The history of the horror genre- 1990-2000

The 1990's started with the continuation of many sub-genre's and ideological themes that had been present in the 1980's. Slashers were still in the mainstream for audiences and many iconic films from that time period, like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween saw sequels throughout the decade but were mostly panned by critics and fans.

The 1990's also saw the emergence of a new horror sub-genre: Metafiction, with each film linking itself to the real world and the world of the narrative through the use of plot of subconsciously breaking the 4th wall by having the film tell the story of it's own production. Famous films in this new sub-genre include Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) and Candyman (1992).

However the horror genre had a number of problems at this time; namely that it'd had worn itself out with the endless number of sequels and similar films in the slasher genre during the 1980's, A Nightmare on Elm Street  having 4 sequels alone during the decade. The 1990's also saw that the target audience of horror films had grown up and weren't captivated by the low budget and tacky looking practical effects of body horror as they'd recently been exposed to the CGI of sci-fi and action films, like Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991). However the horror genre adapted and soon started using it for films like Species (1995), Anaconda (1997) and House on the Haunted Hill (1999). 

The late 1990's also saw the introduction of a new sub-genre to try and attract audiences; the found-footage genre, with the first notable entry being The Blair Witch Project (1999). This genre 

really picked up in the 2000's with films like Paranormal Activity (2007) and even continues into the 2010's with films like Grave Encounters (2011).