1950's

Mutant Creatures and alien invaders

With advances in technology, the tone of horror films shifted from the Gothic towards contemporary concerns. Two sub-genres began to emerge: the horror-of-Armageddon film and the horror-of-the-demonic film. A stream of usually low-budget productions featured humanity overcoming threats from "outside": alien invasions and deadly mutations to people, plants, and insects. In the case of some horror films from Japan, such as Godzilla (1954) and its sequels, mutation from the effects of nuclear radiation. Filmmakers continued to merge elements of science fiction and horror over the following decades. Considered a "pulp masterpiece" of the era was The Incredible Shrinking Man in 1957, from Richard Matheson's existentialist novel. While more of a science-fiction story, the film conveyed the fears of living in the Atomic Age and the terror of social alienation.

The Hollywood directors and producers sometimes found ample opportunity for audience exploitation, with gimmicks such as 3-D and "Percepto.” Some horror films during this period, such as The Thing from Another World (1951) and Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), managed to channel the paranoia of the Cold War into atmospheric creepiness. During the later 1950s, Great Britain emerged as a producer of horror films.

Capitalism and consumerism

There was a large-scale expansion of the middle class in the 1950s. Unions were strong, comprising almost half the American work force. Politics tended to be moderate, with extremist positions being out of favour. The need to always have more and better goods emerged rapidly in the West during the 1950s. Consumerism became a key component of Western society. People bought big houses in the new suburbs and bought new time-saving household appliances. This buying trend was influenced by many American cultural and economic aspects such as advertising; television; cars; new offerings from banks (loans and credit); immediately being able to have what one wanted; and achieving a perceived better life.

Godzilla, 1954- Godzilla is a 1954 Japanese science fiction Kaiju film produced by Toho. The plot tells the story of Godzilla, a giant monster mutated by nuclear radiation who ravages Japan, bringing back the horrors of nuclear devastation to a country that experienced it first-hand. It was the first of many Kaiju films released in Japan, paving the way and setting the standard for the genre and future Kaiju films, many of which feature Godzilla

The incredible shrinking man, 1957- The Incredible Shrinking Man is a 1957 science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold. Plot- While out on the ocean with his wife, Scott Carey's boat drifts through a strange mist that leave a metallic residue covering his body. He thinks nothing of it at the time but within a few weeks he begins to notice that he is losing weight. A visit to the doctor also confirms that he is getting shorter. As he gets smaller and smaller, doctors determine that his exposure to insecticides followed by what must have been a radioactive mist has caused a genetic mutation. They manage to stop his reversal, but only temporarily. Eventually, he is small to the point where encounters with the household cat and later a spider become potentially deadly situations.