Top Ten 60’s Horror Films
Before the slasher films of the 70’s and 80’s, there were the films of the sixties that inspired them all. These films set the foundations for modern horror and gave rise to iconic actors such as Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing. Many of these films have stood the test of time so if you are looking for some early works, check out the top ten 60’s horror films.
- Psycho – Alfred Hitchcock’s classic serial killer tale that made you scared to take a shower. Lonely motel owner Norma Bates puts up with his mother telling him what to do. The problem is, his mother is dead.
- Night of the Living Dead – George A. Romero’s first zombie flick and the one that set up all the characteristics of a good zombie film. Rule number one: zombies eat living flesh. Rule number two: No matter how well you hide, they always seem to find you.
- Rosemary’s Baby – Hands down, one of the creepiest horror films of that entire decade and still pretty creepy today. A satanic cult drugs up a woman for a date with the devil. When she gets knocked up, you know it’s going to be bad news.
- The Haunting – The original, not that cheesy remake with Liam Neeson, really was a haunting movie. A doctor conducting research into the supernatural leads a team to investigate a haunted mansion. But one of his team members feels a real attraction to the place.
- The Birds – Another Alfred Hitchcock classic, this time with nature running wild. In the movie a huge flock of birds decides to go kamikaze against people. It will make you think twice about that group of birds sitting on the power lines.
- Witchfinder General – Also known as The Conqueror Worm, this is Vincent Price at his best. He plays a sadistic witch hunter in Europe during the Middle Ages. Innocence doesn’t seem to bother him as long as the victims confess about something.
- Village of the Damned – John Carpenter later did a remake but the original, filmed in 1960, was far better. In it, spirits get it on with the women in a village. They end up pregnant and give birth to blond children with supernatural abilities.
- Curse of the Werewolf – One of the famous Hammer films from Britain, it was one of the company’s better films. A Spanish nobleman suffers from the curse of a werewolf and gets all hairy during the full moon. It has some great acting by the impeccable Oliver Reed.
- The Pit and the Pendulum – Another great movie with Vincent Price, this time adapting an Edgar Allen Poe story. A man is a prisoner during the Spanish Inquisition. He gets strapped to a table and watches as a razor sharp pendulum tries to do the old magic trick of sawing him in half.
- The Fearless Vampire Killers – This farce by Roman Polanski pokes serious fun at the vampire genre. An investigator and his assistant stumble upon a group of undead led by a vampire count. In the same vein as Abbot and Costello, this film is also known as Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are In My Neck.
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Best Horror Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.