Horror Films of the 1970s -My Personal Top 10

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The 1970s were a golden age for horror films for me. Directors pushed boundaries, studios took risks, and audiences experienced a level of terror that had rarely been seen before. As a kid growing up during that era, before my teen years of the 80’s, these films left a lasting impression on me. Some terrified me, some fascinated me, and they all sparked my lifelong interest in the paranormal and the unexplained.

This list isn’t necessarily the most famous horror films of the 1970s—it’s the ones that impacted ME PERSONALLY the most.

Surprisingly, one film that many horror fans might expect on this list—The Texas Chain Saw Massacre—didn’t impact me because I never watched it in the 70’s. It was when I was an adult did I finally get around to watching it. So my apologies for not including it in the list.

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#10. Burnt Offerings (1976)

Starring Karen Black and Oliver Reed

Stayed up late to watch this one. Slow burn. Psychological terror. Creepy as heck. Karen Black very good in this one. Scared my little old 8 year old self to death!

#9. JAWS (1975)

Starring Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider

Not really horror but for for me personally, it was horror and suspense. Absolutely pulse-pounding! Who will ever forget that music with JAWS in the water. To this day I have an unnatural fear of swimming in the ocean.

#8. The Amityville Horror (1979)

Starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder.

This was the quintessential haunted house trope of the 1970’s. Another slow-burn with creeping dread, family tension, religious horror, and that iconic “evil eye” window shape! To this very day if I wake up at 3:15 a.m. i get a little worried!

#7 Halloween

Directed by John Carpenter. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis

I think this might have been my first slasher movie I ever saw. This one felt close to home for me. Here was the horror villain (Michael Myers) in a everyday suburbia neighborhood terrorizing young babysitters and the kids she was watching. And on Halloween night of all nights! Needless to say but I always kept a watchful eye behind me on Halloween night after that.

#6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Starring: Donald Sutherland

Ok this one can be Sci-Fi / Horror. Saw this one at the drive-in with my parents. The idea of Aliens making “pods” creating replicas of our friends and family that are emotionless duplicates was unsettling and grotesque. The ending scene with Donald Sutherland is a visual I still remember all these years later.

#5. Carrie (1976)

Starring: Sissy Spacek

Sissy Spacek was so damn creepy in this. From her gawky appearance, her quiet demeanor, to her vengeful gaze with pig blood dumped all over her. Her overly religious zealot of a Mom terrorizing her for her “misdeeds” was creepy. I can still hear the Mom saying to Carrie, “they’re all gonna laugh at you!” I find myself repeating this line in real life quite often!

#4. Phantasm (1979)

Directed by Don Coscarelli. Starring Angus Scrim as “The Tall Man”

Hands down this movie freaked me out big time when I was a kid. I loved it so much I made a tombstone for my Halloween graveyard dedicated to Angus Scrim. This film deliberately blurred the lines between nightmares and reality, which created a confusing and deep sense of unease. You were never really sure what was real.  I think it’s way scarier when they focus on those quiet, empty spaces and that creepy unknown vibe, like in mausoleums and stuff. It creates this constant, dread-filled atmosphere that totally gets under your skin, instead of just relying on cheap jump scares.

#3. The Omen (1976)

Starring: Gregory Peck

Who can forget that iconic satanic, devil music that sounded like it came straight from a black mass ritual? Or the scene at the start of the movie when the nanny leaps from the upstairs window with a rope around her neck at Damien’s outdoor birthday party? “Look at me Damien, it’s all for you!” I get chills just remembering that scene as I write this!

#2. Salem’s Lot (1979)

Directed by Tobe Hooper and based on Stephen King’s novel. Starring David Soul

First time seeing a Vampire that did not look like the traditional Bella Lugosi type. He resembled more of the Nosferatu style vampire which I find way more terrifying. I don’t even know where to begin on this one. Absolutely terrifying movie for me. The vampire, aka “Kurt Barlow” paralyzed me with fear. His bald blueish skin, long claws, sharp teeth, and no dialogue, focusing on a feral, animalistic horror. The scene with the vampire boy floating up to his friend’s window and scratching it to be let in, or the morgue scene with David Soul, or the scene when we get to see Mr. Barlow for the very first time. Oh my, I could go on and on!

#1. The Exorcist

Starring Linda Blair

Ok. I know this is probably everyone’s number one and I am no exception. What can be said about this movie that hasn’t already been said? If you’ve seen it than you already know how disturbing it was. I literally slept with the hallway light on outside my upstairs bedroom (I had no door) for 2 weeks after seeing this movie. Even though this movie is now 53 years old it still stands the test of time and is THE quintessential demonic possession movie ever!\

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