Timeline | Horror Exploror

1612

Countess Erzsébet Báthori is arrested in modern Hungry. She is confined to a tower in her home until her death in 1614. She was accused of murdering hundreds of servants and became known as the Blood Countess. Her story is the inspiration for many vampire tales.

1764

Horace Walpole's

'The Castle of Otranto'

might be the first Gothic novel.

1800s

Still photography is beginning to develop.

1818

Mary Shelley's

'Frankenstein'

is released.

1819

John Polidori's

'The Vampyre'

is released.

1830s

Beginning of mass circulation of newspapers in UK and US. This is helped by easier methods of travel and increasing literacy rates.

1872

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla' is released.

1878

Eadweard Muybridge's

The Horse in Motion

is an important step toward moving pictures.

1888

Whitechapel murders occurred. Jack the Ripper is an early murderer who's crimes are sensationalized in newspapers (with higher circulation).

1890s

Yellow Journalism

is becoming more common.

Newspapers more sensationalized.

1893

Edison founded Black Maria,

the first film studio.

1894

The Grand Guignol Theatre opened in Paris.

1895

Oldest film studio,

Gaumont,

founded in France.

1896

Second oldest film studio, Pathe, is founded in France.

First narrative film: Alice Guy Blache's

La Fee aux Choux

First horror movie: Georges Méliès'

La Manoir du diable

1897

Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

is released.

1899

Sigmund Freud's

'The Interpretation of Dreams'

is released.

1906

First full length film: ?

Story of the Kelly Gang

1907

"Chicago enacts first movie censorship law in America. Cities and States around the nation create local censorship boards in the following years, resulting in a variety of different rules and standards."

- NCAC -

1908

'Schizophrenia'

is coined by

Paul Bleuler

- Britannica -

The Motion Picture Patents Company (aka The Trust) is founded by "ten film producers and distributors who attempted to gain complete control of the motion-picture industry in the US."

- Britannica -

1909 (ish)

Florence Lawrence is one of the first named movie stars.

- Women's History -

1910s

"Willis O'Brien began to develop stop-motion creature animation..."

- Weismann, Lost in the Dark (2021) -

1911

First feature length horror movie:

L'Inferno

First cinematic version of Frankenstein, by J Searle Dawley.

1912

Big studios Universal (Carl Laemmle) and Paramount (Adolph Zukor) begin operating in Hollywood, California to get away from Edison and The Trust (MPPC)'s patents.

- Britannica -

1914

World War I

begins.

Fox Film founded by William Fox.

1915

"In Mutual Film Corp. v Industrial Commission of Ohio, the Supreme Court holds that movies are not protected by the First Amendment. The ruling allows state and local boards to continue censoring films."

- NCAC - Justia -

"United States v Motion Picture Patents Co. was a civil antitrust prosecution [...]. [...] the defendants violated [...] the Sherman Act [...]."

- Wiki -

This began the demise of the MPPC and Edison's control of the film industry.

1917

Motion Picture Patents Co. v Universal Film Manufacturing Co. is a patent case that further limited the MPPC (similar to case above).

- Justia -

1918

Columbia Pictures is founded by the Cohn brothers and Joe Brandt.

World War I

ends.

Weimar Republic

begins in Germany.

1919

United Artists founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and DW Griffith.

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*All information comes from my own knowledge and double checking dates on Wikipedia,

unless I have a link for a different source.

*Books are linked to Goodreads.

*Movies are linked to Letterboxd.