100 Best ’70s Horror Movies

Critics Consensus: Compelling, well-crafted storytelling and a judicious sense of terror ensure Steven Spielberg's Jaws has remained a benchmark in the art of delivering modern blockbuster thrills.

Synopsis: When a young woman is killed by a shark while skinny-dipping near the New England tourist town of Amity Island, police chief Martin Brody (Roy... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Critics Consensus: Scary, suspenseful, and viscerally thrilling, Halloween set the standard for modern horror films.

Synopsis: On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes, P.J. Soles

Directed By: John Carpenter

Critics Consensus: A blunt yet visceral depiction of society's treatment of the elderly, The Amusement Park sees George A. Romero exploring a different -- yet still chilling -- type of terror.

Synopsis: Recently discovered and restored 46 years after its completion by the George A. Romero Foundation and produced by Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, The Amusement Park stars Martin's... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lincoln Maazel, Harry Albacker, Phyllis Casterwiler, Pete Chovan

Directed By: George A. Romero

Critics Consensus: Made with obvious affection for the original, Young Frankenstein is a riotously silly spoof featuring a fantastic performance by Gene Wilder.

Synopsis: Respected medical lecturer Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) learns that he has inherited his infamous grandfather's estate in Transylvania. Arriving at the castle, Dr. Frankenstein... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman

Directed By: Mel Brooks

Critics Consensus: The blood pours freely in Argento's classic Suspiria, a giallo horror as grandiose and glossy as it is gory.

Synopsis: Suzy (Jessica Harper) travels to Germany to attend ballet school. When she arrives, late on a stormy night, no one lets her in, and she... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Joan Bennett, Eva Axén

Directed By: Dario Argento

Critics Consensus: A modern classic, Alien blends science fiction, horror and bleak poetry into a seamless whole.

Synopsis: In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Critics Consensus: Carrie is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst -- and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history.

Synopsis: In this chilling adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel, withdrawn and sensitive teen Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) faces taunting from classmates at school and abuse... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, William Katt, Amy Irving

Directed By: Brian De Palma

Critics Consensus: Stunning visuals from Werner Herzog and an intense portrayal of the famed bloodsucker from Klaus Kinski make Nosferatu the Vampyre a horror classic in its own right.

Synopsis: Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Virna, where he lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor

Directed By: Werner Herzog

Critics Consensus: Employing gritty camerawork and evocative sound effects, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a powerful remake that expands upon themes and ideas only lightly explored in the original.

Synopsis: This remake of the classic horror film is set in San Francisco. Matthew Bennell assumes that when a friend complains of her husband's strange mood,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartwright

Directed By: Philip Kaufman

Critics Consensus: Don't Look Now patiently builds suspense with haunting imagery and a chilling score -- causing viewers to feel Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie's grief deep within.

Synopsis: Still grieving over the accidental death of their daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) head to Venice, Italy, where... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania

Directed By: Nicolas Roeg

Critics Consensus: One of the most compelling and entertaining zombie films ever, Dawn of the Dead perfectly blends pure horror and gore with social commentary on material society.

Synopsis: As hordes of zombies swarm over the U.S., the terrified populace tries everything in their power to escape the attack of the undead, but neither... View Full Synopsis

Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Gaylen Ross, Scott H. Reiniger

Directed By: George A. Romero

Critics Consensus: Visually mesmerizing, Picnic at Hanging Rock is moody, unsettling, and enigmatic -- a masterpiece of Australian cinema and a major early triumph for director Peter Weir.

Synopsis: In the early 1900s, Miranda (Anne Lambert) attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress (Rachel Roberts) treats... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, Helen Morse, Jacki Weaver

Directed By: Peter Weir

Critics Consensus: This intelligent horror film is subtle in its thrills and chills, with an ending that is both shocking and truly memorable.

Synopsis: Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives on the small Scottish island of Summerisle to investigate the report of a missing child. A conservative Christian, the policeman... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento

Directed By: Robin Hardy

Critics Consensus: House is a gleefully demented collage of grand guginol guffaws and bizarre sequences.

Synopsis: In an effort to avoid spending time with her father and his creepy new lover, young Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) resolves to visit her aunt's remote... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kimiko Ikegami, Ai Matsubara, Miki Jinbo, Eriko Tanaka

Directed By: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi

Critics Consensus: George A. Romero's contribution to vampire lore contains the expected gore and social satire -- but it's also surprisingly thoughtful, and boasts a whopper of a final act.

Synopsis: Young Martin (John Amplas) is entirely convinced that he is an 84-year-old blood-sucking vampire. Without fangs or mystical powers, Martin injects women with sedatives and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, Elyane Nadeau

Directed By: George A. Romero

Critics Consensus: Duel makes brilliant use of its simple premise, serving up rock-solid genre thrills while heralding the arrival of a generational talent behind the lens.

Synopsis: David Mann (Dennis Weaver), a mild-mannered electronics salesman, is driving cross-country on a two-lane highway when he encounters an old oil tanker driven by an... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Dennis Weaver, Tim Herbert, Charles Seel, Eddie Firestone

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Critics Consensus: Deliciously campy and wonderfully funny, Theater of Blood features Vincent Price at his melodramatic best.

Synopsis: Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) is incensed that his last season of performances in Shakespearean plays did not win him a prestigious acting award from critics.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Robert Morley, Ian Hendry

Directed By: Douglas Hickox

Critics Consensus: The Abominable Dr. Phibes juggles horror and humor, but under the picture's campy façade, there's genuine pathos brought poignantly to life through Price's performance.

Synopsis: In a desperate attempt to reach his ill wife, organist Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) is horrifically disfigured in a car accident and presumed dead. When... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Terry-Thomas, Hugh Griffith

Directed By: Robert Fuest

Critics Consensus: David Lynch's surreal Eraserhead uses detailed visuals and a creepy score to create a bizarre and disturbing look into a man's fear of parenthood.

Synopsis: Henry (John Nance) resides alone in a bleak apartment surrounded by industrial gloom. When he discovers that an earlier fling with Mary X (Charlotte Stewart)... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates

Directed By: David Lynch

Critics Consensus: The Omen eschews an excess of gore in favor of ramping up the suspense -- and creates an enduring, dread-soaked horror classic along the way.

Synopsis: American diplomat Robert (Gregory Peck) adopts Damien (Harvey Stephens) when his wife, Katherine (Lee Remick), delivers a stillborn child. After Damien's first nanny hangs herself,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw

Directed By: Richard Donner

Critics Consensus: Clever yet clearly indebted to the masters of the genre, Sisters offers an early glimpse of De Palma at his stylishly crafty peak.

Synopsis: Inquisitive journalist Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt) is horrified when she witnesses her neighbor, fashion model Danielle Breton (Margot Kidder), violently murder a man. Panicking, she... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning, William Finley

Directed By: Brian De Palma

Critics Consensus: Combining a deadly thriller plot with stylized violence, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage marks an impressive horror debut for Dario Argento.

Synopsis: An American writer, Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante), is living in Rome with his girlfriend, Julia (Suzy Kendall). While visiting an art gallery, Sam witnesses an... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Eva Renzi, Enrico Maria Salerno

Directed By: Dario Argento

Critics Consensus: Thanks to a smart script and documentary-style camerawork, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre achieves start-to-finish suspense, making it a classic in low-budget exploitation cinema.

Synopsis: Young adults encounter a house full of demented butchers who chase them with chain saws and other deadly tools.

Starring: Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain

Directed By: Tobe Hooper

Critics Consensus: Brian De Palma's subversive streak is on full display in Phantom of the Paradise, an ebullient rock opera that rhapsodizes creativity when it isn't seething with disdain for the music industry.

Synopsis: After record producer Swan (Paul Williams) steals the music of songwriter Winslow Leach (William Finley) and gives it to one of his bands, Leach sneaks... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, George Memmoli

Directed By: Brian De Palma

Critics Consensus: The Exorcist rides its supernatural theme to magical effect, with remarkable special effects and an eerie atmosphere, resulting in one of the scariest films of all time.

Synopsis: One of the most profitable horror movies ever made, this tale of an exorcism is based loosely on actual events. When young Regan (Linda Blair)... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb

Directed By: William Friedkin

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Oliviero is a drunk, burned-out writer who amuses himself by hosting orgies and humiliating his wife. When a number of women are murdered in grisly... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli, Ivan Rassimov

Directed By: Sergio Martino

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Reporter Kolchak (Darren McGavin) searches Seattle for a killer who seems to be strangling his victims every 20 years and taking a little of their...

Starring: Darren McGavin, Jo Ann Pflug, Simon Oakland, Scott Brady

Directed By: Dan Curtis

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: While searching for her missing father, a woman (Mariana Hill) comes to a town crawling with flesh-eating zombies.

Starring: Michael Greer, Marianna Hill, Joy Bang, Anitra Ford

Directed By: Willard Huyck

Critics Consensus: The kinetic camerawork and brutal over-the-top gore that made Dario Argento famous is on full display, but the addition of a compelling, complex story makes Deep Red a masterpiece.

Synopsis: A psychic medium (Macha Méril) is brutally murdered, and musician Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) feels a need to solve the case, since he was the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Clara Calamai

Directed By: Dario Argento

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Quiet, withdrawn 13-year-old Rynn Jacobs (Jodie Foster) lives peacefully in her home in a New England beach town. Whenever the prying landlady (Alexis Smith) inquires... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Alexis Smith, Scott Jacoby

Directed By: Nicolas Gessner

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Germs from the stab of an ancient dagger turn two lovers (Duane Jones, Marlene Clark) into immortal vampires.

Starring: Duane Jones, Marlene Clark, William Gunn, Sam Waymon

Directed By: William Gunn

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A Scotland Yard inspector (John Bennett) learns how four tenants of a country house met macabre fates.

Starring: John Bennett, Denholm Elliott, Peter Cushing, John Bryans

Directed By: Peter Duffell

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: When people in a tourist group get lost within ancient catacombs, they meet the sinister Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson), who tells each of them their... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ralph Richardson, Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Geoffrey Bayldon

Directed By: Fred Francis

Critics Consensus: Director Tobe Hooper and a devilishly charismatic James Mason elevate this television adaptation of the Stephen King novel, injecting the vampiric tradition with fresh blood and lingering scares.

Synopsis: Based on the Stephen King novel, Ben Mears (David Soul) has returned to his hometown of Salem's Lot to write a book about the supposedly... View Full Synopsis

Starring: David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia

Directed By: Tobe Hooper

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets), a bitter married couple teetering on the edge of divorce, take a camping trip to heal the rift... View Full Synopsis

Starring: John Hargreaves, Briony Behets, Mike McEwen, Michael Aitkens

Directed By: Colin Eggleston

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: After several high-profile newspapers fire him for his difficult attitude, investigative journalist Carl Kolchak finds a job following the police beat for a small Las... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker

Directed By: John Llewellyn Moxey

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A reporter and a young woman investigate a series of child murders in a remote town.

Starring: Florinda Bolkan, Barbara Bouchet, Tomas Milian, Irene Papas

Directed By: Lucio Fulci

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Baron Frankenstein (Udo Kier) dreams of restoring Serbia to glory, so he builds male and female monsters whose children will become the new master race.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Monique van Vooren, Srdjan Zelenovic

Directed By: Paul Morrissey, Anthony M. Dawson

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A social worker (Anjanette Comer) tries to save a teen from his mother (Ruth Roman), who keeps him in diapers and a crib.

Starring: Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, Marianna Hill, Susanne Zenor

Directed By: Ted Post

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A Freudian psychiatrist (Eric Porter) covers up for his patient, the homicidal daughter (Angharad Rees) of Jack the Ripper.

Starring: Eric Porter, Angharad Rees, Jane Merrow, Lynda Baron

Directed By: Peter Sasdy

Critics Consensus: Thanks in large part to Anthony Hopkins' layered performance, Magic is an unusual albeit creepily effective experience.

Synopsis: Corky (Anthony Hopkins), a failed magician, adopts a new ventriloquist act with an abrasive dummy named Fats, and suddenly finds himself lined up for a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, Ed Lauter

Directed By: Richard Attenborough

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A police inspector (Donald Pleasence) discovers that descendants of survivors of a cave-in in the early 1900s are eating London subway riders.

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Ron Pember, Colin McCormack, Norman Rossington

Directed By: Gary Sherman

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A cop does not realize that those responsible for several murders are the living dead.

Starring: Ray Lovelock, Cristina Galbó, Arthur Kennedy, Aldo Massasso

Directed By: Jorge Grau

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: When a wandering man named Crossley (Alan Bates) insinuates himself into the lives of British composer Anthony Fielding (John Hurt) and his wife, Rachel (Susannah... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Alan Bates, Susannah York, John Hurt, Robert Stephens

Directed By: Jerzy Skolimowski

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Following the murder of Countess Federica Donati (Isa Miranda), an heiress possessing a beautiful piece of beachfront property, members of her family and the surrounding... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso, Anna Maria Rosati

Directed By: Mario Bava

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A young biker gang leader makes a pact with the Devil and uses it to win himself eternal life. His gang follow suit and join... View Full Synopsis

Starring: George Sanders, Nicky Henson, Beryl Reid, Mary Larkin

Directed By: Don Sharp

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A man (Zalman King) accused of murder tries to stop hairless people driven to kill by bad LSD in college.

Starring: Zalman King, Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard, Robert Walden

Directed By: Jeff Lieberman

Critics Consensus: Shivers uses elementally effective basic ingredients to brilliant effect - and lays the profoundly unsettling foundation for director David Cronenberg's career to follow.

Synopsis: After a scientist living in a posh apartment complex slaughters a teen girl and kills himself, investigators discover that the murderer had been carrying on... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Paul Hampton, Joe Silver, Lynn Lowry, Allan Kolman

Directed By: David Cronenberg

Critics Consensus: Trilogy of Terror delivers a twisty anthology of macabre stories driven by Karen Black's captivating multi-character performance and whirlwind visuals.

Synopsis: The same woman (Karen Black) appears in three tales as a blackmailed teacher, a tormented lover and opposite sisters.

Starring: Karen Black, Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes

Directed By: Dan Curtis

Critics Consensus: A rough-edged thriller that lacks the precision of Polanski's best work, but makes up for it with its skillful mounting of paranoia, dread, and dark themes.

Synopsis: In Paris, isolated Eastern European émigré Trelkovsky rents an apartment in a spooky old building whose inhabitants regard him with suspicion and even outright hostility.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Shelley Winters

Directed By: Roman Polanski

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: After their father dies, young twin brothers Holland (Martin Udvarnoky) and Niles (Chris Udvarnoky) spend their summer playing around the farm, while their mother (Diana... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur, Chris Udvarnoky, Martin Udvarnoky

Directed By: Robert Mulligan

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A girl is kidnapped and buried alive by criminals demanding a fortune in diamonds from her father's jewelry store.

Starring: Tiffany Bolling, Ben Piazza, Vincent Martorano

Directed By: Guerdon Trueblood

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A Victorian scientist (Peter Cushing) injects his daughter (Lorna Heilbron) with the just-add-water essence of evil.

Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Lorna Heilbron, George Benson

Directed By: Fred Francis

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Newlyweds stop at a posh French hotel on their way to England. They meet a beautiful red-lipped woman whom the hotel owner swears had been... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Delphine Seyrig, Danielle Ouimet, John Karlen, Andrea Rau

Directed By: Harry Kumel

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Traveling performers take revenge against the Serbian villagers whose ancestors killed their leader 100 years ago.

Starring: Adrienne Corri, Laurence Payne, John Moulder-Brown, Thorley Walters

Directed By: Robert Young

Critics Consensus: The Brood is a grotesque, squirming, hilariously shrill exploration of the bizarre and deadly side of motherhood.

Synopsis: A mad doctor tries psychoplasmic therapy on a raging woman soon to be a mother.

Starring: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Henry Beckman

Directed By: David Cronenberg

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Anger stemming from being abused as a child drives an alcoholic's daughter to kill as an adult.

Starring: Millie Perkins, Lonny Chapman, Vanessa Brown, Peggy Feury

Directed By: Matt Cimber

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová), a Czechoslovakian teenager living with her grandmother, is blossoming into womanhood, but that transformation proves secondary to the effects she experiences when... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jaroslava Schallerová, Petr Kopriva, Jirí Prýmek, Jan Klusák

Directed By: Jaromil Jires

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Boston medical resident Susan Wheeler (Geneviève Bujold) becomes suspicious when her friend (Lois Chiles) is left in an irreversible coma after a routine procedure. Once... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley, Rip Torn

Directed By: Michael Crichton

Critics Consensus: The Cat O'Nine Tails is a solidly entertaining Argento outing elevated by a well-chosen cast and the director's distinctive visual style.

Synopsis: A newsman (James Franciscus) works with a blind puzzle-solver (Karl Malden) to catch a killer with mixed-up chromosomes.

Starring: Karl Malden, James Franciscus, Catherine Spaak, Cindy Hamilton

Directed By: Dario Argento

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Hauntings occur after a Japanese peasant woman (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) conspires with her young lover (Tatsuya Fuji) to kill her older husband.

Starring: Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Tatsuya Fuji, Takahiro Tamura, Takuzô Kawatani

Directed By: Nagisa Ôshima

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: An ancient intergalactic warrior arrives on Earth to put a stop to a demonic child's plot to reproduce Satan's next generation of evil.

Starring: Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford, Lance Henriksen, John Huston

Directed By: Giulio Paradisi

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Maimed by bullies at a California high school, a new student (Derrel Maury) engineers acts of revenge.

Starring: Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Kimberly Beck, Robert Carradine

Directed By: Rene Daalder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A New York police detective (Tony Lo Bianco) ties a death rampage to a cult and its leader (Richard Lynch), half man, half alien.

Starring: Tony Lo Bianco, Sandy Dennis, Richard Lynch, Deborah Raffin

Directed By: Larry Cohen

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Presumed dead in Vietnam, a young soldier reappears at his parents' home, but tensions grow within the family as his behavior becomes more odd.

Starring: John Marley, Richard Backus, Lynn Carlin, Henderson Forsythe

Directed By: Bob Clark

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A 19th-century witch hunter (Peter Cushing) cannot tell which of his twin nieces (Mary Collinson) Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas) has bitten.

Starring: Peter Cushing, Mary Collinson, Damien Thomas, Kathleen Byron

Directed By: John Hough

Critics Consensus: Brian De Palma reins in his stylistic flamboyance to eerie effect in The Fury, a telekinetic slow burn that rewards patient viewers with its startling set pieces.

Synopsis: When a devious plot separates CIA agent Peter Sandza (Kirk Douglas) from his son, Robin (Andrew Stevens), the distraught father manages to see through the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Amy Irving, Carrie Snodgress

Directed By: Brian De Palma

Critics Consensus: Its gruesome scares may nauseate more than thrill, but Rabid bites into its story with distinct sophistication and thought-provoking themes.

Synopsis: Surgery leaves a Montreal motorcyclist (Marilyn Chambers) with a bloodsucking appendage in her armpit.

Starring: Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver, Howard Ryshpan

Directed By: David Cronenberg

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A general and a baron hunt a vampire named Carmilla who seduces and bites their daughters.

Starring: Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, George Cole, Madeline Smith

Directed By: Roy Ward Baker

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A couple who inherited an old house learn they share it with small creatures determined to possess the wife's mind.

Starring: Kim Darby, Jim Hutton, Barbara Anderson, William Demarest

Directed By: John Newland

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Furry Schlockthropus man wakes up after 20 million years and kills picnickers for their bananas.

Starring: Saul Kahan, Joseph Piantadosi, Eliza Roberts, John Landis

Directed By: John Landis

Critics Consensus: Phantasm: Remastered adds visual clarity to the first installment in one of horror's most enduring -- and endearingly idiosyncratic -- franchises.

Synopsis: The residents of a small town have begun dying under strange circumstances, leading young Mike (Michael Baldwin) to investigate. After discovering that the Tall Man... View Full Synopsis

Starring: A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, Kathy Lester

Directed By: Don Coscarelli

Critics Consensus: The Legend of Hell House makes up for its disappointing lack of outright scares with a top notch cast and a suitably macabre atmosphere.

Synopsis: Scientist Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill) and his wife, Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt), lead a team into the infamous Belasco House, supposedly haunted by the victims of... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicutt

Directed By: John Hough

Critics Consensus: Performed with a wink and directed with wry self-awareness, Piranha is an unabashed B-movie with satirical bite.

Synopsis: Two people (Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies) unwittingly free a mad military scientist's (Kevin McCarthy) mutant fish near a summer camp and resort lake.

Starring: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn

Directed By: Joe Dante

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A schizophrenic (Susannah York) confuses her husband (Rene Auberjonois) with her lovers and her self.

Starring: Susannah York, Rene Auberjonois, Marcel Bozzuffi, Hugh Millais

Directed By: Robert Altman

Critics Consensus: Alice, Sweet Alice offsets some of its more ludicrous elements with campy slasher thrills and a dazzlingly macabre atmosphere.

Synopsis: Favorite daughter Karen (Brooke Shields) is viciously strangled and set afire in church on the day of her First Communion, and suspicion falls on her... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Paula E. Sheppard, Brooke Shields, Linda Miller, Tom Signorelli

Directed By: Alfred Sole

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: After several coeds are murdered at a college, a professor (Fabio Testi) who is involved with a student becomes a suspect, along with several other... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fabio Testi, Karin Baal, Joachim Fuchsberger, Cristina Galbó

Directed By: Massimo Dallamano

Critics Consensus: The rare slasher with enough intelligence to wind up the tension between bloody outbursts, Black Christmas offers fiendishly enjoyable holiday viewing for genre fans.

Synopsis: As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and the often inebriated Barb (Margot Kidder), begin to receive anonymous, lascivious... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Keir Dullea, John Saxon

Directed By: Bob Clark

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Roger (Peter Fonda), his friend Frank (Warren Oates), and their wives (Lara Parker, Loretta Swit) are heading from San Antonio to the wilderness of rural... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, Lara Parker

Directed By: Jack Starrett

Critics Consensus: Love at First Bite could use some more warm-blooded barbs to liven up its undead comedy, but George Hamilton's campy charisma gives the prince of darkness some welcome pizazz.

Synopsis: When the government of Transylvania appropriates his castle, Count Dracula (George Hamilton) is obliged to relocate and decides to give New York City a try.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: George Hamilton, Susan Saint James, Richard Benjamin, Dick Shawn

Directed By: Stan Dragoti

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A couple becomes the target of a vampires' seductions.

Starring: Michael Blodgett, Sherry Miles, Celeste Yarnall, Gene Shane

Directed By: Stephanie Rothman

Critics Consensus: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom will strike some viewers as irredeemably depraved, but its unflinching view of human cruelty makes it impossible to ignore.

Synopsis: Four fascists kidnap young men and women and subject them to torture and perversion.

Starring: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Caterina Boratto, Hélène Surgère

Directed By: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A bored housewife's life spins out of control after she dabbles in the occult. Written and directed by George A. Romero.

Starring: Jan White, Raymond Laine, Ann Muffly, Joedda McClain

Directed By: George A. Romero

Critics Consensus: When it's not bludgeoning the viewer with its more off-putting, cruder elements, The Hills Have Eyes wields some clever storytelling and a sly sense of dark humor.

Synopsis: Wes Craven's cult classic about cannibalistic mountain folk on the trail of stranded vacationers in the arid Southwest.

Starring: Suze Lanier-Bramlett, Robert Houston, James Whitworth, Virginia Vincent

Directed By: Wes Craven

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Deathly ill Count Dracula (Udo Kier) and his slimy underling, Anton (Arno Juerging), travel to Italy in search of a virgin's blood. They're welcomed at... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Arno Juerging, Vittorio De Sica

Directed By: Paul Morrissey

Critics Consensus: The Crazies isn't top-shelf Romero, but its blend of genre thrills and social subtext should still be enough to satisfy discerning horror fans.

Synopsis: A nurse (Lane Carroll) and her husband (W.G. McMillan) try to get out of their infected town, but the Army has it sealed off.

Starring: Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, Harold Wayne Jones, Lloyd Hollar

Directed By: George A. Romero

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Dario Argento directs the tale of a rock musician who becomes entangled in a gruesome murder case.

Starring: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Francine Racette

Directed By: Dario Argento

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: When Dr. Martin (Robert Powell) goes on a job interview at a British insane asylum, he learns that he must interview the asylum's inmates in... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee

Directed By: Roy Ward Baker

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A gentleman photographer (Robert Stephens) in Victorian England tries to trap the human spirit at the moment of death.

Starring: Robert Stephens, Robert Powell, Jane Lapotaire, Alex Scott

Directed By: Peter Newbrook

Critics Consensus: Tough and unpleasant, It's Alive throttles the viewer with its bizarre mutant baby theatrics.

Synopsis: Leaving their son, Chris (Daniel Holzman), with a family friend (William Wellman Jr.), Frank (John P. Ryan) and Lenore Davis (Sharon Farrell) head to the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: John P. Ryan, Sharon Farrell, Andrew Duggan, Guy Stockwell

Directed By: Larry Cohen

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The residents of a small Australian town survive by causing traffic accidents, stripping the cars and stealing the valuables. When Arthur (Terry Camilleri) and his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Terry Camilleri, John Meillon, Melissa Jaffer, Kevin Miles

Directed By: Peter Weir

Critics Consensus: Despite an occasionally imbalanced mix of romance and overly grotesque scares, Dracula offers chilling atmosphere in spades and a seductively enigmatic turn from Frank Langella as the legendary vampire.

Synopsis: A man washes ashore in England after a shipwreck and is found by Mina Van Helsing (Jan Francis). The man introduces himself as Count Dracula... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Frank Langella, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence, Kate Nelligan

Directed By: John Badham

Critics Consensus: Its visceral brutality is more repulsive than engrossing, but The Last House on the Left nevertheless introduces director Wes Craven as a distinctive voice in horror.

Synopsis: Teenagers Mari and Phyllis head to the city for a concert, then afterward go looking for drugs. Instead, they find a gang of escaped convicts... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sandra Peabody, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, F.J. Lincoln

Directed By: Wes Craven

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A hallucinating woman (Elke Sommer) flees to a mansion full of corpses and sees the devil (Telly Savalas) and other evil beings.

Starring: Telly Savalas, Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, Alida Valli

Directed By: Mario Bava

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Enraged by rejection and a punk-rock band, an artist (Jimmy Laine) vents his anger on winos with a power drill.

Starring: Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day

Directed By: Abel Ferrara

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A frustrated pianist himself, music journalist Myles Clarkson (Alan Alda) is thrilled to interview virtuoso Duncan Ely (Curt Jurgens). Duncan, however, is terminally ill and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Curd Jürgens, Barbara Parkins

Directed By: Paul Wendkos

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A gay serial killer murders boys and feeds them to his fellow cannibals.

Starring: Kurt Raab, Margit Carstensen, Ingrid Caven, Wolfgang Schenck

Directed By: Ulli Lommel

Critics Consensus: Eyes of Laura Mars hints at interesting possibilities, but they're frittered away by a predictable story that settles for superficial thrills.

Synopsis: Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway) is a renowned New York City fashion photographer who features sensual and violent images in her controversial work. Suddenly, Laura gains... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif, Rene Auberjonois

Directed By: Irvin Kershner

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A boy, Danny, befriends a rat named Ben and forms an army of his rodent friends in the city drains. Under Ben's orders, the killer... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lee Montgomery, Joseph Campanella, Arthur O'Connell, Rosemary Murphy

Directed By: Phil Karlson

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The sinister Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) has returned and is once again determined to resurrect his deceased wife. Assisted by the beautiful Vulnavia (Valli Kemp),... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Vincent Price, Robert Quarry, Valli Kemp, Hugh Griffith

Directed By: Robert Fuest