As a genre, horror is always developing since it's very first motion pictures in the early 1900s. In 1925, Lon Chaney directed the silent movie 'The Phantom of the Opera'. It was innovative as Chaney did all of the make-up himself and starred in the film as the phantom. The things he used to create his looks in the films can still be seen in the LA natural history museum, including the glass eye he used The Phantom Of The Opera. He changed horror in such a drastic way that has made it what it is today. It is said that because Chaney had such a love and attachment to his films that his ghost is in Universal Studios to this day. 1927 saw the entrance of sound in horror films with Universal Studios 'Dracula' starring Bela Lugosi, a Hungarian actor who had had trouble getting into the english film industry because of his accent, but for this film, his long drawn out use of speech was perfect. This film used low key lighting and sound. The way that lighting was used created a dark and mysterious atmosphere and an enigmatic feel, questioning what could be lurking in the shadows. The film was directed by James Wale who pushed the bounderies of horror to new levels and his films were seen as shocking. It was the first film to have dialogue running all the way through it which marked another milestone for the film industry. The film used very low lighting which meant there was a large amount of shadows which made for a better and more spooky atmosphere throughout the film and raised more questions with the audience as to what could be lurking behind the shadows. Because of the era the film was made in, no blood or fangs could be included in the film, instead these things were portrayed through suggestion. If anything was deemed too risky, The Hays office would cut the scene. The Hays office is a censorship organisation that policed what went into films, making sure content such as this doesn't enter films for the viewing public to see. As the horror genre progressed and the content of films became more graphic, The Hays office went mental as they felt they didn't want the public to see such graphic things. Over time they slowly allowed more things to be included in films, by the time the second Dracula film was released in 1948 they were allowing scenes such as women being thrown out of windows and men off balconies. This was a step forward for horror are gave the genre more room to work with in terms of what they could include. In 1951, Lugosi felt his career ending, and went to England to be in west end perofrmances of Dracula alongside Sheila Wynn. He believed the audience would still find the play as scary as they found the film, but with the progression of what was allowed to be shown in films, audiences were becoming harder to scare, and at times even laughed at Lugosi's performance on stage. Five years after his failed comeback, Lugosi died, and was buried in his Dracula cape.
The first in a long line of Frankenstein movies was made in 1931, including Borris Karloff who played the monster. The monster was originally meant to have been played by Bela Lugosi. The film very much stretched the limits of horror with it's inclusion of necrophilia, with Frankenstein taking much love from making the monster, and the death of a child on screen. Karloff used his own experiences of being seen as different for his role. As a young boy, he was the subject of racism due to the colour of his skin. After the successes of both Frankenstein and Dracula, Universal Studios was now primarily associated with its horror films.
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