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Many of the earliest feature length 'horror films'
were created by German film makers in 1910s and 1920s,
during the era of German Expressionist films. Many of
these films would significantly influence later
Hollywood films. Paul Wegener's The Golem (1915) was
seminal; in 1920 Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari, with its Expressionist style, would
influence film-makers from Orson Welles to Tim Burton
and many more for decades.
The era also produced the
first vampire-themed feature, F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu
(1922), an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's
Dracula. [9] Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927), though more
of a science fiction film, is considered a landmark film
of the German Expressionist era.
Early Hollywood dramas dabbled in horror themes,
including versions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
and The Monster (1925) (both starring Lon Chaney, Sr.,
the first American horror movie star). His most famous
role, however, was in The Phantom of the Opera (1925),
perhaps the true predecessor of Universal's famous
horror series.
Horror film - History - 1930s & 1940s
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