Horror movies are as much a part of American culture as baseball and apple pie. Unlike the latter however, they tend to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain.

Early horror movies are largely based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre, such as ‘Dracula’, ‘Frankenstein’, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, and ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. More recent horror films continue to exploit the monsters of literature, and also draw inspiration from the insecurities of modern life (‘The Wolfman’, ‘The Uninvited’, ‘The Stepfather’).

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