10 Exact Moments That Changed The Horror Movie Genre Forever
"There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie..."
It's a tall - some would say impossible - task to narrow the industry-changing moments of the horror genre down to just ten moments, but we're clearly gluttons for punishment here at WhatCulture as that's what we've decided to do.
With roots generally accepted as going as far back as 1920 and beyond, horror has changed so, so much over the decades. Some of those changes may have simply been due to the latest fads, others may have been down to a change in storytelling approach, others may have been down to the technical advancements of the day, and others may have come from a place of a sheer, unadulterated genius.
The horror genre itself is a unique beast in that pretty much everybody has a favourite horror film. Not everybody may be a die-hard horror hound, of course, but everybody still nonetheless will have a personal horror offering that they turn to should they fancy having the willies put up them.
Whether they're your favourites or not, though, there are those horror features that had an undoubted impact on the genre - on cinema and filmmaking, period - and help to shape this sinister corner of cinema forever more.
With that in mind, here we've assembled ten of the most pivotal movies in making the horror genre what it is today.
10. The Blair Witch Project - Going Viral
The Blair Witch Project is a prime example of a project being utterly and completely perfect for its time.
If you tried to replicate the buzz around the original in today’s climate – and many have tried – you’d fail. Likewise, if you tried to replicate this movie before Blair Witch came out in 1999, you’d also end up failing.
With The Blair Witch Project released when the Internet was in its infancy, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez magnificently used this to their benefit. After making a concept video to show their Blair Witch idea to investors, these two young filmmakers set the ball in motion for what was a truly genius piece of marketing.
Six months before Blair Witch was even released, the minds behind the movie had set up a website that was searching for the missing trio seen in the film. Faux fliers, news stories, police reports, and TV clips were all simply part of convincing the world that the events depicted in this upcoming new movie were all 100% genuine.
At that period in time, the Internet was new to us all – and we were maybe a little naïve to the authenticity of what gets published online – and so the growing buzz around Blair Witch had so many people believing that this was some shocking documentary-esque project. And like that, this feature become one of the first real viral sensations of the modern age.
From the moment The Blair Witch Project became a viral hit, Myrick and Sanchez’s film was nailed on to be a success. Now, two decades later, audiences are still being bombarded with a slew of found-footage movies looking to somehow capture the magic of The Blair Witch Project.