A Century of Horror

1950s

House of Wax

Shockingly, this is—adjusted for inflation—the second highest grossing horror movie of all time following The Exorcist. Call it the Avatar effect, I guess, because House of Wax also was the forerunner of the wave of ‘50s 3D movies. These are mostly fun historical facts, because, ignoring that, this is still a banger of a film. You get both flavors of Vincent Price lead, vulnerable hero and evil mastermind, thanks to the flashforward structure showing the villain’s sensitive backstory.

Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow

Ok, I will admit that people who are not Jacob deNobel might not see this as a Must-See movie the way I do, but fuck it, it’s my website and I’m going to recommend it! This is mostly just a fun hot-rodding teen movie, but in the final third they go to one of the all-time great movie costume parties. Skeleton dances, rock bands, monster antics, it’s got it all! It all wraps up with a shockingly meta ending.

Also Recommended

Curse of the Demon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invaders from Mars, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Witch, Dementia, House on Haunted Hill, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, A Bucket of Blood, The Fly, The Revenge of Frankenstein, Revenge of the Creature, Return of the Fly, The Mummy, Dracula