Sook Young Choi

Genre has always had an effect on the success of a film. Genres often go through phases of popularity, as the period in which a film is released also affects its success. This is obvious after the events of September 11th, in that many movies were postponed or cancelled because they dealt with terrorism and the studios believed that they would not draw in audiences. Some genres, however, never seem to disappear or lose popularity; they have drawn in audiences throughout the history of film. One such genre is the horror film, which has seemingly maintained popularity from 1920 with the release of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to the present day. It has definitely gone through various stages of evolution, as is obvious when comparing a Universal monster movie of the 1930s to a contemporary slasher horror film of today.