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by gene dolders
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage – 1970
Director: Dario Argento
Plot: Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante) whilst on holiday in Italy, witnesses an attempted murder in an art gallery. He soon finds himself being hunted by the same killer.
Trivia: A character is shown dialing “113” at a pay phone. Italy has multiple emergency numbers, with “112” being the main emergency number, equivalent to 911 in the US or 999 in the UK. 113 specifically calls the state police.
The Exorcist – 1973
Director: William Friedkin
Plot: Regan (Linda Blair) is possessed by an evil spirit, which slowly devours her body both inside and out. Father Karras (Jason Miller) is brought in by Regan’s Mother (Ellen Burstyn) in hopes that he will perform an exorcism and rid her daughter of the evil spirit.
Trivia: In the movie Regan tells her Mother that she has made friends with someone called Captain Howdy. This is actually the evil spirit, which ends up possessing her. I actually refer to my son as Captain, as he is a little demon himself.
The Crazies – 1973
Director: George Romero
Plot: A small town is sealed off by the military when a virus is accidently leaked in to the water supply. The virus sends people on killing sprees, allowing for some much needed cardio.
Trivia: S. William Hinzman : , the film’s cinematographer, as the local who shoots at the fed’s operation station.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – 1974
Director: Tobe Hooper
Plot: A group of hippies stumble upon a house from hell, where the residing family love to eat meat. The kind that comes from human flesh. This movie features the infamous Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) as the chainsaw wielding maniac.
Trivia: Apparently the famous dinner sequence in the movie was shot as a series of Masters. This means that every angle that you see in the movie, the actors had to perform the entire scene for the camera so that when editing Tobe Hooper had as much possible footage to chose from.
Black Christmas – 1974
Director: Bob Clark
Plot: Strange and obscene phone calls are being made to a sorority house. Lt. Ken Fuller (John Saxon) with help from female co-eds Bard (Margot Kidder) and Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) work together to find out who is making the calls and why members of the sorority are going missing.
Trivia: The audio for the demented phones calls was edited into the film during post-production. While shooting the footage for the phone call scenes the actresses were actually just reacting to threatening dialog being spoken from director Bob Clark from off-camera.
Profondo Rosso – 1975
Director: Dario Argento
Plot: A musician (David Hemmings) and a journalist (Daria Nicolodi) work together to figure out just who in the hell is killing people around the city. They figure it out.
Trivia: The close-up shots of the killer’s hands, clad in black leather gloves, were performed by director Dario Argento himself.
Dawn of the Dead – 1978
Director: George Romero
Plot: Two national guard soldiers (Ken Foree & Scott H. Reiniger) travel with traffic reporter (Devid Emge) and his girlfriend (Gaylen Ross) across America as zombies take over the country. They find safety in an abandoned mall, but it doesn’t last forever and soon they are fighting to survive against more than just the undead.
Trivia: Extras who appeared in this film were reportedly given $1 in cash, a donut, and a Dawn of the Dead T-shirt.
Zombie Flesh Eaters – 1979
Director: Lucio Fulci
Plot: Peter West (Ian McCulloch) and Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow) travel to the remote island of Matul to discover what has happened to Annes father. The answer is simple, ZOMBIES!
Trivia: Since there was no CGI at the time, and the production didn’t have the budget for fancy animatronics, a real tiger shark was used for the infamous zombie vs shark fight scene. As the tiger shark is one of the most dangerous shark species that exists, the shark’s trainer Ramón Bravo fed the shark right before filming as well as doping it up with sedatives.
City of the Living Dead – 1980
Director: Lucio Fulci
Plot: A psychic (Catriona MacColl) and a journalist (Christopher George) make a trip to a small town where evil has taken over and the end of the world is soon to come to pass.
Trivia: First part of Lucio Fulci ‘s “Gates of Hell” Trilogy, which also include The Beyond (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981).
Nightmare City – 1980
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Plot: Journalist (Hugo Stiglitz) and his wife (Laura Trotter) must escape the city after a military plane lands at the airport, transporting bloody thirsty monsters hell bent on killing everyone they come across.
Trivia: The movie was released in Italy in 1980, in Germany in 1980, and in the United States in 1983 under the title City of the Walking Dead.
The Fog – 1980
Director: John Carpenter
Plot: At night a mysterious fog emerges from the sea and blankets the a small town. Within the fog are unholy creatures, which slash and kill anyone that they come across. Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) and Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis) must survive long enough to figure out what is causing this all to happen.
Trivia: The lead ghost, Blake, was played by makeup specialist Rob Bottin .
The Beyond – 1981
Director: Lucio Fulci
Plot: Liza (Catriona MacColl) inherits a hotel. But no one told her that it was built upon one of the seven doors to hell. Dr. John McCabe (David Warbeck) helps Liza as best he can to understand the madness that is going on around her. Until it is too late, and the doorway is opened.
Trivia: Larry Ray , who plays the window cleaner, was head of the Louisiana Film Commission at the time.
The Final Terror – 1983
Director: Andrew Davis
Plot: When a group of forest rangers go on a training weekend, they are picked off one by one by a demented killer. Is it the weirdo Eggar (Joe Pantoliano) that is to blame?
Trivia: The film was shot in 1981, but was shelved when the filmmakers couldn’t find a distributor right away. It wasn’t until 1983 when it was released to capitalize on the rising stardom of Daryl Hannah and Adrian Zmed.
Stage Fright – 1987
Director: Michele Soavi
Plot: Whilst rehearsing for a play, a maniac sneaks in to the theatre and starts to kill cast and crew members off one by one.
Trivia: Director Michele Soavi cameos as the young cop staked out in the patrol car outside the theater.
Night of the Living Dead – 1990
Director: Tom Savini
Plot: A group of strangers, held up in an old farmhouse, must hold off a horde of zombies until help can arrive. Inevitably they all get on each others nerves and can’t be bothered to work together, so they die.
Trivia: In the beginning when the character of Barbara (Patricia Tallman) walks along the path to the old farmhouse she is barefoot. As the pathway had stones on it, you will see her take a short rest, where she is actually putting shoes on so as not to hurt her feet as they shoot the rest of the scene. The camera is high up, so we can’t see her placing the shoes on her feet.
Mute Witness – 1995
Director: Anthony Waller
Plot: Whilst an American Director (Evan Richards) is making a horror movie in Russia, his Special Effects Make-Up Artist (Marina Zudina) witnesses a snuff movie being made late at night on the same set they have been filming on during the day.
Trivia: The shots of Alec Guinness in the movie were filmed a decade before the rest of the movie went in to production.
The Blair Witch Project – 1999
Directors: Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez
Plot: Camerman Joshua Leonard and soundman Michael C. Williams are led in to the woods by Heather Donahue to film a documentary, and never seen again. The footage of their documentary is found and edited together to show their demise.
Trivia: All the actors used their own names within the movie.
Cabin Fever – 2002
Director: Eli Roth
Plot: A group of college students head to a cabin in the woods. The water supply has been tainted and a flesh-eating virus is now taking hold of those, who drink or bathe in it. Deputy Winston (Guiseppe Andrews) is the local law enforcement and one of the greatest supporting characters I’ve even seen in a movie.
Trivia: Music from the movie The Last House on the Left was used within Cabin Fever.
The Sacrament – 2013
Director: Ti West
Plot: A documentary film crew head to Eden Parish, following a man searching for his sister. Father (Gene Jones) is a cult like figure head, who all at Eden Parish worship.
Trivia: This film is clearly based on the real life drama of the Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana in 1978.
The Dark and the Wicked – 2020
Director: Bryan Bertino
Plot: Louise (Marin Ireland) and her brother Micheal (Michael Abbott Jr) head back to their childhood home, a farmhouse, to help their Mother (Julie Oliver-Touchstone) take care of their dying Father. Within the darkness an evil is present, wanting to take the souls of all those who reside at the farm.
Trivia: Was filmed at the director’s family farm.
Yes, I know The Crazies is also on my top 20 sci-fi film list, but its a great film that spans both genres.
