10 Forgotten ’70s Horror Films That Were Excellent

From the second Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Zombi, here are 10 amazing horror movies of the ’70s that need more love

You Are Reading :10 Forgotten 70s Horror Films That Were Excellent

The ’70s showed a revival of horror movies. It seemed that horror took a backseat to science fiction following World War II. While Hammer brought back some classic Universal Monsters in the ’50s and ’60s, there wasn’t much in the way of pure horror until the late ’60s with a change to psychological horror tales.

However, the 1970s saw a change. The slasher film was born, with films like Black Christmas and Halloween, while dirty, grimy horror movies rose as well on the back of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With the changing of the guard, a few films slipped through the cracks in history, and here are 10 excellent horror movies that time has forgotten.

10 The Brood (1979)

David Cronenberg has created some of the most disturbing horror movies in cinema history. However, while everyone talks about his ’80s films, like Scanners and Videodrome, not as many people discuss his 1979 release, The Brood.

The movie follows a couple divorcing, and when the wife goes to a clinic ran by a self-help guru, her estranged husband realized people close to him start to die. To this day, The Brood remains a disturbing look at motherhood.

9 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)

The 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a classic sci-fi horror film, released after World War II and telling the tale of a neighborhood that found itself not knowing who it could trust when aliens began replacing the residents. That film was based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. However, its 1978 made-for-TV remake is superior in every way.

Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Brooke Adams, and Leonard Nimoy lead an all-star cast in this Philip Kaufman masterpiece. There is even a cameo by the 1956 version’s star Kevin McCarthy, making this a fun watch for fans of the original and ’50s sci-fi movies in general.

8 Zombi (1979)

Everyone knows about George Romero’s zombie classic masterpieces Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978). What many movie fans don’t know is that Dawn of the Dead had an international release created by Dario Argento. It was called Zombi, and hit the year after Dawn of the Dead.

For fans of zombie movies, it is well worth searching out Argento’s version if for no other reason than to compare the two films.

7 Martin (1977)

George Romero is known almost exclusively for his zombie movies. From Night to Dawn to Day and Diary, there are six movies in his zombie franchise. With that said, there was more to Romero than just zombie movies, including two great 70’s horror. Those are The Crazies and Martin.

When it comes to Romero’s impressive body of works, Martin is highly underrated. It features a young, mentally unbalanced man who thinks he is a vampire. Romero himself called this movie the favorite of his career.

6 The Legend Of Hell House (1973)

In 1971, Richard Matheson wrote the haunted house novel Hell House. The story was about two mediums, a physicist and his wife, who head into a house that many consider haunted. They set out to investigate the case of a previous homeowner who was involved in debauchery and decadence during his life.

In 1973, a movie adaptation arrived with The Legend of Hell House, a film that truly lives in the ’70s, cheesy fun and big scares abounding. A Scream Factory DVD came out in 2014 for anyone wanting to relive this classic horror film.

5 The Crazies (1973)

The second forgotten George Romero 1970s movie on this list is The Crazies. Released in 1973, the film is about a pandemic in a small town due to a military biological weapon. This pandemic turns those infected into crazed killers, and the government sends in U.S. troops in protective gear to lock the town down.

Due to the lack of trust, the infection spreads, a scary thought in today’s society. A remake arrived in 2010, which has also since become a cult favorite among horror fans.

4 The Night Stalker (1972)

In 1972, Darren McGavin took on the role of Kolchak, The Night Stalker, in a film written by Richard Matheson. The film is about a reporter in Las Vegas who is investigating a series of murders, and he starts to believe that the killer might be a vampire.

The film remains one that many people have yet to see, although it did spawn a more popular television series. McGavin was back in the TV series, investigating all kinds of supernatural cases, and it was a massive influence for The X-Files, which came along 20 years later.

3 Don’t Look Now (1973)

Nicholas Roeg released one of the most disturbing psychological horror movies of the ’70s with Don’t Look Now. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star in the film, giving it some exceptional star power. They are a married couple who travels to Venice after the death of their daughter.

While there, the father begins to see visions of a child that he believes is his daughter but realizes too late that not everything is as it seems.

2 Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979)

In 1922, F.W. Murnau directed the first feature-length vampire movie with Nosferatu. The film was loosely based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but the name had to change since Stoker’s estate would not option the rights. It ended up as a breakthrough in the German Expressionist cinema.

In 1979, Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski teamed up for a remake, and it stands tall as one of the best remakes of a classic horror movie in history. Some even argue it’s just one of the best vampire movies ever made, and that claim is hard to contest.

1 The Fury (1978)

Many critics accused Brian De Palma of aping Alfred Hitchcock throughout his entire career, as he made movies that were basically unofficial remakes of classic Hitchcock classics. In 1978, De Palma slightly stepped out of Hitchcock’s shadow and created one of his masterpieces with The Fury.

The movie starred Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, and Amy Irving, and told the story of a CIA agent whose son is kidnapped and studied due to his psychic abilities. He then teams up with a girl with telekinesis to find and rescue him. This was something truly new and different for De Palma, and it remains one of his underrated best.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/horror-movies-films-best-seventies-decade-underrated/