Post-classical, early modern american horror films

The chapter covers American horror cinema from the late 1960s till 1990s with a view to map its prominent genres and the trendsetter films within these genres, discussing their distinct and novel characteristics. In general, American horror movies from 1970 onward were markedly different from most of the films of the Golden Age of classical American horror cinema. Not only were they more violent but they also manifested narrative novelties such as the evolution of female figures from mere passive victims, damsels-indistresses to be rescued by male heroes, to Final Girls,victim-heroes. One of the most prominent genres to emerge was the slasher. While there had been isolated filmic works such as Psycho (1960) which can retrospectively be thought of as being a semi- forerunner of the slasher films, this once-disdained genre emerged in its recognizably distinct characteristics in the 1970s and flourished especially in the early 1980s. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) introduced supernatural motifs to the slashers, a trend replicated in some sequels of the earlier slashers. In addition, zombie movies with a post-apocalyptical context proliferated in this era and representations of vampire figures underwent a significant transition.