Thehistory of horror is a vast andperhapsfoolhardything to tackle. No matterhowhardyoutry,therearefilmsandhorrorsubgenresthatwillslidethroughthecracks.Peoplewithweaknervoussystemmustn’twatchsuchfilms - he shouldhave a longspoonthatsupswiththedevil.Theyaremostlyfor the young andbrave.
Buthorror is somewhatuniqueamongthefilmgenres in thatthere is a recognizablepatternthathappensagainandagain. A filmwillcomealongandterrify an audiencecapturingtheirimaginationsandmakingbank.Filmmakersflock to thecashcowlikevampires to bloodwhichleads to sequelsandimitators–sometimesbetterthantheoriginal.Buteventuallythesequelsrunout of steamandthesubgenrecreated by theoriginalsmashhitfadesintomemorylurking in thecorners of historywaiting to be rediscoveredandreborn - thisprocess is commonlyreferred to as cycles.Althoughothergenresbehavesimilarly,theuniqueappeal of horrorfromitslowbudgetrequirements to broadmultinationalappeal,makehorrorespeciallysusceptible to theseboomandfadecycles.
But as we look at howthegenrechangesovertime, we mustnotthink of thehistory of horror as being a rigidonewaystreet.Newfilmscan'tavoid borrowing fromoldfilmsallthetime, a constantremix of subgenresandnewtechniques to makesomethingforthecontemporaryculture.
So whodidthefirsthorrorfilmsborrowfrom?Monsters,murderers,demonsandbeastshavebeenaroundsinceantiquity,ghoststoriestoldroundcampfiressince we learnedhow to talk.Buttheroots of filmedhorrorwere an extension of a genre of literaturethatgotitsstart in thelate1700s:GothicHorror.Developed by writers in bothGreatBritainandtheUnitedStatestheGothicpart of thenamerefers to pseudomedievalbuildingsthatthesestoriestookplace–think of an oldcastle on a darkandstormynight–gloomyforests,dungeonsandsecretpassageways.
Answer the following questions:
Is the information TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN?
Match the words and the translation.
Read about the Gerund and choose the proper form of the word.