The idea of a period piece of filmmaking tends to invoke thoughts of period dramas, Jane Austen, and corsets. However, there are many different genres that can and do take advantage of period settings to great effect. Horror movies are designed to scare and prey on audiences' fears. Utilizing a different period setting only serves to heighten a feeling of realism by making the movie seem anchored in history.
Period set pieces can be lavish and haunting or they can be dirty and violent. From epics about ancient undead legends to cannibals on the battlefield, period horror covers a wide range of subgenres and fears, not just the stereotypical haunted house story that's commonplace.
Brotherhood Of The Wolf
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Loosley based on the 18th-century killings attributed to the Beast of Gévaudan, Brotherhood of The Wolf is a French action horror movie featuring swashbuckling martial arts and secret societies. In the film, King Louis wants the reign of terror by the beast ended and sends a scientist and his Iroquois blood brother to investigate and stop the vicious attacks. In reality, the beast turned out to be a wolf that supposedly killed almost 100 people over a 3 year period. In the world of the movie, it's a little more complicated.
Featuring almost every movie trope ever created, from secret societies trying to control the political landscape to sex-crazed aristocrats and Native American mysticism, Brotherhood of The Wolf is a fun ride through 18th century France, it may not necessarily be an intellectual piece but it is enjoyable.
Ravenous
Released in 1999, Ravenous takes place at a remote military outpost in the 19th century during the Mexican-American War. Guy Pearce stars as Captain John Boyd who has been sent to Fort Spencer after being promoted. Once there, a Scottish stranger called Colquhoun, played by Robert Carlyle is found, suffering from frostbite and spinning tales of his party leader, Ives, who resorted to cannibalism in order to survive. Members of the party stationed at Fort Spencer go to investigate the cave where Colquhoun says his party was sheltering while those left behind have to decide if Colquhoun is who, or what, he says he is.
Although very serious in subject matter, Ravenous is darkly comic throughout. The tagline of the film is 'You Are Who You Eat', it opens with a Nietzche quote followed by another quote, "Eat Me" - Anonymous. The characters are larger than life while the setting is enclosed and claustrophobic.
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Based on the literary classic, Bram Stoker's Dracula is set in 1897 and follows the story of Mina Murray, her fiance Jonathan Harker, their friend Lucy Westenra as their lives become entangled with the vampire. Starring Gary Oldman as the titular vampire, Winona Ryder as Mina, and Keanu Reeves as Jonathan, Dracula is a hypnotic, beautiful, and rich adaptation of a classic gothic romance and horror story. The only criticism leveled at the film was for Reeves' English accent and general stilted performance as Harker.
Featuring iconic gothic imagery and costuming, Dracula became an instant classic owing to Oldman's take on the iconic character for film, moving it away from campy to a tragic and seductive monster. The movie also featured all practical or in-camera effects due to director Francis Ford Coppola's disdain of computer effects at the time, meaning there are impressive scenes of Dracula transforming into different creatures and clever use of double exposures and camera trickery to create the look of the final film.
The Witch
Set in the 1630s, Robert Eggers' directorial debut also features Anya Taylor-Joy in her first film role. A supernatural folk tale, The Witch focuses on a family who is plagued by evil in the woods. After being banished from their Puritan community, the family builds a farm at the edge of a wood and are almost immediately beset upon by tragedy. The youngest child disappears, other children become ill and the parents become divided by grief and anger. All the while, Anya Taylor-Joys' character of Thomasina is blamed for all the tragedy befalling them, being declared a witch and shunned by the rest of her household.
Shot using only natural light or candlelight for indoor locations, The Witch has realism running throughout it despite the supernatural elements of the story. Not only did the movie launch 2 careers with Eggers and Taylor-Joy, but it also spawned the "Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?" meme along with creating an icon in Black Phillip.
Crimson Peak
Guillermo Del Toro's opulent gothic supernatural horror has star turns by Mia Wasikowska as the haunted Edith, Tom Hiddleston as Thomas Sharpe, and Jessica Chastain as his sister Lucille. From the beginning, Edith is plagued by visions of her dead mother, warning her to beware of Crimson Peak. A few years pass and Edith is a semi-famous author who is charmed by Thomas, who wants investors for his inventions, and eventually, the two marry leaving to live at the Sharpe's home, Allerdale. Once at the home, Edith sees how dilapidated the house is and begins to think something is amiss with the Sharpe's. Her unease is only intensified by the horrific apparitions she begins to see and her slow decline into illness.
Noted for its sumptuous visuals and costume design as well as the horrific design of its ghosts, Crimson Peak revived gothic style horror and only served to cement Del Toro's status as one of the most visually gifted directors of our time.