Though the new influx of torture porn horror flicks have struck a chord with younger audiences, traditional horror movies, like the ones below, have set a standard that is hard to beat.
The Shining (1980)
Stanley Kubrick’s visually striking mise en scene may divide opinion as to whether more attention should have been given to the story over the visual elements, but it remains both shocking and effective. It stars Jack Nicholson as an aspiring writer, whose job as winter caretaker of a remote hotel, becomes the catalyst for his declining mental health to take a final, fateful step downward, putting the lives of his wife (the irritating but perfectly cast Shelley Duvall) and child (Danny Lloyd), in danger.
The Brood (1979).
This psychological shocker from master of the strange, David Cronenberg ('Crash', 'Scanners', 'Dead Ringers') about a woman whose emotional traumas manifest themselves through the violent actions of a group of strange ‘children’, is both original and shocking. Effective editing and strong star turns from Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle and Oliver Reed, make this one of the best and most underrated horror flicks to come out of the 1970s.
The Exorcist (1973)
Though William Friedkin’s film is sometimes too over-the-top to be convincing, it remains both impressive and controversial, with fourteen year old actress Linda Blair taking centre stage, and a genuinely creepy atmosphere, about a child who becomes possessed by the devil and a priest’s attempts to exorcise her. Made well before the advent of computer generated effects, the director used a giant cooling system to recreate the film’s chilling bedroom scenes, in which the demon is driven from its host. The bed in which Blair was confined had to be physically hauled from the floor by a set of pulleys, making the finished result even more impressive.
Alien (1979)
Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror launched Sigourney Weaver’s career and it is easy to see why in a surefooted, well-judged performance. The story about a cargo ship that stumbles upon a planet populated by primitive alien life may not be the most complex of ideas but it is heightened greatly by its claustrophobic atmosphere and H.R. Giger’s stunning alien designs. Spawning several, successful sequels that, though competent, failed to live up to the original, 'Alien' is best known for the scene in which the creature bursts from the stomach of John Hurt.
The Omen (1976)
Despite numerous imitations and a poor 2006 remake, 'The Omen' remains one of the most effective horror films ever made. It may be simplistic but its straightforward storytelling and shocking set-pieces, accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith’s Oscar winning score (for main theme ‘Ave Satani’) are a winning formula that remain frightening some thirty three years later. Starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, the film, about a couple’s terrifying discovery that they have adopted the anti-Christ, spawned two sequels, charting the child’s development into adulthood and his eventual death.
Though the destruction of the anti-Christ is unlikely to be a gore-free affair, what ‘The Omen’ and these other classic horror hits have in common is their love of a good story and a touch of restraint: something, it could be argued, is sadly lacking in the torture-porn canon, even if it does make a much louder, gorier impression with the lights out.
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