While taking the JMC 309: Data Storytelling class at the University of Kansas, my group’s Final Project was to analyze a dataset specifically regarding horror movies from the 1930s til now.
We chose this topic because we found it interesting, additionally because film reflects current culture, and horror films can encompass specific facets of history. The genre is adapting through culture and technology, and my team was interested to see how the data reflects this. Our final was shown through a podcast, along with graphs to visualize our insights.
To listen to our podcast, you can follow along by listening to our Soundcloud link below and scroll through our data story at the same time for a more entertaining and educational read!
INTRODUCTION
LANE: Hi everyone, welcome to Screams and Stats! I am Lane Rozin.
ZAYNAB: And I’m Zaynab Zlitni!
ERIK: And I’m Erik Overgaard!
LANE: And we are studying data from IMDB’s list of horror films, analyzing over 800 films, focusing on gross, ratings, remakes and more!
ZAYNAB: Often inspired by folklore, religion, crime and dark subject matter, horror films have always had one goal — to elicit fear in viewers. The movie genre has existed for over a century, gathering a cult following of scary film lovers.
ERIK: The horror film industry began small, with literary pieces like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in 1920 and Nosferatu in 1922. These were some of the first movies where directors’ true intent was to unsettle audiences.
LANE: After the silent film era ended, the industry gave way to incredible classics that paved ways for generations to come with films like Frankenstein and Dracula in 1931.
ZAYNAB: Despite later decades having more films produced, among the top rated horror movies on IMDB, No. 17 through No. 23 of them were all released between 1931 and 1935.
ERIK: This was an exceptional feat for a time with so few movies in the genre and such an experimental period for the horror industry.
CHALLENGES AND CHANGES
LANE: In its first decades, the horror industry had little audience due to worry from the general public, with heavy censoring and public outcry becoming common.
ZAYNAB: The movie Freaks in 1932 was so shocking to viewers that it was cut extensively, with the original version now nowhere to be found. Horror directors saw their careers wobble at the hands of the controversy, making early horror an inconsistent genre.
ERIK: Although horror was not a prevalent genre in its early years, it gained popularity over time, yielding more and more movie production each decade as audiences became more comfortable with it.
ZAYNAB: As time went on, the production of horror movies increased each decade, making the 2010s the decade with the highest number of horror movies made at 302 movies.
LANE: Did you know in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, chocolate sauce was used to create fake blood in the shower scene? Props like this became impossible when the film industry shifted from black and white films to color in the mid 1960s, transforming the way that prosthetics, props and scenery worked in the industry, especially in horror films.
ERIK: Before the ’70s, the horror industry didn’t have a consistent audience. The 1920s-1960s yielded only 32 total horror movies. (This can be reflected through the previous visualization of horror movie production by the decades.)
TURNING POINT
ZAYNAB: After the 1960s, a spike in horror film production and gross occurred, producing some iconic films that are remade, referenced and more.
LANE: Things began to change for the horror industry as we entered the 70s and 80s. The rise in popularity of horror films could have been a reflection of the tumultuous American environment that was full of fear, crime and death.
ZAYNAB: In less than 20 years, the American crime rate rose 400%, resulting in infamous murderers like BTK, The Zodiac Killer, Jeffery Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Kemper, Ted Bundy and more. This played a significant role in the rise of horror film production and popularity.
ERIK: Also in this time period, the satanic panic spread throughout North America, resulting in many false cases of satanic ritual abuse. The fear of abuse from occult satanic rituals was a real trepidation for many Americans, even resulting in some false arrests for satanic murders, like the Memphis Three, a group of boys falsely charged for murders in the name of satan.
LANE: So what did this mean for the horror movie industry?
LANE: The factors of a frightening environment intensified the popularity of horror movies at this time. When horror movie producers wanted to elicit terror in the population, targeting the real fears in the environment may have been an effective way to scare viewers.
ZAYNAB: Many viewers also may have enjoyed watching these horror movies because of psychological reactance — the idea of looking at something simply because you know you shouldn’t, you just can’t look away.
ERIK: The production of iconic horror films that were highly rated, and highly grossed flourished in these decades, resulting in the iconic subgenre of the horror industry; slasher films.
LANE: Slasher films usually include a killer stalking and murdering young adult victims with bladed weapons, resulting in bloody and violent graphics, focusing on the brutality of the kill.
ZAYNAB: Slasher films and cult classics resonate most with audiences in this era. This decade of slasher films is often referred to as the “golden age,” since it is when some of the most successful slasher films, such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1974 and Halloween in 1978.
ERIK: This is another factor in why the 1970s dominated the horror industry, making it the highest grossing decade for horror films. It produced the three highest grossing horror movies of all time. Jaws from 1975 grossed almost $1.5 billion, The Exorcist from 1973 grossed almost $1.3 billion and The Rocky Horror Picture Show from 1975 grossed almost $800 million.
LANE: A fun fact is that among the 50 highest grossing horror films, films released in fall and summer made up the majority of releases. Films released in fall made up 31% of the top 50, while films released in summer made up 38%.
ZAYNAB: In the summertime, film studios take advantage of kids being out of school and families having more leisure time for watching movies. In the fall time, the Halloween season makes a good opportunity for horror movies to be successful.
ERIK: After its peak, the horror genre struggled to stay consistent with the quality of the 70s/80s. The 2010s were somewhat successful in gross, but not comparable to the ratings and popularity of the slasher film era.
LANE: As time went on, the production of horror movies increased each decade, making the 2010s the decade with the highest number of horror movies made at 302 movies.
ZAYNAB: Despite the increase in horror movie production in recent decades, the highest rated horror movies are from earlier years. This is because slasher films peaked at this time, making them a beloved subgenre with a large following. These classic horror movies resonate more with audiences, directors and current film producers should take inspiration and model off of the classics many love.
ERIK: With a staggering three of the eight worst horror movies in terms of rating on IMDB, German director Uwe Boll has by far the worst reputation of directors in the genre. Boll has three movies rated 3/10 or lower—no other director even has more than one. The three all were released in a span of three years from 2003 to 2005, marking one of the worst individual runs in horror movie history.
FINAL OUTCOME
LANE: After the horror genres peaked in the 70s and 80s, remakes became a popular attempt at recreating the popularity of the golden age of horror films.
ZAYNAB: Since the dawn of time, stories have been readapted, continued, and even revamped entirely into a whole new plot. Throughout the horror genre, we have seen our classic monsters of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, ghouls and goblins galore be redefined over and over again.
ERIK: A key example of this is Dracula, first created in 1931, which has been readapted or continued on in at least 22 other productions. In terms of readapting a character, Dracula has been the most revamped, adapted and main point of inspiration for the horror movie franchise. With roughly 23 films dedicated to the character of Dracula, you can reference movies such as Renfield, the Hotel Transylvania series, along with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and more.
LANE: The horror movie franchise that has made the most amount of movies is the Halloween collection, starting in 1978 and has continued on until the most recent movie Halloween Ends in 2022. The series has a total of 14 films, making it the most advanced and well-told slasher movie franchise. Comparatively, other franchises such as Saw, Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, and a variety of others have 10 or more movies as part of the film series collection.
ZAYNAB: Some hope for the current horror industry remains, with directors like Ari Aster and film studios like A24 producing high quality horror films. Despite this, horror films remain unrenowned and lack award recognition because of a perceived bad reputation for cheesiness and cheap thrills in production.
ERIK: Despite the lack of film awards, horror industry production still continues each year. The number of horror movies released annually is consistently increasing and at an all-time high. Audiences of everyday people often make horror films blockbuster hits, making it an iconic film genre filled with cult classics that have had a large following since the 70s.
LANE: Since horror movies made their debut in the 1930s, they’ve grown, changed, and improved over time. The numbers don’t lie, and neither do we. Thank you for tuning into our fang-tastic data story about the history of the beloved horror movie franchise.
ZAYNAB: Learn more about the data used in this project at our “About this project” page.
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