Euro Horror recommendations

Any fans of 60's & 70's European horror films out there?

I;m looking forward to reading Jonathan Rigby's Euro Gothic book Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema: Amazon.co.uk: Jonathan Rigby: 9780957648159: Books »
I've been getting curious, looking for recommendations of the best euro horrors to see, 60's & 70's in particular.
**not including Hammer, Amicus, Tygon ect....

 

I found this list IMDb: Must-see Euro cult films from the 70s and 80s - a list by kur1su »

 

There are a lot of good movies in the list you linked. Here are a few starter recommendations for the most popular Euro horror directors:

Mario Bava-Black Sunday, Blood and Black Lace, Black Sabbath, A Bay of Blood.
Dario Argento-Suspiria, Deep Red, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage
Lucio Fulci-Zombie, The Beyond, Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Don't Torture a Duckling, New York Ripper

I'd also recommend some of the Sergio Martino giallo films such as Torso, All the Colors of the Dark and The Case of the Scorpion's Tale.

If you like gialli, you might like to visit some of the Edgar Wallace krimis as well.

Jess Franco-an acquired taste to be sure, but I'm an addict. IMDB lists 203 films under his name and I've probably seen at least 50 of them. My personal favorite is probably A Virgin Among the Living Dead, but I'd start with The Awful Dr. Orlof, Venus in Furs and Succubus. Pretty much everything after the early 70s is wall to wall nudity if not downright porn so I guess it'll depend on what you're after. You might find his version of Count Dracula quite interesting; budget constraints really hurt it but it has a great cast with Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski among others.

Jean Rollin-perhaps even more of an acquired taste than Jess Franco as there is an art film quality in most of his material. I have to be in the right mood because his films can be rather slow, although they have a nice hypnotic quality about them as well. If you want the more gore oriented material, The Grapes of Death and The Living Dead Girl are probably good places to start and the pacing is a bit quicker as well. But he's most famous for his more personal erotic vampire films such as The Shiver of the Vampires, Requiem for a Vampire and Fascination. But as with Jess Franco, there is a ton of nudity and sex, so if that's not what you want, you might want to look elsewhere.

I've skipped over a lot of stuff but if you have questions, let me know. There are at least a couple other knowledgeable guys on the forum as well that should chime in. The good news is that most of the films I've mentioned are easily obtainable on DVD and blu-ray. I started watching them in the 80s and can't bear to think of how much money I sent to bootleggers back in the day! And if you really get into it, there is a pretty well known Euro cult torrent site that has films that no one else seems to have anywhere. So sometimes, you still need the bootleggers....

 

My favorite Argento movie's probably Phenomena. Jarring Iron Maiden and Motorhead soundtrack, kills that make American slashers look tame, a chimpanzee main character... It's an unmistakably European kind of weird.

 

Thanks. There seems to be a few full Rollin & Franco films up on youtube. I have seen bits of these over the years. I like the arty surrealism of Rollin. No problem with the nudity at all, in fact they were gold for the pre internet teen, but at this stage I also want a somewhat decent film. I'd say the Italian films are a higher quality over all, could be wrong.

 

I love the Rollin pictures. Especially those available via high quality blu-ray scans on the Redemption label.

 

Harry Kümel's Malpertuis (1971) always gets overlooked on such lists. Perhaps because it's not as gory as its Italian and Spanish contemporaries, perhaps because it's Belgian, or perhaps because it's too obscure; I don't know. It does star Orson Welles, though, in one of my favourites of his actor-for-hire roles.

Seek out the Belgian Royal Filmarchive 2DVD edition from 2005, if you can find it, as it contains both cuts of the film.

Malpertuis (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia »

 

Ossorio's Blind Dead series
Anything from the 70's with Paul Naschy.

 

Tell me more about the book. I've been reading his work on British Gothic cinema and I'm really enjoying it. I've also got his Studies in Terror which covers horror films in general, though imho he's picked too many films which means his discussions are too brief

 

Some great suggestions here as well .......

100 European Horror Films - BFI Screen Guide »

 

All I know is that's it due for release october 31st. I presume it will be in the same format as English Gothic. Hopefully he will have the reviews of each film seperated better than EG. Then tended to overlap. Finding the start of each review was a little awkward.

 

Great call on Blind Dead and Paul Naschy!

Someone else mentioned Harry Kumel a couple posts up. I really like his "Daughters of Darkness" film as well. I don't think I've seen Malpurgis.

 

I love the blind dead movies and Naschy. I bought everything I could get my hands on when they were putting them out some years back on dvd.
I don't know if they are still in print but I checked ebay and they have them if you need any.

 

I've recently become a very big fan of giallo thrillers from Italy. Far more strange than polished modern thrillers, they move with a slinky energy and tension lost in today's horror. Unlike modern slashers, giallo films attempt ambitious, twisting plots.

I heartily recommend The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, from Arrow Video's recent Killer Dames box set. Arrow has been releasing a number of giallo in the past year that are worth the time.

The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave Blu-ray Review - DoBlu.com »

 

Mario Bava- Lisa and the Devil
Dario Argento- Deep Red
Paul Naschy- Horror Rises From The Tomb
Jess Franco- Venus In Furs


Some gialli:
Black Belly of the Tarantula
What Have You Done to Solange
Your Vice Is a Locked Door And Only I Have
The Key
Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion
The Fifth Cord
Perfume Of the Lady in Black
Torso

 

Another good one is Let Sleeping Corpse Lie.
Here are the Naschy's I have.
Curse of the Devil
Frankenstein's Bloody Terror
The Night of the Werewolf
The Night of the Sorcerers
Exorcism
Vengeance of the Zombies
Loreley's Grasp
Horror Rises from the Tomb
Human Beast
Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll

 

A couple more good ones I see on the shelves are
Buio Omega ( this one is bizzare)
Satan's Blood. I was happy when I found this one having first seen it as a home rental in the vhs days.
Also a bit bizzare and creepy.

 

Egads. A night of those films would be like sharing popcorn with Quentin Tarantino's attic-locked brother.


100 European Horror Films - BFI Screen Guide
That one's pretty good.

 

Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein

 

I own about 90% of the films on that list!

 

Death Walks on High Heels and Death Walks At Midnight are both solid giallo movies, though I wouldn't really classify either one as horror.

Death Walks Twice Blu-ray Review - DoBlu.com »

 

Euro Gothic due on October 31st.

Euro Gothic : Jonathan Rigby : 9780957648159 »

 

All five are excellent, the last three are out on terrific looking Blu-Rays.

Who Could Kill A Child
House With Laughing Windows

Symptoms
Nightmare Castle
Eyes Without A Face

 

Larraz's Symptoms is terrific. He sure knew how to create an atmosphere. Same with his Vampyres and Scream and Die.

Avati's House with Laughing Windows is a pretty unique film. Super creepy and almost necrophilic in tone.

Serrador's Who Could Kill a Child is another singular film. Don't know if it could be made today.

 

Most of the movies listed here so far can be found reviewed here .....

Mondo Digital - Review Index »