Often referred to as the greatest decade for horror, the 1970s was a period of time that was ideal for the darker side of cinema to thrive. As the hippie vibe of the 1960s gradually began to wane, the '70s saw an increase in secularism ideology and the further questioning of religion and traditional family values. It’s of no surprise then that many horror movies of the time echoed these societal fears about dissolving families and lack of morals.
As technology improved and horror became more extreme, the 1970s provided the type of shocking cinema that would have been beyond people’s wildest dreams just a few years before. Some of the biggest names in the genre, such as John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Tobe Hooper, and Ridley Scott solidified their careers during the timeframe. With all of this in mind, below is a list of the 18 best horror movies of the 1970s, ranked.
18 Salem's Lot (1979)
Technically, Salem's Lot was a television miniseries, but it frightened a generation enough that many of its viewers would be absolutely terrified if they heard tapping at their window at night. If you know, you know. The miniseries was also edited into a 112-minute film that was released theatrically in Europe.
Based on the novel by Stephen King, this adaptation was directed by Tobe Hooper and follows a writer who returns to his hometown of Salem's Lot, only to find the residents acting strangely. It turns out a vampire has made the town his home and is slowly transforming its citizens into his minions. With some creepy special effects and makeup, Salem's Lot was widely praised by critics and audiences alike. Spawning a sequel miniseries, Return to Salem's Lot, a 2004 remake starring Rob Lowe, and a new film completed in 2021 but as yet unreleased, the original Salem's Lot still stands tall as one of the great vampire stories.
17 Deliverance (1972)
At the time, Deliverance was truly groundbreaking, and it’s no surprise that it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’. Containing all the themes and aesthetics of a gritty grindhouse survival thriller and starring some of Hollywood’s biggest superstars of the time including Burt Reynolds and John Voight, the movie is also notorious for its inclusion of a graphic rape scene now synonymous with the phrase ‘squeal like a pig’ and features the most well-known and iconic banjo scene in Hollywood history.
Despite its controversial content, the film was a critical and box-office success, earning three Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe Award nominations. And despite the horrors that the film showcases, Rabun County, where the movie was filmed has become a major tourist attraction.
16 Phantasm (1979)
A cult favorite from 1979, Don Coscarelli's Phantasm is a surreal mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that gave the horror community The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), a truly nightmarish villain. In the low-budget classic, a young teenage boy begins to suspect something is amiss when the town's freakishly tall mortician carries a heavy casket alone and takes it back to the funeral home instead of burying it.
With flying silver spheres that drill holes into people's skulls and tiny cloaked figures for minions, The Tall Man has been killing people and sending their bodies back to his home planet after reanimating them as zombies. Phantasm's plot is every bit as wild as it sounds, but this one has some impressive (and creepy) special effects to keep you entertained.
15 Suspiria (1977)
To be fair, a number of Italian director Dario Argento’s movies could have made this list, but Suspiria, is probably one of the most well-known and highly lauded movies in his repertoire. This supernatural horror is about a German ballet academy that turns out to, in fact, be home to a coven of witches.
Genuinely unsettling, Suspiria has been recognized as a highly influential movie within the supernatural subgenre and was praised for its visual and stylistic flair. The soundtrack by 70s progressive rock band Goblin is also insane and completely adds to the feeling of unease throughout the movie.
14 Faces of Death (1978)
Faces of Death was considered a taboo watch when it was released in 1978, much in the way A Serbian Film is today. Shot in documentary style, this disturbing movie was rumored to contain all real footage depicting the various gruesome ways someone could die. The film was so shocking that it was added to the United Kingdom's list of "Video Nasties." Faces of Death sold itself to audiences by claiming to be "banned in 47 countries," though that number is likely exaggerated.
While some of the footage does contain real deaths, most of the most shocking moments, including a monkey being beaten to death and then having its brains eaten at a dinner party, were faked for the camera. However, Faces of Death has gained a cult following over the years, with seven sequels made over twenty years. A reboot, produced by Legendary Entertainment, is in the works.
13 I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
The Jerry Gross Organization
Like Deliverance, I Spit on Your Grave featured extreme sexual violence and disturbing content, only this time it was turned up to 11. Unlike Deliverance however, the movie lacked any Hollywood sheen whatsoever. The film, made for just $80,000, was depraved, nihilistic, and utterly depressing. It succeeded in what it set out to do, though, and was an impactful film, to say the least.
Despite a poor box office performance, mixed reviews, and being banned almost worldwide for a long period of time, I Spit on Your Grave has gone on to amass a massive cult following and became a huge success when it was made available on VHS, reportedly outselling the likes of The Godfather Part 2 and Grease. I Spit on Your Grave was remade in 2010, and in 2019 the original film received an official sequel, I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu.
12 Carrie (1976)
Adapted from the ‘king of horror’ Stephen King’s epistolary novel of the same name, Carrie is universally praised as one of the finest supernatural horrors of all time. Sissy Spacek, in particular, elevates this movie to greatness with her portrayal of Carrie White (for which she received a Best Actress nomination at the 49th Academy Awards) as an introverted teenager who was ruthlessly bullied at school but then exacts revenge in a most unpleasant and shocking fashion.
Carrie's climatic prom scene has been redone countless time in movies and TV, becoming a pop culture staple that even people who have never seen the film are well aware of. A sequel, The Rage: Carrie 2, was made in 1999, and since then there has been a 2002 television remake and a 2013 theatrical remake.
11 The Amityville Horror (1979)
The Amityville Horror might have spawned more sequels than any other horror film in history — there are more than 25 loosely connected movies listed on IMDb — but the original 1979 film remains a worthy contender for scariest movie of the 1970s. Allegedly based on real events as chronicled in a book of the same name, this movie follows a couple as they move into a home where a mass murder was committed. Strange occurrences begin to affect everyone in the family, and it soon becomes apparent a sinister force is trying to repeat fatal events.
The first sequel, Amityville II: The Possession, is actually a prequel that is loosely based on the very real murders that occurred in the house. While the real-life ghost story on which the movie is based has been labeled a hoax by some, there's no denying the movie is still terrifying to watch.
10 The Omen (1976)
The Omen follows young Damien, who was replaced at birth by his father, unbeknownst to his wife, after their biological child dies shortly after birth. As a series of mysterious events and violent deaths occur around the family as Damien enters childhood, they come to learn he is in fact the prophesied Antichrist. Interestingly, at the time of the film’s release, reviews were mixed to poor, but retrospectively the film is widely regarded as an all-time great within the horror genre.
The Omen spawned two theatrical sequels that followed Damien's life through school and his time as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, as well as a made-for-TV that focuses on Damien's daughter. A remake of The Omen was released in 2006 and a prequel, The First Omen, was filmed in 2022 but has not been scheduled for release.
9 Eraserhead (1977)
Shot entirely in black and white and an exercise in surrealism, David Lynch's Eraserhead is certainly not the most accessible entry on his list, but a classic nonetheless. Revolving around fears of parenthood, it tells the story of a man who is left to care for his deformed child in a desolate industrial landscape.
David Lynch's feature-length directorial debut is a cult favorite and is another example of a movie that has been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’. Stanley Kubrick once said that Eraserhead was his favorite film and screened it for the cast and crew of The Shinning to show them the kind of mood he wanted his film to have.
8 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Like a number of other entries, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has been let down by numerous subpar sequels, remakes, and reboots over the years. Looking back to 1974, when the psychotic Leatherface and his deranged family were first unleashed on the public, it was something special.
Very loosely based on real-life murderer Ed Gein, the movie can be credited with originating numerous elements now synonymous with the slasher genre, including the use of tools as murder weapons and the characterization of the killer as a large, brawny, faceless figure. It’s also fair to say that it paved the way for these types of movies to also act as a vehicle for social commentary.
7 Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Following the events that played out in George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, the world has been devastated by the ever-increasing plague of flesh-eating zombies. Society has disintegrated, and the remaining survivors desperately seek refuge. Dawn of the Dead essentially repeats what made Night of the Living Dead a success, but on a larger scale. This time the protagonists are trapped in a shopping mall as opposed to a cabin, and the hordes of zombies have increased exponentially in size.
While perhaps not as groundbreaking as the original, there's still a hell of a lot of fun to be had in Romero's follow-up. The practical special effects by Tom Savini are particularly gruesome and may leave some viewers yearning for a time before everything effects-related was immediately sent to the CGI department. Additionally, and rather ingeniously, alongside the relentless gore and graphic violence, Dawn of the Dead manages to serve as a subtle social commentary on our materialistic society.
6 Black Christmas (1974)
Forget the critically-panned remakes and focus on the original Black Christmas instead. This 1974 slasher, directed by Bob Clark, who also directed the family favorite A Christmas Story, helped influence John Carpenter's Halloween by being one of the first of its kind.
In the film, a sorority house and its occupants are stalked by an unseen man who begins his reign of terror with a series of phone calls, in which he mumbles and screams in strange voices before threatening to kill someone. Soon, the members of the sorority are killed, one by one, by someone lurking in the walls and attic. Besides being a formidable early slasher movie, Black Christmas never explains or reveals the killer, which makes it even more frightening.
5 Alien (1979)
There have been countless studies into the themes, subtexts, and undertones of Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi horror Alien. The film is deep and engaging on multiple levels and plays out as far more of a slow-burning, suspense-filled, atmospheric horror flick compared to its many, more action orientated, sequels.
Alien was an undoubted game changer and a masterclass in sci-fi horror. It was ahead of its time and influenced thousands of imitations over the following four decades, released to varying levels of success. Aside from the horrific and iconic alien ‘chest buster’ scene, Alien is probably best known for giving the world one of the most badass female protagonists of all time in Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley.
4 The Wicker Man (1973)
This British movie about mysterious goings-on in a pagan community located on a deserted isle has been described as the ‘Citizen Kane of horror movies’ and it’s not hard to see why. Starring some of the finest actors to ever grace the big screen including the legendary Edward Woodward and horror icon Christopher Lee, The Wicker Man is one of the finest examples in creating a real palpable sense of dread as the foreboding atmosphere culminates in one of the most memorable and shocking finales committed to film.
The 2006 remake, starring Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn has become an infamous example of how some movies shouldn't be remade. And while the remake has entered the "so bad it's good" canon, the original Wicker Man continues to stand out as a true classic.
3 Jaws (1975)
“You're gonna need a bigger boat” is one of the most iconic movie lines in history, taken from one of the most iconic movies in history: Jaws. After watching a relentless great white shark ravage a beach of tourists and engage in a full-on battle with a boat and its crew, it wasn’t really a bigger boat people wanted, though; they wanted to steer well clear of any open water altogether. In fact, Jaws and the notion of a vengeful rogue shark spurred a national phobia of the sea, sharks, and a genuine drop in beach tourism.
Activists have spent many years since Jaws hit theaters making a concerted effort trying to educate people to understand and respect the role sharks play in the oceans and the earth’s ecosystem. Needless to say, the movie itself has gone on to be considered as one of the greatest of all time and pretty much invented the summer blockbuster. Decades later and it is still just as enjoyable to watch as ever.
2 Halloween (1978)
Halloween pretty much wrote the book when it comes to slasher, and Michael Myers is undeniably one of the most revered villains of the entire genre. The movie firmly cemented director John Carpenter, who also composed the haunting score, as one of the masters of horror.
Halloween was, for a long time, the most successful independent film of all time, and its place in film history is inarguable. Spawning not just multiple sequels, reboots, and remakes but also countless slasher movies of the same ilk, Halloween is definitely one of the most influential horror movies of all time.
1 The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist needs no introduction really. As two priests try to exercise an evil force out of a young child, the audience is treated to two hours of truly horrific behavior from the young girl. From vomiting, head spinning, and swearing to doing unspeakable things with a crucifix, this movie is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach.
When The Exorcist was released, it was reported that people were leaving the cinema en masse in disgust with some even fainting with shock. The movie is also credited with creating a renewed interest in the paranormal. The film went on, though, to become a huge box office hit and is widely considered one of the greatest horror movies ever made.