Must-See Horror Films Part 2

You may note that there are very few films in the list for the 50s. That's because entertainment shifted in the 50s. Studios kept churning out Westerns and musicals, and sci-fi became the biggest craze. The world entered the atomic age, and flying saucers were seen everywhere after the national news story out of Roswell. But there were some horror films that made it to the screen which deserve a viewing.

1950s

"The Fly"

Yes, the David Cronenberg remake starring Jeff Goldblum has better effects and is really quite horrifying, but you should also see the original. The premise is the same - a scientist invents a matter transmitter (essentially a teleportation machine) through which matter can be broken down into energy and sent to another transmitter, where it is reassembled. After a number of successful attempts on inanimate matter, he decides to try it on himself, not knowing there is a fly in the other transmitter. When the machine is activated, the fly and the scientist are mixed, and the scientist finds his head and one hand have been replaced with that of the fly. He must then try to find the fly to reverse the procedure. A fly with a horrific tiny human head on it. Stop and think about that. A human with a fly head is pretty bad, but comical. What's really horrifying is the fly with the human head.

"The Blob"

No, not the obese evil mutant from X-Men comics, this is an actual blob that comes from outer space, cracking out of a meteorite and terrorizing a city. What's so terrifying about a blob? Well, it starts relatively small. But it eats organic matter, such as food, animals, and people. It prefers living organic matter, and each time it eats, it grows adding those animals or people to its mass, incorporating them, slowly and painfully dissolving them. And it can go anywhere, flowing up surfaces, creeping, oozing. And nothing seems to stop it, not bullets or tanks. It just keeps on coming.This original stars film legend Steve McQueen. There is also a decent remake starring Kevin Dillon.

"Godzilla"

"What?" you say, "That's not a horror film, it's a sci-fi film, or kaiju!" Silence! I contest that the original film is a horror film, meant to be scary. The others may not be, and I agree they start to follow a pattern followed by all kaiju or giant monster films. But in the original Godzilla film, you don't even see him for a significant part of the movie. Like the shark in "Jaws" you see parts of him, or the damage he does, making you wonder what's there in the ocean bothering these ships, and then you see and all hell breaks loose.

"Plan 9 from Outer Space"

You can argue that it's a sci-fi film, based even on the fact that it has "From Outer Space" in the title, and the plot involves aliens. I counter that it's aliens trying to take over the Earth by raising the dead as zombies. Zombies are horror. And it's Bela Lugosi's last film. Bela exhudes horror. Okay, you may say, but it's an Ed Wood film, dubbed "the worst film ever made." Exactly. I didn't say the film on this list are all great. Actually almost all of them are. But they all should be seen, and this one is so bad you have to see it, and then you should see a good film, "Ed Wood," directed by Tim Burton.

"House of Wax"

Once again we have a film in which the remake (starring Paris Hilton) has better effects, but the original (starring Vincent Price) is a better film. In the original Price stars as a wax sculptor famous for his wax museum. The secret of his success is, his sculptures aren't just inspired by real people, they have real people in them. For those of you watching it for the first time, there may be bits that don't' make a lot of sense, such as a scene where a performer keeps bouncing two paddle balls at the camera. There's a reason for that - the film was originally in 3 D.

1960s

"Psycho"

The original slasher film, based on the novel by Robert Bloch, it spawned 3 sequels, a remake, and an excellent TV series. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, if you've never seen it, I won't spoil the surprises for you.

"The Birds"

Hitchcock's next film after "Psycho," it is again something different from all his previous films, and it was groundbreaking. In a small oceanside town, birds suddenly start attacking people. All kinds of birds, for no apparent reason. Hitchcock does a great job of making the viewer feel uneasy, doing the movie entirely without incidental music, but keeping the sound of birds moving and making noise an almost constant, like a psychological assault. You'll always feel uneasy when seeing a row of birds sitting on a telephone wire after this.

"Last Man on Earth"

The first and to date most faithful adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel, I Am Legend, this bleak, horrifying film finds Vincent Price as the lone normal human, fighting for survival in a world where a global pandemic has turned everyone else into largely mindless vampires.

"Night of the Living Dead"

George Romero's legendary first film, which set the standard for zombie films for decades to come, remains terrifying to this day. Done on a shoestring budget with only local actors, the film still tells a great story without seeming cheap or corny at all.

"Black Sunday"

One of my favorite horror films, it has one of the single most brutal scenes I have ever witnessed in a film, right in the beginning. So brutal I had to turn the movie off and go back weeks later after I thought I could take it. The film stars horror legend Barbara Steele as a witch who is tortured and executed, but who returns centuries later to fulfill her curse on the town that put her and her lover to death.

"Black Sabbath"

Yes, the movie that inspired the name of the legendary band. The film is the best kind of anthology - each segment is good, and different from the other segments. Perhaps the most memorable stars horror legend Boris Karloff as a vampire who preys upon his own family. Not easy to find, but worth the effort.

"Rosemary’s Baby"

There's a lot to be said for this film. It kink of set the tone for a number of devil-themed films that would trend in the decade to come. Unlike a lot of other horror films before it, "Rosemary's Baby" wasn't set in the past. It was present-day, to make it seem like it could happen to anyone. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) is a young woman trying to have a baby with her husband, a struggling actor. They befriend an old neighbor couple, who are a bit overbearing, a bit weird, but charming. Over the course of the film, strange accidents occur that end up benefitting Rosemary and her husband, such as him getting a coveted role when tragedy strikes another actor. This starts to bother Rosemary, but everyone around her says she's just silly. A silly pregnant woman. It's natural. But is there more to it? It seems everyone around Rosemary is strange. And even the baby inside her seems strange...

"Village of the Damned"

While some say all children are beautiful, nothing could ever be wrong or creepy about a child, some disagree, and this film pleads a pretty strong case in their favor. Set in a small English town, the film is about a strange day when everyone in town fell asleep at the same time, and afterwards, all the women were pregnant, all delivering on the same day. All delivering little pale, blonde-haired children with haunted frightening eyes. The children are perfectly behaved, but as time goes on they seem to display psychic powers, and a collective mind. Are they truly human? And what can be done about them?

Next: The 1970s