Scary Movies of the 70's

I was very young at the start of the 1970's, so there was no way I could see new film releases of that decade. As those years wore on, and I grew up a bit more, I was able to get into theatres to see some of the big shockers of the time. Seeing Jaws in a cinema was a big deal for me at a relatively tender eleven years old. That was the most memorable horrific movie moment for me back then.

Today, looking back on the 70's, it's incredible to see the huge output not just of horror, but of what we now consider classic horror. It took me a little longer to get around to seeing movies like The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I'm glad I was older when I finally viewed those two because they both gave me the willies, and they still make me uneasy.

There's something wrong with that kid....

I'm pretty sure I saw The Omen at the local picture show with a couple of friends. Not as outright scary, this one was at least creepy and shocking in a few spots. Some "creative" murders, as we say in horror fan lingo. The same with Carrie, which was a bit slow getting going, but once the mayhem began, it was gruesome enough.

I remember checking out Dino de Laurentiis' remake of King Kong, too. At the time, I was a huge Kong fan, having watched the 1933 original many times on television. The Kong Vs Godzilla movie out of Japan was fun but laughable. This 1976 version impressed me with its colourful re-imagining of the classic tale. A young Jessica Lange appealed to me, too. 

It goes without saying that the Jaws and Omen sequels were essential viewing. I believe I saw Jaws 2 at the drive-in with a carload of school buddies. Not a bad movie, I guess, though I haven't seen it in ages and don't recall much. The Omen sequels were consistently good, and I caught all of them at the cinemas. Both the Jaws and Omen franchises carried on into the 80's, but let's just say that the earlier films - in the 70's - were the best in both cases. 

The remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a creepy experience. I had a bit of a walk home in the dark after seeing that one. Walking quickly, checking the shadows. On the lighter side, there was Young Frankenstein, the Mel Brooks send-up/homage to the horror classics of the 30's and 40's. I still love Young Frank to this day. Another remake that played in my hometown cinema was the '79 version of Dracula,which looked pretty but was rather tepid acting and story-wise. 

Once I was well into my teens, it became easier to get access to movies that might have had more restrictive ratings. When home video came along, my friends and I would all chip in and rent a bunch of the earliest VHS releases, which usually included some fright films. We saw Alien several times, first in the theatre, then at the drive-in, and repeatedly on home video. How could we not? It was, and still is, mind-blowing. And chest-blowing, if you know what I mean.

At the video stores, my crew and I frequently raided the horror section for goodies like Halloween and early David Cronenberg freak-fests (like Shivers, Rabid and The Brood - of course, into the 80's,we checked out the head-busting Scanners and so on), and Phantasm, a very bizarre low-budget cult film.

That doll's dynamite!

Into the 80's, television was also a good source for horror fare from the 70's. One station showed the Body Snatchers remake regularly, plus stuff like Friday the 13th (uncut for the late night showings), Willard and Ben (weird rat movies that I liked), The Night Stalker, Magic, Kingdom of Spiders, The Swarm, Horror Express, and Black Christmas. Oh, and the wonderfully creepy omnibus film, Trilogy of Terror, which is among my all-time favourite films... and yet it is just one of the three short stories that really gets to me... "Amelia", about a Zuni fetish doll that comes to life and tries to kill Karen Black.

Then there were the AIP, Amicus, and Hammer flicks on another channel: Blacula, the Chris Lee vampire and Frankenstein movies, the Dr. Phibes films, and Roger Corman productions. Just to name a few. All cool 70's releases that I had to wait a bit to see. Well worth it, for the most part.

Many years later, moved out and living on my own, with my own cable TV and a VCR, I caught up on a lot of 70's stuff I'd heard about but hadn't seen yet: Amityville Horror, Salem's Lot, The Sentinal, Nosferatu the Vampyre, It's Alive, Demon Seed, The Omega Man, Frenzy, The Exorcist, The Tenant, and the list goes on.

In the 90's, when I began building a home video collection, first on VHS, then later on DVD, I discovered even more gems (and stinkers) from the 70's: The Wicker Man, Theatre of Blood, Frogs, Burnt Offerings, The Asphyx, Legend of Hell House, and a lot more Hammer films. 

The 70's was a decade rich in imaginative horror cinema. There were quality works now considered classics of the genre, there were hidden gems that even today are unknown to many, and then there were the truly awful (Trog, anyone?).