he 70s were a turbulent time in the U.S. The hippie love culture had collapsed with the Manson murders in 69, causing the world to fear this darker, cult like, movement.  The Watergate scandal in 72 was creating distrust in our political leaders and by default, authority figures of all types.  The roles of women in society were changing; leading to the growth of women’s lib and MLK’s assassination put racial relationships into a period of strain and uncertainty.  Overall, there was a lot of fear over where the country was going; meaning that no single fear defined the era.  There were multiple fears!  And therefore, many fears to be capitalized on in horror films.

 1973 fell during a transitional time for movies as well.  The coming of the grindhouses and the removal of the Hayes code in 1968 allowed for more freedom in depicting sex, violence, gore and other unsavory things and more places to show them. Coincidently, the daily news footage of Vietnam atrocities, violence, and death showed during primetime news outlets, desensitized the average person to gruesome images which led to more violent movies.  What could horror movies show that were worse than what was being shown on the news each day?  Movies now needed to go over the top to really shock its viewers.  The Hayes code’s demise also meant that the endings of films could be downbeat or nihilistic, and many films took advantage of that as well.  Exploitation and independent film making were in full swing as a void arose to fill the grindhouses and drive-in theaters.  All in all, there were somewhere in the area of 142 horror movies released worldwide in 1973 compared to the 86 or so that were released 5 years prior.

Note:  As always, I do not vouch for the quality of any of the movies listed below.  They are simply listed to present a sample of the movies of the time.

Foreign films were getting more chances to make it to American theaters.  In response there was more foreign horror output.  In particular, Spain began pouring out horror with General Franco’s ban on horror winding down and becoming more permissible.  Jess Franco and Paul Naschy alone put out large numbers of film in 1973. 

Jesus Franco Films

• The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff
• The Curse of Frankenstein/The Rites of Frankenstein/ The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (Sexploitation)
• Female Vampire (Sexploitation)
• Countess Pervese
• A Virgin among the Living Dead (Sexploitation)
• The Demons/Les demons (Nunsploitation)

Naschy Films

• The Killer is one of the Thirteen
• The Hanging Woman
• Horror Rises from the Tomb/Horror from the Tomb
• Hunchback of the Morgue
• The Mummy’s Revenge
• Vengeance of the Zombies
• The Man with the Severed Head
• Curse of the Devil/The Black Harvest of Countess Dracula

Other Spain Horror titles

• Crypt of the Living Dead/Hannah, Queen of the Vampires
• A Candle for the Devil/It Happened at Nightmare Inn
• The Witch’s Mountain
• The Dracula Saga/Death, Death, Death
• The Specter of Terror
• Las flores del miedo
• Love Brides of the Blood Mummy/Lips of Blood
• The Vampires Night Orgy
• The Loreley’s Grasp/When the Screaming Stops
• Night of the Sorcerers/The Night of the Witches (Satanic)
• Return of the Evil Dead (Zombie)

 

Meanwhile, in Mexico, the wrestling horror movies were beginning to wind down but still a few were released.  Only a few non-wrestling horror movies saw release in 1973.

Wrestling (Mexico)

• Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dr. Frankenstein
• Santo vs. Black Magic Woman
• Invasion of the Dead (Zombie)
• The Castle of Mummies of Guanajuato

 

In Italy, the Giallo (violent mysteries) was starting to grow as a sub-genre of horror after the success of Argento’s Bird with the Crystal Plumage (70).  But they were also producing other horror movies full of sex and gore in this period, which was perfect fodder for the grindhouses.

Giallo

• Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye
• Tormentor
• Torso/The Bodies showed Traces of Carnal Violence

Non-Giallo

• The Devil’s Wedding Night
• Death Smiles on a Murderer
• Lisa and the Devil
• The Reincarnation of Isabel/Rites, Black Magic and Secret Orgies in the Fourteenth Century/ Black Magic Rites: Reincarnations/The Ghastly Orgies of Count Dracula
• Sex of the Witch
• Shock Treatment/Shock

 

In the UK, Hammer was winding down its time in the spotlight, releasing some of their last horror films. Meanwhile, the upstarts Amicus and Tigon and a few others were also releasing films, stealing many of Hammer’s starts and directors to do so.

• And Now the Screaming Starts (Cushing/Amicus)
• The Creeping Flesh (Lee/Cushing/Tigon)
• From Beyond the Graves (Amicus/Cushing)
• Tales that Witness Madness
• The Satanic Rites of Dracula (Hammer/Cushing)
• The Wicker Man (Lee)
• Vault of Horror (Amicus)

 

Other countries were also putting out horror movies many of which could now be seen easier than ever in the US through the grindhouses and drive-ins.

• Devil Woman/Buka: Queen of Evil (H Kong/Kung Fu)
• Anak ng asuang (Philippines)
• Drakula Goes to R.P. (Philippines)
• Woman with Half a Soul (Korea)
• Cheondong (Korea)
• Wonnyeo (Korea)
• Dream City (Germany)
• Tenderness of the Wolves (Germany)
• Ghost of Guts Eater (Thailand)
• The Sabbat of the Black Cat (Australia)
• Si Manis Jembatan Ancol (Indonesia)
• Tah Tien (India)
• The Iron Rose (France)
• The Strange Case of the Man and the Beast (Argentina)

 

 With both the drive-ins and the grindhouses in full swing, many independents outside of the Hollywood circuit were making movies.  With small budgets and poor distribution, they used excessive gore, sex, and shock to get their movies distributed and shown.  The number of these exploitation horror films far outweighed the horror product coming from the major cinemas.  Several foreign films fell into the exploitation category as well upon reaching the US Shores.

Exploitation/Independent Films

• Three on a Meathook
• Hex
• Abducted/Schoolgirls in Chains
• Pigs
• Cannibal Girls (Canada)
• Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein /Flesh for Frankenstein (Italy/France)
• Valley of Blood
• Blood Orgy of the She-Devils
• The Baby
• Warlock Moon/Bloody Spa (Satanic)
• Lemora: A Childs Tale of the Supernatural
• An Eye for an Eye
• A Bell from Hell (Spain)
• The Sinful Dwarf/Dværgen (Denmark)
• Baba Yaga (Sexploitation/Italy)
• Cycle Psycho
• Psyched by the 4D Witch (A Tale of Demonology) (Sexploitation/Satanic)
• Death: Seeker of Souls/Doctor Death
• Don’t Look in the Basement/ The Forgotten
• The Mansion of Madness/Dr. Tarr’s Torture Dungeon (Mexico)

 

Blaxploitation

• Scream Blacula Scream
• Alabama’s Ghost
• Blackenstein: The Black Frankenstein
• Ganja & Hess/Blood Couple

As always, previous successes for the industry led to many filmmakers, both independents and major studios, trying to ride on their coattails by releasing similar themed or similar sounding movies.  Rosemary’s Baby (1968) started a rise in satanic themed movies that would only increase throughout the 70s.  Night of the Living Dead (1968) created a large number of zombie movie copycats, especially in Italy.  Also, The Last House on the Left (1972) by Wes Craven started a slew of movies with “House” or “Last House” in the title.   Most of these were exploitation movies looking to exploit the title of Craven’s groundbreaking film. In addition to the films listed here, there are many of this type mixed into other categories as well, such as Satanic Rights of Dracula & Return of the Evil Dead.

House titles

• The Last House on Dead End Street/The Fun House
• The House That Vanished/ Please! Don’t Go in the Bedroom
• House of Terrors
• House in Nightmare park

Zombie

• Messiah of Evil
• Night of the Zombies (Philippines)
• Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood

Satanic

• Psychomania/The Death Wheelers (UK)
• The Pyx
• Blue Blood

After his success with Night of the living Dead, George Romero was able to continue making cheap independent films but few were successful.  He returned to Horror but wouldn’t hit it big again until Dawn of the Dead (78).  He made two attempts in 73.

• Season of the Witch/Jack’s Wife/ Hungry Wives
• The Crazies/Codename Trixie

And of course, the big studios continued to put out horror movies.  The following were either released by big studios or were at least successful enough to be shown in the major theaters.

• Sisters
• The Legend of Hell House
• The Exorcist
• Westworld
• Theatre of Blood
• Sssssssss/Ssssnake
• Don’t Look Now

Horror was becoming more mainstream in the 70’s and television wanted in.  The three networks (NBC, CBS & ABC) had made-for-TV movies as part of their regular, weekly, rotation and horror movies were often featured.  Dan Curtis (creator of the daytime horror soap opera Dark Shadows) was the king of made for TV horror movies during this period.

• Frankenstein (Curtis)
• Frankenstein: The True Story
• Satan’s School for Girls (featuring Kate Jackson & Cheryl Ladd)
• A Cold Night’s Death/The Chill Factor
• Dan Curtis’ Dracula/Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Curtis)
• The Norliss Tapes (Curtis)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
• The Devil’s Daughter
• The Night Strangler (Curtis)