While Dracula owed much of its production design and camerawork to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and other German Expressionist films, the movie did something that changed the genre. Director Tod Browning brought in German cinematographer Karl Freund to shoot the film, and they popularized the Universal Monster movies.

This wasn’t the first time these monsters were in movies. Nosferatu was adapted from Dracula years earlier, with the name changed to avoid copyright issues. There was a Frankenstein movie called Life Without Soul in 1915, during the silent era. However, with Dracula, Hollywood proved it had figured out how to sell horror films.

Dracula led to Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and more. These monsters defined horror cinema for years to come, and many of them are still around today in one form or another. It all started with this 1931 horror movie starring the brilliant Bela Lugosi.

Cat People (1942)

Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Universal Monsters remained box-office draws and favorites among horror fans. However, they were also widely considered lowbrow at the time. This led some filmmakers to produce horror movies with greater meaning and deeper messages, and Val Lewton led the way.

Lewton was a film producer and produced low-budget horror films for RKO Pictures. While they were low-budget, they were critically acclaimed and offered deeper themes than the monster movies of the era. The first of these movies was Cat People in 1942, which became a huge top box-office success for RKO.

Ironically, the studio gave Lewton the titles before he made the films, and he then had to find a way to make a quality horror movie based on the title, something he mastered. He followed this with I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man, and by the time he stopped four years later, he had a list of horror movies that rivaled Universal.

Godzilla (1954)

World War II changed the horror industry, as audiences witnessed real-world horrors and lost interest in vampires and werewolves. As a result, new horror movies began to arrive with a more sci-fi slant, as well as films that played into the horrors of war. Leading the way was the Japanese giant monster movie Gojira in 1954.

While Godzilla was just another monster in horror cinema, he eclipsed the genre tropes. His awakening and mutation was thanks to nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific, and his destruction was a way to lash back out at a world that sought destruction over peace.

Godzilla led the way for movies to change what horror fans saw for the next two decades. There were more big monster movies, many in the Godzilla franchise, as well as sci-fi horror movies exploring paranoia caused by war, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Godzilla really brought sci-fi and horror together.

Psycho (1960)

By the 1960s, horror fans were drifting back toward more human-based horror tales. The monsters were returning thanks to Hammer Films, but there was also a sense of wanting to see human monsters, as much as supernatural ones. This was particularly evident in Alfred Hitchcock’s horror masterpiece, Psycho (1960).

This was a very different horror movie, as it had a human killer, yet one who had mental health issues tied to his murders. Based loosely on real-life Ed Gein, this was a significant shift in horror cinema and led to the eventual creation of the slasher movies of the 70s and 80s.

Psycho not only led to slasher movies but also led to more down-and-dirty serial killer stories, including the sensationalistic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

The Exorcist (1973)

In 1973, the tide turned in horror movies’ critical acceptance. Even when Alfred Hitchcock was making horror films, they still didn’t get much recognition from critics or award ceremonies. In 1973, William Friedkin adapted the William Peter Blatty horror novel The Exorcist, which became a box-office and critical success.

The movie helped kickstart the demonic horror craze that led to movies like Hellraiser. It has become even bigger in the 21st century with films like The Conjuring and Insidious, but it all exploded with The Exorcist.

The Exorcist became the first film to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture (although thrillers like Spellbound and Gaslight were previously nominated). This was a huge moment because it was the first time the Oscars recognized the horror genre, although it would remain rare, and it would take 18 years before a horror film won.

Halloween (1978)

While Black Christmas was the first major actual slasher movie, Halloween is the movie that popularized the new subgenre and made it the biggest horror movie craze of the late ’70s and ’80s. Halloween set the rules for the slasher movies, with the “sinful” young victims and the Final Girl surviving to the end.

It was also the first slasher movie that became a successful horror franchise, and it led to several other similar series, from Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street to franchises like Child’s Play.

Halloween popularized the hulking serial killer in a mask, hunting down teenagers and young adults and killing them in gruesome and inventive ways. The slasher movie dominated two decades of horror cinema, and it was all built on the back of Michael Myers.

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

While The Exorcist was the first straight horror movie ever to earn an Oscar nomination, it took 18 years before one actually won it. The Silence of the Lambs not only broke that barrier, but did so much more. It was one of only three films in cinema history to win every major Oscar award at the ceremony.

The Silence of the Lambs joined One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and It Happened One Night (1934) as the only movies to win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. This was a landmark year for horror cinema, and no movie has matched its success since.

The Silence of the Lambs also became a franchise, with a sequel, a prequel, and two spin-off television series based on both Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. This was the horror movie that made the genre mainstream.

Scream (1996)

By the 1990s, the horror genre was struggling. Slasher movies were falling out of style, and fans were looking for something different. Wes Craven found it when he directed Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, which brought Freddy Krueger into a self-referential horror movie. However, audiences weren’t ready yet.

This changed two years later when Craven directed the Kevin Williamson-written Scream. Just like New Nightmare, this was a self-referential horror movie where the victims knew about horror movies, and mostly winked at the audience as they went through the basic slasher tropes. It was a massive success and a boon for horror cinema.

Countless horror movies since Scream have played into this idea, with a more sly version of humor added to everything from slasher movies to vampire tales and home invasion storylines. Craven created a new subgenre with New Nightmare and Scream that lives on to this day.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Found footage movies existed decades before The Blair Witch Project. However, it was the success of this specific movie that made them one of the most successful subgenres in horror for many years. This is because it proved that by making a movie with found footage, filmmakers could spend little money for big rewards.

The Blair Witch Project opened the door for franchises like Paranormal Activity to become massively successful. The number of found footage movies exploded thanks to this one, but few other than Paranormal Activity could reach this level of success.

That said, there was one other significant thing that made The Blair Witch Project so influential. The filmmakers promoted Blair Witch as if it were a true story, and that brought people to the theater en masse to see it. This changed how movies were promoted online, and it was groundbreaking for the horror genre.