Favorite '70's Horror Movies

One of my all-time favorites. Take note - there is actually very little blood or on-screen violence in this film. But it still manages to be relentlessly horrifying through tone, setting, and performance. And the DVD commentary is hysterical.

Still one of the scariest movies ever made. I didn't fully appreciate how overtly sexualized the entire design of Giger's monster made it even more viscerally horrifying. Also, check the quality of the sound design - it immediately puts you in the wrong mood. As a director, Ridley Scott is one of my idols.

Classic. Much more creepy than bloody. And, even though it's low budget, Carpenter insists on treating it like an A list film - shooting in Anamorphic instead of 16mm. And it shows. There's a reason why this movie stands the test of time when others from that same era are forgotten.

It's amazing how a remake can ape entire sequences and stretches of dialog from an original film and completely loose the intent, spirit, and, consequently, the quality of the original. Case in point, in the '06 remake, they cast Mia Farrow as the nanny, and her delivery of the line "have no fear, little one. I'm here to protect thee." makes her sound like a slightly kooky grandmother. But when Billie Whitelaw did it here in the original, not only was it in stark contrast to everything you've seen about her character up to that point, but it completely shifts the tone of the movie - because now you KNOW that people have bad intentions with this child. Also, the way they stage the end, where, in the remake, it's played like an action movie, where here, in the original, you feel both Gregory Peck's fear, disgust, and absolute exhaustion as he confronts the task before him. Can I also say that I love the score for this film?