Halloween and horror history

Published: 3rd October 2023

If you are over the age of fourteen you probably don’t get the excitement of Halloween. In fact, you might wonder generally what the fuss is about a Christian-Pagan entwined anniversary that leads to the excitement of children and their demands for sugar. However, as adults it is an opportunity to indulge in a bit of horror film catch-up. Horror films are slightly out of fashion at the moment (though this may change with the new version of The Exorcist coming out) but as a genre they can say a lot about society’s fears and concerns. In the post-war period horror films and writings were an important part of British popular output and helped shape a generation's relationship to traditional tales of fear and concern in a new atomic age. Therefore, to ensure that us adults also have some fun this October we are bringing you two stories from the archives that explore Hammer Horror and moral panic about horror films and comics since 1830.