The purpose of horror films is to gain a negative emotional reaction from the audience by playing on their fears. They often include scenes where the viewer is startled through the means of macabre or supernatural, meaning that the horror genre often overlaps with the fantasy and science fiction genre. Horrors also frequently overlap with the thriller genre.
The term “horror movie” first appeared when critics and film industry commentators were writing about Universal's Dracula and Frankenstein (1931) but has since been applied in retrospect to similar films from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term “horror movie” first appeared when critics and film industry commentators were writing about Universal's Dracula and Frankenstein (1931) but has since been applied in retrospect to similar films from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
