1970's Horror Movies
"The 1970s is arguably the most fruitful and consistently excellent decade for horror cinema. Of course, that argument could be to extended that time period for cinema as a whole, and perhaps that's why the 70s provided the breeding ground for so many of the genre's greatest auteurs, enduring franchises, and singular creeptastic creations that altered and defined the course of horror movies to a track they remain on to this day. But if it was a time of cinematic revolution, it was also a time of cultural upheaval." Here is every horror film I have liked so far (7 or higher) from these years. I will obviously add to it as I see more films.
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- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
- DirectorGus TrikonisStarsRichard CrennaJoanna PettetAndrew PrineA doctor buys a Civil War era dilapidated mansion, and hires a few friends to fix it up, but the mansion hides a deadly secret.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsJohn AmplasLincoln MaazelChristine ForrestA young man, who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a Pennsylvania small town where he tries to redeem his blood-craving urges.
- DirectorDario ArgentoStarsJessica HarperStefania CasiniFlavio BucciAn American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsFlorinda BolkanBarbara BouchetTomas MilianWhen a southern Italian town is rocked by a string of child murders, the police and two urban outcasts search for the culprit amid scapegoating within the superstitious community.
- DirectorColin EgglestonStarsJohn HargreavesBriony BehetsMike McEwenWhen a suburban couple go camping for the weekend at a remote beach, they discover that nature isn't in an accommodating mood.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsGregory PeckLee RemickHarvey StephensMysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil's own son?
- DirectorDan CurtisStarsKaren BlackOliver ReedBurgess MeredithA family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
- DirectorDon HaldaneStarsJack CreleyJay ReynoldsTrudy YoungA wealthy lawyer with a short time to live hides a secret--he is the continuation of a line of "reincarnates," and his memory is an accumulation of their memories. He must find a successor to whom he can pass on his memories, and he meets a struggling but ambitious artist who seems to be a likely candidate for the "reincarnation" ritual, which involves sacrificing a virgin.
- DirectorWillard HuyckGloria KatzStarsMichael GreerMarianna HillJoy BangA young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious undead cult.
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsUta HagenDiana MuldaurChris UdvarnokyA series of gruesome accidents plague a small American farming community in the summer of 1935, encircling two identical twin brothers and their family.
- DirectorCorrado FarinaStarsAdolfo CeliGeraldine HooperGiuliano EsperatiIn this allegory on capitalism, director of a known car corporation invites one of his employees to his country villa to give him the good news. He just got promoted. However, the old man is not what he seems and promotion has a price.
- DirectorChristopher SpeethStarsJanine CarazoJerome DempseyDaniel DietrichA family infiltrates a sinister carnival where their son mysteriously disappeared.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsFrançoise PascalHugues QuesterNatalie PerreyA young couple out for a walk decide to take a stroll through a large cemetery. As darkness begins to fall they realize they can't find their way out, and soon their fears begin to overtake them.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDavid EmgeKen ForeeScott H. ReinigerDuring an escalating zombie epidemic, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter and his TV executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
- DirectorJoe D'AmatoStarsKieran CanterCinzia MonrealeFranca StoppiA disturbed young taxidermist exhumes his recently deceased girlfriend, brings her body to his family villa and proceeds to embalm her corpse, with help from his strange housekeeper. But his bouts of insanity are just beginning.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsOliver ReedSamantha EggarArt HindleA man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.
- DirectorJack GoldStarsRichard BurtonLee RemickLino VenturaA telekinetic novelist causes disasters simply by thinking about them.
- DirectorMichael CrichtonStarsMichael DouglasRip TornGeneviève BujoldWhen a young female doctor notices an unnatural amount of comas occurring in her hospital she uncovers a horrible conspiracy.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsMarilyn ChambersFrank MooreTerry SchonblumA young woman develops a taste for human blood after experimental plastic surgery, and her victims turn into blood-thirsty zombies, leading into a city-wide epidemic.
- DirectorMario BavaLamberto BavaStarsDaria NicolodiJohn SteinerDavid Colin Jr.A couple is terrorized in their new house haunted by the vengeful ghost of the woman's former husband, who possesses their young son.
- DirectorPeter SykesDon SharpStarsRichard WidmarkChristopher LeeHonor BlackmanAn American occult novelist battles to save the soul of a young girl from a group of Satanists, led by an excommunicated priest, who plan on using her as the representative of the Devil on Earth.
- DirectorRobert FuestStarsErnest BorgnineEddie AlbertIda LupinoA satanist cult leader is burnt alive by the local church. He vows to come back to hunt down and enslave every descendant of his congregation, by the power of the book of blood contracts, in which they sold their souls to the devil.
- DirectorLarry YustStarsPeter BroccoFrances FullerWilliam HansenWhen a group of pensioners learns that their homes are to be torn down, they take action. An attempt to discourage soon escalates into murder of construction workers.
- DirectorRobin HardyStarsEdward WoodwardChristopher LeeDiane CilentoA puritan police sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the pagan locals claim never existed.
- DirectorGiorgio FerroniStarsGianni GarkoAgostina BelliRoberto MalderaThe patriarch of a wealthy family fears that he will show up one day in vampire form. Should this happen, he warns his family to not let him back into his house, no matter how much he begs them.
- DirectorAmando de OssorioStarsLone FlemingCésar BurnerMaría Elena ArpónMedieval knights executed for their black magic rituals come back as zombies to torment a group of vacationing college kids.
- DirectorDavid E. DurstonStarsBhaskar Roy ChowdhuryJadin WongRhonda FultzA group of Satanic hippies wreak havoc on a small town where a young boy whose sister and grandfather were victimized by them tries to get even--with deadly results.
- DirectorBernard L. KowalskiStarsRoy ThinnesYvette MimieuxRay MillandA traveling minister and his wife are quietly menaced by a devil cult in the Old West. By the time the Good Reverend figures out what's going on it may be too late to stop the evil.
- DirectorJuan Luis BuñuelStarsMichel PiccoliLiv UllmannOrnella MutiA female vampire rises from her crypt every night in search of children as her victims.
- DirectorRobert FuestStarsVincent PriceJoseph CottenVirginia NorthDoctor, scientist, organist, and biblical scholar Anton Phibes seeks revenge on the nine doctors he considers responsible for the death of his wife.
- DirectorLaslo BenedekStarsMax von SydowTrevor HowardLiv UllmannIn a Scandinavian insane asylum, murderer Salem sneaks out at night to exact his revenge on those who he deems responsible for his predicament.
- DirectorFreddie FrancisStarsMichael BryantUrsula HowellsPat HeywoodA wealthy, fatherless British clan kidnaps bums and hippies and forces them to participate in an elaborate role-playing game in which they are the perfect family; those who refuse or attempt escape are ritualistically murdered.
- DirectorE.W. SwackhamerStarsJason MillerRichard LynchE.G. MarshallVampire Anton Voytek's lair is disturbed by the ground breaking for a new church. Anton attempts to start a modern life using his hoarded wealth, but finds it's been confiscated by the authorities. He takes revenge on the architect responsible, who in turn, aided by a retired detective, tries to hunt down and destroy Anton.
- DirectorRainer ErlerStarsJutta SpeidelWolf RothHerbert HerrmannA honeymooning couple stay at a hotel in New Mexico. It all seems normal until an ambulance pulls up and takes the husband away. The wife, with the help of a truck driver, finds the awful secret to the hotel and the ambulance service.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsJames BrolinMargot KidderRod SteigerNewlyweds and their three children move into a large house where a mass murder was committed. They start to experience strange, inexplicable manifestations which have strong effects on everyone living in or visiting the house.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
- DirectorWalter StockerStarsKeith AtkinsonBelinda BalaskiMarshall ReedA widower, visiting the crypt that holds the body of his wife, is accidentally trapped therein. That night, he finds that she seems to have been cataleptic, rather than dead, and frees her from her coffin. things, of course, are not what they seem.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsDonald PleasenceJamie Lee CurtisTony MoranFifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
- DirectorJack StarrettStarsPeter FondaWarren OatesLoretta SwitTwo couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.
- DirectorJohn BadhamStarsTuesday WeldJoan HackettSam WaterstonThe wife and mistress of the abusive headmaster of a boy's school plot and carry out his murder. They dump his body in the murky swimming pool at the school and await for it to surface. After several days, some unusual circumstances point to clues that he is not dead after all.
- DirectorMarc B. RayStarsFred HolbertLeigh MitchellRobert KnoxA deranged kid murders his father and has his arm crushed by the farm tractor. After being discharged from the mental hospital with an amputee, he discovers that his mother has remarried, prompting him to go on a homicidal rampage.
- DirectorPhilip LeacockStarsBen GazzaraElizabeth AshleyMichael DouglasA woman begins to receive ominous phone calls from her nephew, who died 15 years earlier. With each phone call, a family member dies. Will she be the next in line?
- DirectorJohn Llewellyn MoxeyStarsDarren McGavinCarol LynleySimon OaklandAn abrasive Las Vegas newspaper reporter investigates a series of murders committed by a vampire.
- DirectorRod HardyStarsChantal ContouriShirley CameronMax PhippsThe descendant of Elizabeth Bathory is abducted by a cult of blood-drinking, self-proclaimed supermen who want her to join them.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsMarie-Georges PascalFélix MartenSerge MarquandA young woman discovers that the pesticide being sprayed on vineyards is turning people into killer zombies.
- DirectorJohn 'Bud' CardosStarsWilliam ShatnerTiffany BollingWoody StrodeIn rural Arizona, countless killer tarantulas are migrating through a farm town, killing every living thing in their path. The town's veterinarian will do everything in his power to survive the onslaught.
- DirectorAlfred SoleStarsLinda MillerMildred ClintonPaula E. SheppardIn 1961, a divorced Catholic couple's life is turned upside-down when one of their two adolescent daughters is suspected of her younger sister's brutal murder during her First Holy Communion and a series of subsequent stabbings.
- DirectorGordon HesslerStarsTed BessellBette DavisSian Barbara AllenA sculptor hires young college girls to take care of his elderly mother and his supposedly insane sister, both of whom live in the old family mansion with him.
- DirectorMassimo DallamanoStarsGiovanna RalliClaudio CassinelliMario AdorfPolice investigate apparent suicide of teen girl and uncover details of a teenage prostitution racket. They go on the hunt for a motorcycle riding killer.
- DirectorEloy de la IglesiaStarsVicente ParraEmma CohenEusebio PoncelaA meat factory worker accidentally kills a taxi driver, and begins gradually killing people close to him in order to cover up his original crime. He starts getting rid of the mounting corpses stored in his bedroom through his day job.
- DirectorJohn Llewellyn MoxeyStarsBarbara StanwyckBarbara ParkinsRoddy McDowallOn her way home from a stay at a mental institution after a traumatic rape, a woman realizes that someone is deliberately trying to drive her insane.
- DirectorViktors RitelisStarsMichael GoughYvonne MitchellSharon GurneyA mother and daughter hatch a scheme to murder their family's domineering and sadistic patriarch.
- DirectorPete WalkerStarsAnthony SharpSusan PenhaligonStephanie BeachamThe story follows a young woman, who seeks out his church. There, she is manipulated into giving confession to Father Xavier Meldrum. Meldrum uses his status and crazed persistence to work his way into Jenny's life by any means necessary.
- StarsDavid SoulJames MasonLance KerwinA novelist and a young horror fan attempt to save a small New England town which has been invaded by vampires.
- DirectorPhilip SavilleStarsLouis JourdanFrank FinlaySusan PenhaligonThe vampire count leaves his Transylvanian home to wreak havoc across the world.
- DirectorElliot SilversteinStarsJames BrolinKathleen LloydJohn MarleyA small desert town is terrorized by a powerful, seemingly possessed car, and the local sheriff may be the only one who can stop it.
- DirectorWilliam GirdlerStarsChristopher GeorgeAndrew PrineRichard JaeckelAn eighteen-foot-tall grizzly bear terrorizes a state park, leaving it up to a Park Ranger to save the day.
- DirectorNarciso Ibáñez SerradorStarsLewis FianderPrunella RansomeAntonio IranzoA couple of English tourists arrive on an island where all the children have gone crazy and are murdering the adults.
- DirectorJuan López MoctezumaStarsCristina FerrareDavid YoungJohn CarradineAn American artist with a penchant for drinking blood begins seducing and dispatching residents of a small fishing town in Mexico.
- DirectorJeff LiebermanStarsZalman KingDeborah WintersMark GoddardA bizarre series of murders begins in Los Angeles, where people start going bald and then become homicidal maniacs. But could the blame rest on a particularly dangerous form of LSD called Blue Sunshine the murderers took ten years before?
- DirectorSharron MillerStarsJohn EricsonIvor FrancisJudith Novgrod"The House of the Dead" is a 1978 horror anthology movie with "The Mortician" introducing each scary tale.
- DirectorCurtis HarringtonStarsGeorge HamiltonLinda CristalJoan BlondellIn the 1930s, a sailor trying to prove that his brother was wrongly executed for murder finds himself becoming drawn in the occult world.
- DirectorSaul BassStarsNigel DavenportMichael MurphyLynne FrederickSuddenly, desert ants form a group intelligence and wage war on the humans. It's up to a couple of scientists and a girl to stop them
- DirectorDan CurtisStarsRoy ThinnesDon PorterAngie DickinsonAn investigative reporter stumbles onto an artist that has made a pact to come back after his death to sculpt a statue of a demon using human blood and clay. Once the demon is awakened he will be granted immortality.
- DirectorDan CurtisStarsLynn RedgraveMegs JenkinsJohn BarronAn English governess is hired to take care of two adorable orphans, who turn out to be not exactly what they seem to be.
- DirectorJames KelleyAndrea BianchiStarsMark LesterBritt EklandHardy KrügerA wealthy author's second wife begins to suspect that her 12-year-old stepson may have murdered his mother, who mysteriously died in a bathtub accident.
- DirectorKevin ConnorStarsPeter CushingIan BannenIan CarmichaelAn anthology of four short horror stories revolving around a mysterious antique shop owner and his antique pieces, each of which hides a deadly secret.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsJoseph CottenElke SommerMassimo GirottiA young man, visiting the castle of a murderous ancestor in Austria, accidentally brings his dead relative back to life - searching for new victims.
- DirectorFred BurnleyStarsSusan HampshireFrank FinlayMichael PetrovitchThis movie takes place on the Isle of Jersey where a troubled wife has come to sort out the tumult of her life. She encounters a pilot there and they quickly become lovers. Together they flee to Scotland. One day they are making love on a beach when the lighthouse keeper dies. But that's only the beginning of the story.
- DirectorFred WaltonStarsCarol KaneCharles DurningRutanya AldaA psychopathic killer terrorizes a babysitter, then returns seven years later to menace her again.
- DirectorPete WalkerStarsJack JonesPamela StephensonDavid DoyleA singer holes up at a sinister estate to write new songs for his act. The ghost of his murdered wife begins to haunt him, then the person who actually killed her shows up at the mansion.
- DirectorJames T. FlockerStarsAnn NelsonMatthew BostonJerry JensenA young boy is possessed by the spirit of an Indian medicine man and begins to terrorize the local population.
- DirectorDonald CammellStarsJulie ChristieFritz WeaverGerrit GrahamA scientist creates Proteus--an organic super computer with artificial intelligence which becomes obsessed with human beings, and in particular the creator's wife.
- DirectorDario ArgentoStarsDavid HemmingsDaria NicolodiGabriele LaviaA jazz pianist and a wisecracking journalist are pulled into a complex web of mystery after the former witnesses the brutal murder of a psychic.
- DirectorAmando de OssorioStarsVíctor PetitMaría KostySandra MozarowskyIn this final installment of the Blind Dead series, a doctor and his wife move to a small inhospitable coastal village where he plans to start a practice only to discover that undead demon-worshiping Templar Knights haunt the place.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsMarilyn BurnsEdwin NealAllen DanzigerFive friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
- DirectorJeff GillenAlan OrmsbyStarsRoberts BlossomCosette LeeLeslie CarlsonA deranged rural farmer becomes a grave robber and murderer after the death of his possessive mother, whose corpse he keeps, among others, as his companion in a decaying farmhouse.
- DirectorSutton RoleyStarsJackie CooperAlex CordRichard JaeckelA group of diverse individuals are suddenly taken from their homes and flown via helicopter to a futuristic bomb shelter in the desert, one-third of a mile below the surface of the Earth. There, they learn that a nuclear holocaust is taking place and that they've been "chosen" by computer to survive in the shelter in order to continue the human race. The shelter is designed to allow the people to exist underground comfortably for years, but they are faced with a threat nobody could have predicted: a colony of thousands of bloodthirsty vampire bats finds a way into the shelter and launches a series of vicious attacks where they claim the humans one by one.
- DirectorBrian ClemensStarsHorst JansonJohn CarsonShane BriantA master swordsman and former soldier and his hunchbacked assistant hunt vampires.
- DirectorBob ClarkStarsOlivia HusseyKeir DulleaMargot KidderDuring their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.
- DirectorBernard McEveetyStarsStrother MartinL.Q. JonesCharles BatemanA family is trapped in a desert town by a cult of senior-citizens who recruit the town's children to worship Satan.
- DirectorJames L. WilsonStarsMatt BorelGil GlasgowPatrick ByersAn anthology in which a group of college coeds spending a winter's night in a remote cabin pass time by telling scary stories to each other.
- DirectorDon CoscarelliStarsA. Michael BaldwinBill ThornburyReggie BannisterA teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsAlan BatesSusannah YorkJohn HurtA traveller by the name of Crossley forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of Devon, and uses the aboriginal magic he has learned to displace his host.
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsDonald SutherlandBrooke AdamsJeff GoldblumWhen strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
- DirectorMichael PatakiStarsRichard BasehartGloria GrahameTrish StewartA mad scientist fills his basement dungeon with victims in an insane attempt to restore his daughter's eyesight.
- DirectorJuan López MoctezumaStarsClaudio BrookDavid SilvaTina RomeroAfter the death of her parents, a young girl arrives at a convent and brings a sinister presence with her. Is it her enigmatic imaginary friend, Alucarda, who is to blame? Or is there a satanic force at work?
- DirectorWilliam HerbertStarsLaurie WaltersJoe SpanoEdna MacAfeeA college girl meets a reporter, they take a trip to the country, and they wind up meeting a creepy old woman who lives in a closed-down resort.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsPaul HamptonJoe SilverLynn LowryThe residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.
- DirectorHarry ThomasonStarsRod SerlingRobert GinnavenGary BrocketteThree eerie tales based on actual events are enacted in this film. First, three college students play a prank on a geeky classmate, who is accidentally shot and killed. His vengeful mother forecasts the deaths of the three young men she holds responsible, on 7, 14, and 21 days hence. And, one by one, her grim predictions come true. Next, a ghoulish sound emanates from a mist-shrouded hole in the Earth near where a Missouri boy has lost his dog. The boy's father is lowered into the hole and lets out an agonizing scream! Finally, a senator returning home from a party finds a lost girl on a bridge and learns from her father that she died years earlier!
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsMargot KidderJennifer SaltCharles DurningA small-time reporter tries to convince the police she saw a murder in the apartment across from hers.
- DirectorAlan GibsonStarsChristopher LeePeter CushingMichael ColesIn 1974, Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing investigates a satanic cult on behalf of Scotland Yard, only to discover a plot by Count Dracula to commit global genocide.
- DirectorFreddie FrancisStarsJoan CollinsPeter CushingRalph RichardsonFive strangers get lost in a crypt and, after meeting the mysterious Crypt Keeper, receive visions of how they will die.
- DirectorJohn HayesStarsWilliam SmithMichael PatakiLyn PetersA young man, born of a rape committed by a legendary vampire against a living woman, vows to locate and vanquish his undead father.
- DirectorRobert YoungStarsAdrienne CorriThorley WaltersAnthony HigginsAs the plague sweeps the countryside, a quarantined village is visited by a mysterious traveling circus. Soon, young children begin to disappear, and the locals suspect the circus troupe might be hiding a horrifying secret.
- StarsAndre Van GyseghemBillie WhitelawIan HendryChilling anthology series where membership to the secret society, The Club of the Damned, is granted through telling horror stories.
- DirectorNico MastorakisStarsBob BehlingJane LyleJessica DublinA couple of perverted and maniac killers get loose on a Greek island.
- DirectorGiulio ParadisiStarsMel FerrerGlenn FordLance HenriksenThe soul of a young girl with telekinetic powers and her mother become the prize in a battle between good ETs and evil ETs.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiIsabelle AdjaniBruno GanzCount Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.