Genres are continuously evolving to meet the audience's changing desires so that contemporary films encompass new elements from the paradigm. As older ingredients become less popular a genre must introduce fresh ideas to remain successful and retain their appeal. The horror genre follows this trend closely with some common threads constant throughout, linking the old and the new, but numerous significant transformations have occurred over time.

Traditionally horror films have relied heavily on the supernatural to shock and scare the viewer but modern films have taken a different approach by attempting to create realistic aesthetics. Typical early horror movies such as Frankenstein (1910) or Nosferatu (1922) were dependent on their monsters (vampires, zombies, werewolves etc.) from folklore to create an impact and be unique. Andrew Tudor distinguishes this as a "common-sense" level of horror. He states that this type of horror can be defined through its monsters, the source of...