Decades of Horror | Movie Reviews of 1970s Classic Horror Films

The Grue-Crew delve into an early Lucio Fulci pre-Giallo mini-masterpiece with Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972). In the film, you can see the beginning of Fulci’s signature direction he would become known for with Zombi (1979) and his eighties gore-fest films. For this movie, the story is a murder mystery that contains hints of witchcraft […]

Jeff returns to join the Grue-Crew with a review of the Seventies cult film, THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA (1976). This movie is weird, disturbing in its own way, and intensely sad. What do the Crew make of this indie film that is about as 70s as it gets? You’ll have to listen […]

The Grue-Crew head to New Jersey to visit THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979), directed by Stuart Rosenberg. The cast includes James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Murray Hamilton, and Natasha Ryan. Based on a “true story” and the best-selling novel by Jay Anson, the movie cements the Amityville house with its eerily lit pair […]

The Grue-Crew travel to outer space on Al Adamson’s XB-13 spacecraft in his Seventies shlock fest, HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS (1970). John Carradine is along for the ride sitting comfortably in lawn furniture space chairs. The alien skies are red, green, blue, and yellow in Spectrum-X color effects. Uh-huh. The groovy opening vampire scenes […]

For episode 261 of Decades of Horror 1970s, Chad picks the troubled Seventies disaster sci-fi flick, DAMNATION ALLEY (1977), featuring Jan-Michael Vincent and George Peppard. The Grue-Crew somehow find the fun and adventure in this awkward train-wreck dud. The film was doomed from the start: bad special effects, botched adaptation of a popular novel, and […]

Horror Comedies from the1970s, Doc selects an often overlooked or outright forgotten horror comedy from the Seventies, ARNOLD (1973), from director Georg Fenady (Terror in the Wax Museum), featuring Stella Stevens and Roddy McDowall. ARNOLD (1973) Episode 260 – Decades of Horror 1970s The various murders are set up in a way The Abominable Dr. […]

Join The Grue-Crew as they take a look back at the original The Town That Dreaded Sundown from 1976. The blueprint for slasher films of the 80s is clearly drawn in the film’s plot including inventive kills, borrowed heavily from the Italian Giallo genre. Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, and Gilligan’s Island star Dawn Well head […]

“My curiosity is justified by the fact that I am writing a book.” That, and you’re just plain nosey. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they take in a bit of ‘70s Eurohorror starring the one and only Klaus Kinski: The Hand That Feeds […]

“Why did you have to rent those rooms?” Money, money, money, money! Money! Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they take in a film with a pretty decent cast, yet it wasn’t one they’d heard of. We’re talking about The Silent Scream (1979). Decades […]

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy, Daddy!” “Audrey Rose! Audrey Rose! Audrey Rose!! Good. Now, repeat… Ad infinitum. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they take in yet another 70s horror flick about a family with a teenage girl troubled by supernatural events. Maybe not so obviously, […]

“A wolf remains a wolf, even if it has not eaten your sheep.” Hmm. What if it has not eaten a cow? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they take to space via Disney’s The Black Hole (1979). Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode 254 – […]

“What is real? Are you certain you know what reality is? How do you know that at this second you aren’t asleep in your beds dreaming that you are here in this theater? Ah, yes… it all seems too real.” Are you sure this guy is a wizard? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc […]

“The dead of night exists in all of us, and no one knows at what strange, unexpected moment it will make itself known. And so tonight, for your entertainment, three tales: one of mystery, one of imagination, and one of terror.” Yay! Break out the popcorn! Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill […]

“I’ll find you. I don’t give up. Sweet dreams, Elizabeth.” Somehow, it doesn’t seem like Elizabeth’s sweet dreams are his goal. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they take in another classy TV movie from the 1970s, John Carpenter’s Someone’s Watching Me! (1978). Decades […]

“Remember what I’ve always told you: The wages of sin is gonorrhea, syphilis, and death.” – Ma Cobb, Deranged. It’s hard to argue with that. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they have a bit of fun creating their own top 10s from this […]

“The world has caught up with me and surpassed me. It’s drivel. 90 years ago, I was a freak. Today, I’m an amateur.” If you work at it, you can still regain your “freak” status. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – in 1979 San Francisco […]

“Can I be the butter on your pumpernickel bread?” Oh, dear. What does that even mean? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they check out Dark August (1976) while pondering on which side their pumpernickel is buttered. Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode 248 – Dark […]

“This piece is actually an ideal marriage. Iron, the strongest metal then known to man, and the color red, the color of the planet Mars, the planet of vitality, passion, and sexual vigor.” So iron plus red equals sexual vigor. Got it! Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Jeff […]

“That’s right! You don’t forget the taste of human flesh!” Umm… taking your word for that one. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr– as they take a jungle safari with Ursula Andress and Stacy Keach in Sergio Martino’s Slave of the Cannibal God (1978). Decades of […]

“The penis is evil!!” No argument here. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Jeff Mohr, and guest Gregory Crosby – as they try to decipher the complex social structure, not to mention the entire story, depicted in John Boorman’s Zardoz (1974). And what the heck is Sean Connery wearing? Decades of […]

“Tear him up!” That’s not as hard as you might think when you have a mischief of rats at your command. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they try their hand at rat wrangling as they cover Willard (1971). Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode 244 […]

“You’re asking me questions, Harry, and I hear you. A scientist cannot afford the indulgence of guilt. And after all, if God doesn’t want me to continue, the means of my disposal are always at his command.” If you want to communicate with God, talking to a snake might be the wrong approach. Join your […]

“I know you think I’m crazy, but you must listen to me. You won’t want to believe what I’m telling you here, but you have to.” An ominous warning that no one heeds or even understands. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Gregory Crosby, and Jeff Mohr – as they try […]

“Well, they will have to get un-unanimous and un-choose her. Now, I’ve been going on Safari most of my life, and I’ve never taken a woman. And I’m not going to change now, Barney.” Spoken like a true dinosaur of the human variety. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Gregory Crosby, […]

“Lucifer! Lucifer! Barabas! Barabas! By Santanica, Santanica! Come! Come! Etcetera?” Keep it down in there! Sounds like you’re trying to raise the dead. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Gregory Crosby, and Jeff Mohr – as they discuss Corpse Eaters (1974), a microbudget Canadian horror flick with a micro-release. Decades of […]

“You play a good game, boy, but the game is finished. Now you die.” Sounds very familiar, doesn’t it, B-O-O-Y-Y-Y? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Gregory Crosby, and Jeff Mohr – as they cover this legendary franchise-starter, Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm (1979). Balls of steel, anyone? Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode 239 […]

“Are you trying to say that Abby has… flipped out?” Uh, pretty much. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Gregory Crosby, and Jeff Mohr – as they cover the oft-mentioned, discussed at last, William Girdler’s Abby (1974), featuring William Marshall, Carol Speed, Terry Carter, Juanita Moore, and Austin Stoker. Decades of […]

“They celebrated a ceremony last night. All that blood indicates the procession by the devil Balujaru.” “All that blood,” you say? What about all the drums? No one could get a wink of sleep! Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Jeff Mohr, and guest Jerry Chandler – as they again discuss […]

“This time, I’m going to win. You’re all afraid, you stinking pots of sh**!” Afraid? Maybe. Stinking pots of sh**? You be the judge. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Jeff Mohr, and guest Jerry Chandler – as they discuss some European horror, this time from Italy, with Alberto De Martino’s […]

“According to the legend of the seven full moons, Loreley will turn into a hideous animal. She must eat human hearts in order to return to her eternal sleep.” Is eternal sleep a good thing? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Jeff Mohr, and guest Jerry Chandler – as they journey […]

“Open the door. I’ve something for you. Go on, open up. I’m quite alone. Open up!” Surely, there are no villagers with torches hiding around the corner. Right? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they discuss yet another of Christopher Lee’s turns as Dracula […]

“Well, Jonathan. I’m afraid you’ll be staying a while longer.” Oh, good! More time with Yvette Mimieux! Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they journey to the desert of the old West, the repository of hidden cults, a man-in-black, and a traveling reverend in […]

‘I remembered that I was sneakin’ out the back door of the bar. So I said to myself, man, I said,”What the *fuck* are you doin’, man? Sneakin’ out the back door, runnin’ away, man, from what? I mean, you didn’t do nothin’. Nobody can prove that you did nothin’ because you did not do […]

“Ghosts? That’s a rather sticky one, isn’t it? I’m not quite certain what you mean, I mean, I’m never quite certain what we are invited to believe, I mean, when anybody asks me a question like that. I’m not even quite certain what I’m being invited to disbelieve.” Ah, yes. British ghost stories. And on […]

“Put those bloody lights on!” Well, it is an old dark house. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they check out a new find, at least to them, Dark Places (1974), a little-known British horror film. Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode 230 – Dark Places […]

“You will not escape! In one year and one day, you will be dead!” Well, you’re no fun anymore. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Jeff Mohr, and guest Jeffrey S. Farley – as they try to figure out what is going on in Equinox (1970) while getting an informative tour […]

“Cut it. Cut it, cut! I said you were supposed to be going into a trance, not an orgasm. Let’s try it again with a little more restraint this time. That’s today’s secret word. Restraint!” Well, you’re no fun anymore. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr […]

‘Before I forget, sir. Them conservation inspectors was here again. In there a long time, they was. They said there would be a summons. And before they went, one of them said, “Did you know about the room?”… Just that, sir. Just, “Did you know about the room?”’ Obviously, they didn’t know about the room. […]

“The face of evil is ugly to look upon. And as the pleasures increase, the face becomes uglier.” So, the ugliness of the evil face is proportional to the pleasures? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Jeff Mohr, and guest Dirk Rogers – as they mix it up with the Amicus […]

“I find you very attractive, but this stroll is becoming rather boring.” According to some, that might be a good description of this film. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they feast on Vampyres (1974), an Amicus production. Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode 225 – […]

“Wild dogs got themselves a taste of human blood! Ain’t nobody gonna be safe out on the island! We get together, or they wipe out the island! You go call the sheriff!” And you know who the sheriff is, right? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr […]

“Don’t stand there like a blithering idiot… and don’t give me that shocked routine!” Blithering idiot? Maybe. Shocked Routine? Never. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they dive into Craze (1974), a star-packed feature directed by Freddie Francis. Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode 223 – […]

“I’ve decided to end the world. They all have to go.” Well, you can forget about cleaning the house, then. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they check out some Indigenous American culture infused with apocalyptic horror in Nightwing (1979). Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode […]

“This is the voice of World Control. I bring you peace. It may be the Peace of Plenty and Content or the Peace of Unburied Death.” Is that a multiple-choice question? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they check out some apocalyptic science fiction […]

“I quit being a skier in 1968 because the other skiers were mavericks!” Well, isn’t that special? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they check out some cryptid horror from the television screens of the 1970s with Snowbeast (1977)! Decades of Horror 1970sEpisode 220 […]

“I had a shotgun in my room, I grabbed it…but I…I didn’t do anything. No one in the village did a thing, do you understand? Because… who can kill a child?” That’s not a question you want to be the answer to. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Daphne […]

“In the name of Baron Samedi, in the name of the five ministers of the kingdom of Ife, and through the intercession of the Black Lords of the mountain, I order you, Gloria Irving, I order you to arise and obey me. Obey me!” The kingdom of Ife? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc […]

“She’s the one who had intercourse with the Devil on Goat’s Mountain! He took her to his den in the disguise of a little donkey and then they fornicated all night long! She’s the witch! She’s the witch!” A little donkey, eh? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and […]

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out. Edie, don’t you see? I am an alien too.” After all, isn’t everyone waiting for the mothership? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they consume the cheesy goodness of Don Dohler’s The Alien Factor (1978). Decades of […]