Top Ten Horror Movies of the '70s Review

25 October 2008 by Michael DeZubiria

Many people consider the 1970s to be the high point of horror movies. It was a formative decade for a genre that had been around for more than half a century because filmmakers were beginning to shake off the censorship restrictions of earlier years and had not yet succumbed to the bad CGI and teen cuteness that ruined so many horror films in later decades. So, here in no particular order (other than numerical:), are my top 10 horror movies of the 70s...

10. Satan's School For Girls (1973), Unrated, 78 mins.

Ok, so I'll start with one you've never heard of. Satan's School For Girls is not a great horror movie, it's actually a made-for-tv horror thriller, but while the bad parts are pretty bad, the good parts are creepy as hell. A young girl's mysterious death seems to leave no explanation other than one involving the supernatural, so the police quickly close the case and move on, leaving the girl's sister to take the investigation into her own hands.

She enrolls at the school for girls that her sister was attending at the time of her death, suspicious that the school or it's faculty may have had something to do with it. There is little blood and gore in the movie, instead it relies more on a tense and creepy atmosphere, which is really a more effective way to make a scary movie. Fountains of blood have an entirely different effect.

The movie is not a classic and even though the atmosphere is not always very good, there are a few times when it's very good. Definitely worth watching, especially for horror movie buffs.

9. The Amityville Horror (1979), R. 117 mins.

A brutal murder takes place in the infamous Amityville house right at the beginning of the movie, followed by a scene of some prospective tenants taking a tour of the house, with glimpses of the murders edited in as they look around. As soon as the family moves in, strange things start happening. Some of them are genuinely creepy, like when a friend of the family hears children laughing upstairs while the whole family it outside. I don't know why the ghosts of children are so much scarier than adults, but it gets me every time.

Other parts of the movie are less impressive, but this was the start of a horizonless stream of sequels (and one of the better Simpsons Halloween episodes) and the house viciously ordering the tenants to "Get out!" is a classic horror moment if I've ever seen one!

8. Deep Red (1975), R, 126 mins.

Deep Red was marketed as something so intensely scary that you should constantly pinch yourself and remind yourself that it's only  a movie. It's directed by Dario Argento, the Italian horror master and director of the classic Suspiria, so the warning about the scariness is not exactly a stretch.

It's about a psychic who can read minds who picks up the thoughts of a murderer and then soon becomes a victim. An English pianist gets involved in the investigation of the murder, only to have every pursued lead cut off by new killings. As his frustration mounts, he begins to notice that the murderer seems to be closely following his movements, committing a new style of grisly murder just when he begins to think he knows what's going on. It's a rich horror tapestry from one of the genre's best directors.

7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), R, 83 mins.

"Who will survive and what will be left of them?"

There is no denying that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most famous horror films ever made, although I have to admit that I don't like it at all. But the reason it is so distasteful to me is because it is incredibly effective at being almost painful to watch. The level of realism that they achieved in making the movie is astonishing, so much so that, for me, it's impossible to enjoy.

The movie gets high marks and reaches a higher level of intrigue because it is supposedly based on a true story of a series of chainsaw murders that happened in Texas, but it's a little too good at showing us what happened. This family that was living out there in the Texas desert were an illustration of the depths of human depravity, and director Tobe Hooper wants to make sure that we fully realize how screwed up they were!

The movie spawned a couple of bad sequels and an even worse 2003 remake, but as far as classic, milestone horror films, this is one of the most important, regardless of how much fun it is to watch..

6. The Hills Have Eyes (1977), R, 89 mins.

The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven's second film, is also one of his most famous. Like his directing debut, The Last House on the Left, it's essentially about people doing horrible things to other people, a theme that Craven seemed to love, as it has permeated his career.

A group of city folk are driving across the desert and soon break down and then find themselves entirely cut off from civilization and running from their lives from a bizarre group of sinister and disturbing desert-dwelling cannibals.

Interestingly, Craven got the idea for the film when he was studying Greek mythology and how the forces of good and evil sometimes get blurred together, with one eventually becoming the other (usually good becoming the very evil that it is seeking to destroy).

It's unusual for such a raw and grisly horror film to explore such a universal aspect of humanity. On the one hand, it attempts to delve into a base aspect of the human condition, and on the other hand it tries to scare people out of their wits. And amazingly enough, it succeeds at both.This is the filmmaking style to which Wes Craven's longest standing fans wish he would return.

5. The Last House on the Left (1972), R, 84 mins.

It was when I was watching Last House on the Left again recently that I was reminded of that distinct line between horror movies and scary movies. Scary movies scare you, while horror movies, although often scary in a different way, are horrible.

Wes Craven's debut film is not scary, but it is presented in a documentary style which gives the terrible things in it a realistic and effective quality. It's like watching actual footage of real people doing terrible, terrible things to other real people. When it was released, there were people that didn't want Wes Craven and producer Sean Cunningham to ever be allowed to make movies again, and it's not hard to see why!

Unlike Texas Chainsaw, Last House on the Left realizes that it's abrasive and painful to watch, so it counterbalances the horror with unusually hilarious comic relief (consider the town sheriff slapping his forehead and rubbing his chin helplessly at his inability to commandeer a chicken farmer's truck when his own car runs out of gas, gosh darn it).

The simple fact that the movie can be as graphic as it is without being exploitative is enough to show that even after three decades it remains as effective as it ever was. And interestingly enough, the reason Craven didn't direct again for five years was because the studios were pressuring him to make another sick and depraved movie like this and he didn't want to do it. He waited until he was almost broke, and then gave in and made The Hills Have Eyes.

4. Jaws (1975), PG, 124 mins.

Yeah, the shark looked fake and was constantly breaking down or sinking or both during production, but this might be part of the reason that Steven Spielberg only agreed to direct the film on the condition that we don't see the shark at all for the entire first half of the movie.

A tiny town on the curiously named Amity Island is terrorized by a killer shark, but the town authorities stubbornly resist closing beaches because the town relies so heavily on its summer tourist traffic. Publicity involving a killer shark could be disastrous for the town's economy.

Roy Scheider plays the town sheriff with the unenviable job of scanning the beaches looking for a shark fin while people frolic on the beach, oblivious to the dangers lurking in the water. Spielberg manages the spectacular feat of making the ocean itself, which naturally radiates calmness and tranquility, look threatening, and the movie's film score is one of the most recognizable of all time.

The movie's third act, with Sheriff Brody, Captain Quint, and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) at sea battling the shark are probably what the film is most remembered for, as well as the part with the most effectively scary scenes. Spielberg showed his mastery of film direction only four years after directing his first film in 1971, and proved that sometimes the most effective ways to create tension and fear are also the simplest.

3. The Omen (1976), R, 111 mins.

Robert and Katherine Thorn have a wonderful life. Robert is a United States Ambassador to Italy and the only thing that he and his wife are missing is children. When Katherine gives birth to a stillborn child, Robert is approached at the hospital by a priest (before Katherine realizes that her child was born dead) who suggests that he consider switching his stillborn child with that of a healthy newborn whose mother had just died during childbirth.

Without consulting his wife, Robert accepts, knowing that she would be absolutely devastated to learn that she had given birth to a lifeless child. A few years later, the family relocates to London and grisly deaths begin happening around them. A priest approaches the family giving them ominous warnings about their son, leading them to believe that the son they have been raising may be the incarnation of evil.

Lee Remick and Gregory Peck deliver memorable performances as the stricken parents, but it is the astonishing performance of six-year-old Harvey Stevens as Damien that really makes his character, and the film, stand out.

2. Halloween (1978), R, 91 mins.

Director John Carpenter's most famous film, Halloween was a major cinematic landmark, ushering the slasher genre into the mainstream and becoming an enormous popular and critical success. Carpenter shows that he knows his scare tactics, he never lets the audience relax. The threat of Michael Myers is never far away, and his constant, wordless pursuit of the unfortunate Laurie Strode creates an unusually effective atmosphere of tension throughout the film.

Donald Pleasance stars for the first of several times as Dr. Loomis, Michael's psychologist and the representation of Halloween's other theme, the equal relentlessness of good fighting evil.

Young Michael killed his 17-year-old sister when he was only six, then spent 15 years sitting silently in a mental institution before breaking out and heading back to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois ot repeat his crime on Halloween night, and it's up to Dr. Loomis to find and stop him before it's too late.

Once Michael gets to Haddonfield and begins pursuing his other sister, Laurie, the suspense is nonstop. A series of brilliant performances and one of the most famous horror movie themes in movie history make this one of horror's most enduring classics.

1. The Exorcist (1973), R, 122 mins.

Considered by many to be not only a classic horror film but one of the greatest films ever made (as well as the scariest movie of all time), The Exorcist absolutely frightened its first audiences out of their seats. It has lost some of its effect over the years, but its gritty and direct approach to its horrific content are presented so brilliantly that it has become the most enduring horror film ever made.

Max von Sydown stars as Father Merrin, who is called upon to perform an exorcism on a little girl named Regan. Her mother has sought an exorcism because Regan has transformed from a sweet little girl into a vicious, foul-mouthed animal who shrieks with violent outbursts at anyone and anything near her.

Father Merrin arrives and does battle with the demon that seems to have possessed Regan.

Using a series of physical set tricks, sound effects and movie props, The Exorcist shocked audiences with its effective portrayal of a demonic possesssion, but it is the amazing performance from little Linda Blair that really makes the movie memorable. It is not only the greatest horror movie of the 1970s, but one of the greatest ever made.