horror movie posters by curtis rogers

gored in the 70s: horror faves from justin lockwood

The 1970s was a watershed decade for horror: the grim mood and tumultuous events of the time, coupled with an overall burst of director creativity, led to some seminal movies, and horror benefited tremendously.  Here I list my personal favorites.

Black Christmas (1974)

Though it’s fairly well known that this wicked little slasher film predated Halloween and Friday the 13th in laying out the subgenre’s template, Bob Clark’s movie deserves recognition on its own merits.  Before he made A Christmas Story, Clark crafted this darkly comedic, oddly cozy, and gripping tale of a sorority house besieged by ominous phone calls and one of the most insane killers in all of cinema (who’s barely seen, making him all the scarier).  It all sounds hoary and clichéd now, but Black Christmas did it first, and did it tremendously well.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Tobe Hooper’s movie is less gory than its reputation and surprisingly artful for a demented horror flick.  Daniel Pearl’s gorgeous cinematography perfectly captures this wholly original nightmare.  All the sequels and remakes in the world can’t diminish the power of this ghoulishly brilliant masterpiece.

The Omen (1976)

The Exorcist is more esteemed, but this Devil-ish horror flick has always been my favorite.  Gregory Peck and Lee Remick are perfectly overwrought as the unwitting parents of the Anti-Christ, in an ultra-stylized feature that’s cheesily compelling. Jerry Goldsmith’s Oscar winning music and a string of indelible setpieces—the nanny!  The zoo! The decapitation!—cement Richard Donner’s film as a gripping piece of entertainment.

The Sentinel (1977)

Michael Winner’s Rosemary’s Baby knockoff is notorious for using real “freaks” in its finale, and there’s no denying its trashiness and lack of taste.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t damn effective.  A bland Cristina Raines (aka the poor man’s Kate Jackson) is a naïve model with a sordid family history who moves into a spooky Brooklyn brownstone.  There she encounters sinister,  neighbors like Burgess Meredith’s eccentric pet lover and creepy lesbians Gerde (Sylvia Miles) and Sandra (Beverly D’Angelo); “We fondle each other” may be one of my favorite movie lines of all time.  Chris Sarandon is particularly inspired as the sleazy boyfriend who uncovers the building’s Awful Secret.  Nasty, over the top, and full of lurid shocks, The Sentinel deserves to be a cult classic.

Halloween (1978)

This is one of my favorite films of all time; it’s another watershed movie that should stand apart from its impact.  Audiences may find it slow moving or corny today, but John Carpenter’s dirt cheap indie is beautifully shot, perfectly scored, and smartly written to imbue a now archetypal plot (masked maniac stalks babysitters!) with moody pathos and slice of life reality.

Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott’s game changer was the perfect capper to the decade. It ripped a hole through the fun loving spectacle of Star Wars by rendering the technology drab—is there anything more depressing than blue collar space grunts?—and the aliens not the least bit friendly.  H.R. Giger’s freakishly unforgettable designs coupled with the script’s slow burn grimness made this more than a “haunted house movie in space” (as it’s often been called).  It’s one of the few films to successfully combine horror and science fiction and an outstanding example of both.

-Justin Lockwood

it! the terror from beyond space

Hokey and endearing sci-fi monster flick It! The Terror from Beyond Space is very similar to and likely the main inspiration for Ridley Scott's Alien.  A wisecracking group of space explorers are trapped in their rocket ship with a menacing, intelligent alien beast that feasts on bodily fluids.  In It!, the astronauts are checking out Mars (memorable line: "Mars is almost as big as Texas! Maybe it's got monsters."), the year is 1973 though everyone is decked out in full '50s atomic era gear and hairdos (amazing to think while watching this movie what a huge transformation technologically and socially the country would go through in the 1960s)... the two female astronauts even serve coffee to the space-suited males (!).  Directed by Edward L. Cahn on a very minimal budget, It! The Terror from Beyond Space is light, straightforward monster movie entertainment.  The monster is played by Ray Corrigan, who donned many an ape suit in his day, here in a great rubber suit with big, body-grabbing claws.  For Alien fans, this is a must-see for all its cues; there's even an air duct scene.  The shoe string budget allows for some amusing effects, strange edits and wacky sets. *** 

scary movie themes

To get you in that Halloween mood.



Psycho - Bernard Herrmann






Phantasm - Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave




The Fog - John Carpenter




Carrie - Pino Donaggio




The Thing - Ennio Morricone




A Nightmare on Elm Street - Charles Bernstein




Creature from the Black Lagoon - cue by Henry Mancini




Alien - Jerry Goldsmith



Poltergeist - Jerry Goldsmith




Jaws - John Williams




Suspiria (so scary!) - Goblin




Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) - Goblin




"End Theme from Friday the 13th" - Harry Manfredini






The Amityville Horror - Lalo Schifrin




"Tubular Bells" (from The Exorcist) - Mike Oldfield




Halloween - John Carpenter





Body Double - Pino Donaggio (love the synths on this)

the fun about fear - a guest post by karen g.

Here’s to those prickly beads of sweat on your brow. That uncomfortable feeling of weightlessness in the pit of your stomach. A jolt in your seat as you grab whomever might be next to you. A wave of mild nausea and sometimes even a tiny yelp or muffled scream.

I’m talking about good old-fashioned scares in our favorite horror movies, and those moments of addictive discomfort that just keep us going back for more. Yes, The Exorcist and The Shining are definitely in the top 10, but here are a few others that deserve a mention.


The Evil Dead (1981)

While extremely campy and laughable at times, there were some pretty creepy scenes in this Sam Raimi classic!

Alien (1979)

I remember the sound effects in this movie and build-up to the actual monster being more terrifying that the monster itself (although Giger’s “alien” left us all in awe once revealed) Truly one of the best written “suspense sci-fi horrors” I’ve seen.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

I remember my older sister returning from the movies, pale-faced, after seeing this in 1984. I was too young at the time so my mother wouldn’t let me go to the movies to see it. I sat on the edge of my bed that night as my sister retold the tale of the burnt man with “knives for hands” who terrorized teenagers in their dreams. That night, with only the creepy trailers that were on TV at the time in my head, and the story my sister told me, I didn’t slept a wink. I lay there, trembling in my bed and praying that Freddy wouldn’t come for me.

Jaws (1975)

Romantic moonlight skinny-dipping in the ocean would never be the same again. The opening scene to one of my top 5 favorite movies changed the world for night-time swimmers and surfers forever.

Insidious (2010)

Honorable mention. The first movie in decades that made me squirm in my seat. So refreshing to watch a horror movie that had all the elements to make it an instant classic.

Event Horizon (1997)
The tale of the ship that went to hell and back took audiences by surprise at the sheer creepiness of what those black holes in space might really be about. This movie should get the “Endless Disturbing Visuals” award of the ‘90s.

The Amityville Horror (1979)

The actual news stories and newspaper clippings about the strange murders and occurrences in this house is what makes this movie even more intriguing and disturbing to watch. Laced with facts and now legends, the Amityville Horror stands out as one of the most notorious stories of an actual haunting that drove a family to leave their possessions and run for their lives.

Halloween (1978)

I still have moments where I’m afraid to look out of my window at night and see a white-masked maniac calmly standing outside looking up at me.

It (1990)

There’s a reason people don’t like clowns. A mini-series based on a novel by Stephen King had children crying at bath time for years! Even today, the thought of a sadistic clown living in the sewers in rather unsettling.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

If you’ve ever had the thought that you might look into your baby’s crib for the first time and recoil in horror, I’m sure you have this movie to thank.