Are the 1970s the best decade for horror? I'm sure that's debatable, but it's definitely one of the best decades. Horror – when done well – always reflects the era it exists in, and in the '70s, people were still reeling from the turbulent 1960s, with the Vietnam War very much still a reality. As a result, the horror of the era is often loaded with heavy themes and violence that was – at the time – quite shocking.
And now, The Criterion Channel is bringing 29 of those movies together for October (well, technically 28 – one of them doesn't arrive until November, so I'm not entirely sure why Criterion included it on this list) in order to help with your Halloween season movie marathon. Here's how they're describing the collection:
In the 1970s, everything was wilder, weirder, and more far-out—and horror movies were no exception. In North America, a new generation of maverick directors like Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), George A. Romero (The Crazies), Wes Craven (The Hills Have Eyes), Brian De Palma (Sisters), and David Cronenberg (The Brood) responded to the decade's heightened political anxieties and Vietnam War–era sense of disillusionment by pushing the genre's psychological intensity and visceral violence to shocking new heights. Across the Atlantic, Britain's legendary Hammer Films continued to serve up old-school gothic spine-tinglers (The Vampire Lovers), while auteurs like Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now) wedded spellbinding terror to art-house experimentation. Bringing together some of the decade's most iconic slashers, chillers, and killer thrillers alongside low-budget cult rarities (Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Deathdream) and camp-tastic oddities (Trog, Theater of Blood), this tour through the 1970s nightmare realm is a veritable blood feast of perverse pleasures from a time when gore, grime, and sleaze found a permanent home in horror.
And here's the list of films, all of which (save one) will be available on October 1:
Trog, Freddie Francis, 1970
The Vampire Lovers, Roy Ward Baker, 1970
Daughters of Darkness, Harry Kümel, 1971
Let's Scare Jessica to Death, John D. Hancock, 1971
The Nightcomers, Michael Winner, 1971
Dracula A.D. 1972, Alan Gibson, 1972
Images, Robert Altman, 1972
Death Line, Gary Sherman, 1972
Season of the Witch, George A. Romero, 1972
The Crazies, George A. Romero, 1973
Don't Look Now, Nicolas Roeg, 1973
Ganja & Hess, Bill Gunn, 1973
Sisters, Brian De Palma, 1973
Theater of Blood, Douglas Hickox, 1973
The Wicker Man, Robin Hardy, 1973
Black Christmas, Bob Clark, 1974
Deathdream, Bob Clark, 1974
It's Alive, Larry Cohen, 1974
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper, 1974
Shivers, David Cronenberg, 1975
The Tenant, Roman Polanski, 1976 (Available November 1)
The Witch Who Came from the Sea, Matt Cimber, 1976
The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven, 1977
Rabid, David Cronenberg, 1977
Coma, Michael Crichton, 1978
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Philip Kaufman, 1978
Long Weekend, Colin Eggleston, 1978
The Brood, David Cronenberg, 1979
The Driller Killer, Abel Ferrara, 1979
