A Century of Horror
1970s
Phase IV
Poster and title credits artist Saul Bass (the man who storyboarded the Psycho shower scene AND created the poster for The Shining) got one shot at directing, and MAN did he take a big swing.
An asteroid drops and mutates an ant-colony, advancing their cognition to beyond our own. Soon, they’re creating geometric displays and inventing the concept of crop circles!
Then begins a game of cat-and-mouse as two researchers begin a deadly game with their ant foes trying to determine just how brilliant they are.
Genuinely conceptually unnerving, bold creative choices (we genuinely spend as much time with ant protagonists as humans), stylistically stunning…Phase IV is a classic monster movie told as an art-house shocker.
Make sure to look up the original ending after you finish the theatrical cut. The studio for some reason hired Saul Bass to make a movie and then made him cut out the Saul Bass stuff at the end.
Horror Express
Do you want to watch Murder on the Orient Express, The Thing, and Dawn of the Dead, but don’t have the time? Why not try Horror Express, an absolutely wild chiller featuring horror icons Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and non-horror icon Telly Savalas.
The year is 1906 and a researcher has brought a frozen caveman on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Oops, the caveman thaws and starts murdering people on the train. But is it the caveman who’s evil, or is it the alien inhabiting his body who can suck out the brains and memories of others?
It’s probably the alien.
The Crazies
Overshadowed both by its 2010 remake and the “of the Dead” franchise that followed it, The Crazies is one of horror master George Romero’s most underrated films. An army plane crashes and releases a bioweapon into a Pennsylvania town’s water supply. The virus is highly contagious and makes people go murderous and mad with rage.
Grim in a way that only 1970s films can be, this movie is must-watch post-pandemic cinema. It takes the hopeless personal stories of the Night of the Living Dead and layers on a textured look at government response to that kind of disaster.
Also Recommended
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Wicker Man, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, House, Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, Phantasm, MadHouse, Twins of Evil, Images, The Horror of Frankenstein, Shock, Vampire Circus, Baron Blood, And Now the Screaming Starts, Horror Express, The Vampire Lovers, Carrie, Bay of Blood, Dracula A.D. 1972, Zombie, Dracula, Rabid, Shivers, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Tales from the Cryypt, Deep Red, Theatre of Blood, Nosferatu, Cat of Nine Tails, Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Martin, Lust for a Vampire, Cathy’s Curse, Messiah of Evil, The Omen