With roots in such precinematic forms as medieval woodcuts, Grand Guignol theater, and the gothic novel, the genre has been popular since the beginning of cinema, as evidenced by the fantastic films of Georges Méliès from the first years of the twentieth century. Many of Méliès's short trick films dealt with monsters (a dervish in Le Monstre, 1903), ghosts (Le Revenant, 1903), magic (La statue animée, 1903), and the devil (Les trésors de Satan, 1902)—subjects that were to become central to the genre as it developed over time.

After several masterpieces such as F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” (1922), the first feature-length vampire movie, Robert Wiene's  “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, or The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) starring Lon Chaney, Universal Studios created the modern monster movie genre, bringing to the screen a series of realistic gothic creatures including Dracula, Frankenstein (both 1931) and The Mummy (1932) all of which spawned numerous sequels.

Each generation gets the horror films it deserves, and one of the more fascinating aspects of the study of the genre is the changing nature of the monsters who present a threat. In the early 1940s, a world living under the shadow of Hitler's predatory tendencies identified a part-man, part-wolf whose bestial nature caused him to tear apart those who crossed his path. In the 1990s however, monsters like Jonathan Doe (Se7en 1994) and Hannibal Lecter (Manhunter 1986, Silence of the Lambs 1991, Hannibal 2001) were entirely human in their calculated and stylised killing methods. As we move on into the twenty first century, the ghosts and zombies are back in vogue as Eastern and Western superstitions converge.

The best way to study films is, of course, to watch them. However, it is also important to have some sense of a film's context, both the wider socio-historical background against which it was made, and also its artistic framework.