A horror film is a movie that seeks to elicit a physiological reaction, such as an elevated heartbeat, through the use of fear and shocking one’s audiences. Inspired by literature from authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, the horror genre has existed for more than a century. The macabre and the supernatural are frequent themes. Horror may also overlap with the fantasy, supernatural fiction and thriller genres. 

Horror films often deal with viewers' nightmares, fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Plots within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage into the everyday world. Prevalent elements include ghosts, aliens, vampires, werewolves, demons, satanism, gore, torture, vicious animals, evil witches, monsters, zombies, cannibals, psychopaths, natural or man-made disasters, and serial killers. 

Some subgenres of horror include action horror, comedy horror, body horror, disaster horror, holiday horror, horror drama, psychological horror, science fiction horror, slasher horror, supernatural horror, gothic horror, natural horror, zombie horror, first-person horror and teen horror. 

The first depictions of supernatural events appear in several of the silent shorts created by the film pioneer Georges Méliès in the late 1890s, the best known being "Le Manoir du Diable", which is sometimes credited as being the first horror film. Another of his horror projects was "La Caverne maudite" (1898) (a.k.a. "The Cave of the Demons", literally "the accursed cave"). Japan made early forays into the horror genre with "Bake Jizo" ("Jizo the Spook") and "Shinin no Sosei" ("Resurrection of a Corpse"), both made in 1898. The era featured a slew of literary adaptations, adapting the works of Poe and Dante, among others. In 1908, Selig Polyscope Company produced "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".
Did the first horror film have any words?
The first depictions of supernatural events appear in several of the silent shorts created by the film pioneer Georges