Top 25 Best '70s Horror Films

One of those films that gave me nightmares. Afraid to close your eyes at night because you might see Linda Blair gazing at you in your dreams. Being raised in a roman-catholic fashion the thought of you or one of your loved ones getting possessed by the devil is incredibly frightening. Let alone the goosebumps which occur the moment you just think of Blair's head doing a 360. Seeing something physically impossible happen in an ordinary looking shot simply gives the creeps, and it are those creeps this film is just overflowing with. Then there is also the story of a priest wrestling with his own faith; great films have great drama and a good genre-film will never become a classic without something happening inside the heads of our main character; "The Exorcist" just has it all and has it put on film in a brilliant way.

Seldom has a combination of music, architecture, extreme lights, gore and slow tension been so effective as in 'Suspiria'. From the moment Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) arrives at the Munich airport till the final countdown; this film is audio/visually unique and till this day has to find it's equal (although Argento's own "Inferno" (a sequel to this film) does an amusing shot). Don't expect great acting, do expect to be amazed by this brilliant piece of horror.

It would be ignorant to say that with "Halloween" the slasher-genre was born, that credit either has to go to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" or Bob Clark's "Black Christmas". Nevertheless "Halloween" started the film-formula for the slasher which would keep horrorfans going through the '80s and the decades to come. Film is a combination of images and sounds and John Carpenter is one of those people who clearly understands that. He works with strong images and sounds that set the bar for horror and are immediately iconic. Just two examples are Michael Myjers mask and the main Halloween-theme. Apart from using them brilliantly in his timing and setting the pure essence of these film-elements are strong and touching and have remained with us for years and probably for the years to come. Just as this classic film "Halloween".

Initially offered to John Carpenter who would refuse it to go on and direct "Halloween". Anyway Ridley Scott was the perfect choice; the game he plays with shadows is essential to the supreme fear which rises in this claustrophobic combination between horror and science-fiction. Put in a bit of body-horror to make the physical-fright even bigger and you have a film that just gives you the creeps by it's sheer concept. Rumor has it that the famous breakfast-scene was shot during real breakfast and that all the cast reactions where genuine... Well I've never been on a set where it is allowed to eat in front of the cameras with the lights turned on, spilling cereal on props and art roughly costing thousands of dollars. Nevertheless the scene works. "Alien" works, and you should definitely check it out this october.

Some say this was the film to take director Pier Paolo Pasolini's life because it upset his former communist-friends. Fact remains that how horrible the disfiguring of his real life death was; they could not match the sick sodomy of this film. Pasolini travels to places in the human mind where power and perversion go to terrible lows. Making brilliant statements about society and power in general and twisting your stomach with horrific torture.

Seldom did a film make you feel so at unease. It has to do with Tobe Hooper's brilliant sound-design in which Leahterface's chainsaw is never far from our main group of kids. Shot in such a raw fashion you might almost think you could go around the place and visit the family of cannibals who haunt this film. I was especially caught by the logic and rituals of Leahterface's family, it just feels like your going to a place in which you observe the locals but don't know how fast you can get out of there.

One of those films to ruin your childhood. My parents left me alone to watch this film when I was seven years old figuring it was some kind of adventure-film; how wrong they where. For years I would not go into the sea and still it gives me the creeps every time I walk into the water at the beach. Steven Spielberg constantly comes up with original scares to keep the film going. But his true talent doesn't lie with pure jumpscares and scary music; it lies with the terror he creates in the dark (both of the sea and in your mind). Perhaps the scene in which Robert Shaw's character talks about his failed war-mission which ended in the water is just as scary as John Williams's score.

What is scarier? the dead returning to the earth or the foresight of what life has to offer when you're done shopping? George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" is a confronting film about how our lives are lived by the materialistic standards which are set in our minds by capitalistic society which works with huge malls and brilliant commercials. Even if you're not into social analyses "Dawn of the Dead" has enough to offer; namely atmosphere and gore. The setting of an old shopping mall being surrounded by zombies is none other than brilliant and the game of cleaning it and keeping it clean of the undead is highly entertaining. When you watch it be sure to watch the Italian version, re-cut by none other than Dario Argento who put in some more gore and replaced the soundtrack by that of our favorite horror-band 'Goblin'.

I still feel a strong nostalgia for the moment two years ago when I got to screen this pearl on the big screen. As cozy and Christmassy as it is terrifying. Director Bob Clark was the first to put a bunch of teenagers to face a serial-killer and was unbelievable creative in the way the story develops. We never get to see the killer and seldom was a horror-finally so nail-biting as this one. When I saw it on the big screen I realized how developed the sound-design of this film is. Who needs a recognizable horror-tune when you've got these layers of sound?

Horror just gets a bit tougher when you link it to a tragic event. Nicolas Roeg opens his film with a film-school seminar on editing in a scene in which the daughter of our main characters drowns in the backyard. Her death haunts us throughout the entire film and when they decide to go to Venice to work and "get on with life" the atmosphere of death surrounds them. Not haunting but confronting and creepy. It's final-scene is one of those schock-moments you will never forget the rest of your life.

The mother of all Giallo's; Dario Argento's "Profondo Rosso" also known as "Deep Red" hints towards the paranomal films he would later make but is a brilliant end of his Giallo-era. The film is jammed full with brilliant elements; the child-song we hear whenever the killer is near, the use of the color red, the long shots throughout a collection of the killer's possessions, the damp on the bathroom-walls, the walking doll and one of the scariest abandoned mansions ever. See this film and see it soon, especially when you are a filmmaker cause Argento put it full with fresh ideas and inspirations.

Described as "Hitchcock on acid", well it could have been. I usually praise Jeff Lieberman mainly by his editing and ambiance. They never get more brilliant in his career than in this film but "Blue Sunshine" offers more. The film is built around the strange physical and psychological side-effects a LSD-like drug has 10 years after it's used. The film contains brilliant paranoia in a world that is filmed in a recognizable way.

One of the weirdest films you'll probably ever see but haunting all the way. It's like a horror-version of 'Alice in Wonderland' which finds it creeps in a search throughout the most unbelievable rituels a British cult has developed. I started watching this film with interest I ended watching it in amaze. One of the most haunting shots is one in which our main character wants to get away from the island using an airplane. The entire village sneaks up on him wearing animal-masks while he doesn't have a clue... It's like you're being watched from over your shoulder for 88 minutes.

Stanley Kubrick showed this film to his crew during the filming of "The Shining" to set the mood on set. And "setting the mood" is something "Eraserhead" definitely does. David Lynch creates a world of unknown weirdness with a logic that refers to those of your darkest dreams. Lynch shot this film over a period of five years using nothing more than 20,000 dollars and the result is amazing. View directors have such a high understanding of the effects of sound as David Lynch who creates an entire world outside his decor with space-effects and industrial sounds. Must-see for any film-student.

Only one actor could make you forget Max Schreck's performance in the original "Nosferatu" and his name is that of insanity; Klaus Kinski. He only has to stare towards his opponent with make-up on to make you feel lots of things but mostly fear and petty. Werner Herzog transforms the plain story of a vampire to that of living with the constant presence of death, with the plague and rats mainly as elements to translate it's loneliness and unavoidability to film. If horror has a function other than scaring you that function is captured in this piece of horror-art.

For me the seventies where an era which used the dark themes of horror to go into the dark places of the mind. Richard Attenborough tells the story of a ventriloquist who uses his doll to communicate and seems to develop some sort of a split personality throughout the film. The scene in which his psychiatrist asks him to lay the puppet down for 5 minutes is one of the most intriguing examples of what the combination of good acting and good editing can do. Anyone thought that Anthony Hopkins was scary as Hannibal Lecter? Think again. Definitely watch this film.

If there is one film that will always be connected to the name of Lucio Fulci (who in the seventies was known as a director of police-thrillers and spaghetti-westerns) it has to be "Zombie". In Italy known as "Zombi 2" because "Dawn of the Dead" was released over there as Zombi". Apart from the zombies there is no connection between the two films, and the zombies in this film look better. Where Romero does the job with a bit of grey make-up Lucio Fulci let's them rot and crawl with maggots. Storywise this film has little to offer but if you want to see great atmosphere, an eye being penetrated by a piece of wood, the stink of death and a zombie fighting a shark you came to the right place with "Zombi 2".

One of those films that run mainly on plot and acting (although it's impossible to forget it's main-theme "Ave Satani"). The film tells the story of a couple who raise a boy which is not theirs because their own son died at childbirth and the father (Gregory Peck) and the priest decided to replace the kid to spare the mother the sad news. The process of raising their new son is surrounded by all sorts of strange happenings. Ever seen your maid hang herself in front of everyone at your sons birthday party?

The final part in Roman Polanski's apartment trilogy with "Repulsion" and "Rosemary's Baby" being the other two films. "Le Locataire" also known as "The Tenant" is in my opinion the best one. His trilogy is about loneliness in the big city. The loneliness leads towards a fear towards other people, in these cases the neighbours. And that fear leads to paranoia. Somehow he visually finds a way to shape the chaos of the mind and make you even doubt wether it is only a horror of the mind you're watching.

There used to be days in which George A. Romero wasn't simply copy/pasting his own work but was constantly searching for new challenges within the horror-genre. "Martin" must be his most artistic challenge. It is a modern take on the vampire-legend in which our main-character is a 17-year old vampire. The need for blood is a synonym for a drug-addiction and is visualized by getting it injected through a needle. A drama horror with great ambiance and challenging nouvelle-vague-like editing.

David Cronenberg was fascinated by the concept of the connection between the body and the mind. In "The Brood" he turns this into the most unlikely reaction of the flesh coming from an early trauma. It's important not to reveal the end as it is the highlight of this piece of horrorcinema. Constantly on edge and constantly unsettling.

There have been many adaptations of Stephen King novels but only the truly great directors succeed in making them good movies. One of the guys to do the job correctly is Brian DePalma who makes "Carrie" a understandable story of revenge. You could wonder which element is the scariest in the film; the kinetic powers of our main-character, the horrible bully-methods of the antagonists or the christian mother. Watch out for that final shot... It almost gave me a heart-attack.

Please don't mind it's terrible poster as it might mislead you to missing out on one of the most memorable zombie-films ever. "Dead of Night", also known as "Deathdream" is the tale of a boy who is about to die in Vietnam while his mother at the other side of the globe is praying to get him home save. Due to this he can't die that night, but he can't life either. He returns home undead with the everlasting need for human flesh. Director Bob Clark hints towards the traumatized vietnam veterans and makes this film with a depressing atmosphere. The creative genius who made "Black Christmas" definitely worked his ass of on this film.

Some horrorfilms just seem to be made out of amazement. "Phantasm" is one of those films which exists on it's visualization of a boy who can't get over the death of his parents. With a sterile cemetery and mausoleum as the main stage, this film contains an atmosphere which none of the sequels ever matched. The amount of iconic horror-elements is huge. Bizarre hooded dwarfs, surreal flying silver balls, a beautiful main-theme and a horror-legend in the persona of 'The Tall Man'; "Phantasm" has it all.

A family strands in the desert right near an area of nuclear tests. At night they are being stalked by a family of mutants. "The Hills Have Eyes" is one of the most threatening 'under siege'-films around. It has no values, it has no morals; it is plain horror which will leave you behind unsettled.