Top Ten Horror Movies of the '70s Review

I'm just going to scratch the surface and cover some of the more obvious highlights of the best of 1970 horror films in two essays.

10.

Last House on the Left  1972 Directed by Wes Craven     

Sandra Cassell, Lucy Grantham, David A. Hess. "Keep repeating, 'It's only a movie, it's only a movie'" was the famous tagline created for Craven's debut film,  but used several times for other movies well into the 80s.  Last House is a very crude film that is guaranteed to offend you on a variety of levels as it breaks many taboos of its day.  It's a very loose adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Virgin Spring.  It's a twisted tale of rape, depravity and revenge with counter-culture Vietnam era vets and drug fueled miscreants pitted against a well off family in the suburbs.  It is still disturbing on several levels.  I don't think very much of Wes Craven as a technical film-maker but sometimes he knows exactly the kind of material to bring to the screen and connect with audiences (Nightmare on Elm Street, Hills Have Eyes and Scream are proof of this.)

9.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre  1974 Directed by Tobe Hooper

The tiny budget ($140,000.) and Hooper's cinematic eye works in favor of this very loose twist on the Ed Gein serial killer case.  A group of young obnoxious college students wind up in a battle of life and death against a family of cannibals.  There is not much actual gore in the movie despite its reputation but it will make you squirm and creep you out.  It is an innovative, film that many have tried to copy and re-do with out coming close to the original.  And Leatherface's ballet with chainsaw at sunrise is a memorable image. AND  Another great film that tells the Ed Gein story very closely and without flinching is the excellent very dark character study from 1974 called Deranged.  It's got a lot in common with the acclaimed Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer and every bit as well-made, and disturbing.  Also in a similar vein to Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the very effective, taboo breaking original The Hills Have Eyes Directed by Wes Craven and released in 1977.  It's still harrowing, gruesome and effective. These three films crossed over the lines in mainstream movie theaters and were much more shocking then any of the Saws and Hostels of recent vintage.

8.

Halloween  1978  Directed by John Carpenter

It was Jamie Lee Curtis' and Donald Pleasance's  performances,  combined with the restraint Director John Carpenter showed with the material that made this now formula slasher into the iconic,  minor masterpiece of the slasher sub genre that it is today.  Many people did films nearly as good before this one, (like Bob Clark with 1974s Black Christmas ) and  most notably Mario Bava's Bay of Blood  aka  Twitch of the Death Nerve from 1971; which is a gory, direct pre-cursor of the slasher film and a direct influence on the Friday the 13th films which got the green-light after Halloween's success.  I suppose because it is overly stylized (rather then straight-forward) and that it didn't get the kind of marketing push Carpenter's film did, U.S. audiences didn't connect to it until years later on video.  It's an effective tale about someone willing to kill and kill again and again to get title to some valuable property.  The gory deaths were copied by slasher films throughout the 70s and 80s.  If you like slashers, don't miss it.

7. God  Told Me 1976  &  It's Alive 1974   Directed by Larry Cohen

Both films have Cohen's distinctive blend of  iconoclastic humor, social satire, and rule breaking direction.   God Told Me To sometimes called  Demon  has a bizarre religious/sexual twist .  It's set up like a mystery with a N.Y.C. detective trying to solve a case involving psychotic murderous behavior of several seemingly un-connected people who after doing something violent against other people commit suicide saying only  ‘God Told Me To'  as an explanation.  Andy Kauffman has a straight role as a cop gone very bad.   In It's Alive we have a couple that conceives a horrible dangerous mutant baby that goes on a killing spree.   It's creepy and very campy.  Both films are from from perfect but are unforgettable.

6.

 Sisters 1973, & Carrie 1976, Directed by Brian DePalma.

Sisters with Margo Kidder is DePalma at his Hitchcockian influenced best (with a score by Bernard Herrman too!).  Siamese twins are separated at bith and only one survives but she's left with a good and bad personality.  An investigative reporter may have witnessed a murder by the sister or was it?  One of a kind horror-thriller that holds up very well.     Carrie is much better than the King book it's based on and featuring Sissy Spacek as the teenager who discovers she has telekinetic powers. Piper Laurie is her religious fanatic mom (invented for the movie) and dig that sudden jolt at the end !  Travolta is also in the cast. There's a real Grand Guignol finale!

SPECIAL MENTIONS:

Vincent Price 70s Milestones include:

 Cry of the Banshee  1970  Directed by Gordon Hessler 

 good period piece with Witchhunter Price and his family under attack from Satanists.  It would make a great double feature with 1968's Conqueror Worm! 

Scream and Scream Again  1970  directed by Gordon Hessler

Price with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and 60's psychedelia too. Wow. 

The Abominable Dr. Phibes 1971  Directed by Robert Fuest 

Great campy twist on The Phantom of the Opera and House of Wax!  

 Dr. Phibes Rises Again 1972 Directed by Robert Fuest 

decent sequel. 

Theatre of Blood 1973 Directed by Douglas Hickox,   

 Price plays a Shakespearian actor who does not take criticism well.  In fact he takes revenge on the critics by staging elaborate Shakespeare inspired murder tableux; Diane Rigg is here too.     

SPECIAL MENTIONS 2

Blood for Dracula  aka Andy Warhol's Dracula  1974  & Flesh for Frankenstein  aka  Andy Warhol's Frankenstein 1974   Directed by Paul Morrissey

Dracula is the better movie of the two, both are surprisingly effective atmospheric, very gory and sexually charged taboo breakers that update with big camp elements the classic Dracula and Frankenstein movies.  Dracula is a genuinely funny spoof of the genre with heavily accented Udo Kier desperately in need of the blood of virgin, but all the supposed virgins seem be deflowered by gardener/handyman Joe Dallesandro before Drac can get to them, so when he does try their blood he gets very sick.  The extremely gory ending is unforgettable.  Vittorio De Sica has a good role and Roman Polanski shows up in a cameo as a bar patron.  Frankenstein is gory and profane with Udo Kier as Baron Frankenstein creating a sexual stud of a monster (Dallesandro).  It's campy, sexual, over the top and fun if you have a strong stomach and don't mind the odd acting styles and accents of the cast.

NEXT:  5  MORE  BEST OF 70S HORROR with just misses and few notables too.

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