History of Supernatural Movies

Supernatural films have themes which include Gods, ghosts, apparitions, spirits and any other similar ideas. They are usually combined with other genres such as comedy, sci-fi, fantasy or horror. Until recently, supernatural films were presented in a comical/romantic way and were not intended to frighten the audience.

Ghosts which are the subject matter of the film can be dated back to WWII where the ghosts were benevolent and were involved in a romantic narrative or featured as angels. The ghosts/spirits usually assisted the human characters in ‘whacky’ situations, e.g. ‘Topper’ (1937) or Joseph Mankiewicz' romantic fantasy which is said to be ‘the turn of the century’, ‘The Ghost and Mrs, Muir’ (1947). 

 

Moving on to the mid 1940’s, ghosts and the power of supernatural beings were beginning to be established into serious horror themes. This is when ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1945) was released and Val Lewton also began producing many supernatural horror films including the cult classic ‘Cat People’ (1942). 

The 1940’s was also the time when films combined religion with the supernatural narratives. Stephen Vincent Benet released ‘Devil and Daniel Webster’ in 1941 which showed a farmer selling his soul to the devil.

Between the late 1950-1970 was when directors began producing low budget supernatural horrors which are similar to the movies we see today, examples of these include ‘The Haunting’ (1963) and ‘The Legend of Hell House’ (1973).

From the 1980’s to modern day supernatural horror movies came into their own, and there were many box office hits such as ‘Poltergeist’ (1982), ‘The Ring’ (2002) and ‘Grave encounters’ (2011). They differ from the previous supernatural as they involved the idea of a unknown threat and the found footage format which portrayed the movies as true stories brought the narratives to life and so intensified the fear.