Best horror film of the 60s

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The best films of the 2010s polls were a lot of fun, so I decided to launch my own series. One of the few fun things I did in life was to teach a horror film class for a few years, so let's get back to it.

This is my selection for the 60s, with a few spots left for add-ins (I probably forgot a few important ones). I'll accept suggestions for the 70s polls and for a global pre-60s poll, so that the German films can sneak in the last best horror film of all time poll.

My understanding of horror for these polls will be pretty large, sci-fi horror, psychological horror, everything is fair game.


Edit: it's really tough to select only 2.........

Click to read more...

 

[Trap Jesus]

I'm pretty ignorant about 60s horror, I start getting much more knowledgeable about them in the 70s. Rosemary's Baby is easily my favorite one I've seen though, and stands as one of my favorites of all time. I also love Night of the Living Dead. The only other ones I've seen are Psycho and Village of the Damned though.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I'm pretty ignorant about 60s horror, I start getting much more knowledgeable about them in the 70s. Rosemary's Baby is easily my favorite one I've seen though, and stands as one of my favorites of all time. I also love Night of the Living Dead. The only other ones I've seen are Psycho and Village of the Damned though.

Well, I almost voted the same as you did... Chose Repulsion over NOTLD, only because The Last Man On Earth is too much of an influence on the latter one (NOTLD did everything better, and is of much more importance, but doesn't feel quite as original as most of the others). Almost voted for Peeping Tom, a personal favorite. Most of these films are must-see still.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Well, I almost voted the same as you did... Chose Repulsion over NOTLD, only because The Last Man On Earth is too much of an influence on the latter one (NOTLD did everything better, and is of much more importance, but doesn't feel quite as original as most of the others). Almost voted for Peeping Tom, a personal favorite. Most of these films are must-see still.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to these because this should be good for recommendations for me. I'm always looking for more horror. Eyes Without a Face was on my October/Halloween movie list to watch but we never got around to it unfortunately.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Unless I am missing them on list you should probably add films like The Birds , Spider Baby and Kuroneko?

I went with NOTLD from that list over Psycho because I love NOTLD

 

[Legend Leinonen]

2001? I remember reading people walked out of theaters terrified while watching this Kubrick space story.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Unless I am missing them on list you should probably add films like The Birds , Spider Baby and Kuroneko?

I went with NOTLD from that list over Psycho because I love NOTLD

I think anything by Hitchcock is a safe bet to include. I've seen The Birds and I've only seen 4 of the movies on this list so it's probably a good barometer for more general audiences.

 

[JMCx4]

I've got some home movies from holiday gatherings with my family that I'd like to nominate. Do I have to screen them to the selection committee first? They come with up-front warnings of violent scenes & explicit language.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Went with my heart and voted The Innocents.

My head wanted Psycho or Night of the Living Dead ... certainly the most influential, if not the best.

 

[montreal]

Rosemary's Baby was my favorite but Psycho would be my 2nd choice followed by Night of the living dead.

 

[Jack Straw]

Voted for Psycho and "Dracula Prince of Darkness". Another of my favorites is "The Curse of the Werewolf" with a young Oliver Reed:

 

[the squared circle]

Rosemarys Baby and NOTLD for me, with Psycho deserving of a top two finish, but just falling an axe short.

 

[kihei]

Went with Eyes without a Face and Repulsion

Would have voted for Eyes without a Face and John Frankenheimer's Seconds.

Suggestions for the 70s: Don't Look Now; The Bird with the Crystal Plumage; House (Hausu)

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Unless I am missing them on list you should probably add films like The Birds , Spider Baby and Kuroneko?

Kuroneko was already there, I added the other two.

2001? I remember reading people walked out of theaters terrified while watching this Kubrick space story.

I don't think it would gather any vote as a horror film, so I took the liberty of skipping it. If anybody else feel it should be included, I'll add it.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Rosemary's Baby, NOTLD and Psycho leading the poll is no surprise for me, but Village of the Damned being just behind is a pretty big (and good) surprise, and The Haunting having zero vote is surprising too, such a great horror film, would have been another of my top choices.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Went with Eyes without a Face and Repulsion

Would have voted for Eyes without a Face and John Frankenheimer's Seconds.

Suggestions for the 70s: Don't Look Now; The Bird with the Crystal Plumage; House (Hausu)

Added Seconds if you want to change your vote.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Night of the Living Dead, and The Birds for me

 

[the squared circle]

I’ve had Village of the damned and the sequel Children of the damned on my pvr for two years and still haven’t watched them. Now that they’ve been mentioned here, I’ll push them up the viewing list.
I started The Sorcerers (1967) tonight, with Boris Karloff. Not that great.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Onibaba for the mask alone, Rosemary's Baby was great as well.

 

[sr edler]

Not to blast The Birds, because it's a decent film and I like Hitchcock, but I can't personally feel what's so scary about animals on a mental suspense level, unless perhaps it's a million driver ants and you're tied up in the jungle with brown sugar.

If you're in a combat with a shark or a bear or a tiger or (dear god) a chimpanzee, especially in their own preferred habitats, you know you gonna die, and pretty fast too, so where's the suspense? But you also know you gonna die if someone drop you off in the middle of El Capitan and say "free solo this shit", but no one calls Free Solo a "horror movie".

 

[sr edler]

Rosemary's Baby is brilliant in many ways, but the drugged out rape scene with the devil wearing an out-worn costume from some cheap ass improvisational theatre company, ruins a lot.

 

[Chili]

Night of the Living Dead was the first to come to mind.

Remember a couple off the beaten path: 'Little Shop of Horrors' the Nicholson version (Jack the dentist) and a Russ Meyer film, 'Faster p***ycat Kill Kill'.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

'Faster p***ycat Kill Kill'.

The Little Shop of Horror has horror elements for sure, but the Meyer film? I'm a part-time fan of sleazy films, a huge fan of Radley Metzger, but I can't see how FPKK could be considered horror!

 

[Chili]

The Little Shop of Horror has horror elements for sure, but the Meyer film? I'm a part-time fan of sleazy films, a huge fan of Radley Metzger, but I can't see how FPKK could be considered horror!

Not claiming to be an expert on classifying films (which seems subjective), just know that one gave me the creeps.

 

[Fantomas]

I've grown to appreciate Hitchcock for what he is, but some parts of Psycho are really goofy sh-t. It's par the course for Hitchcock to have bad acting and a bunch of misogyny, but the overlong exposition at the end is unforgivable. But yeah, it's a classic.