Favorite Horror Films of the 60s

While the "golden age" of horror from the early 30s through the 40s, and the "slashers" of the late 70s through the 80s rightfully deserve all of the attention that they receive, I feel that the later films of the "silver age" of horror in the 60s are often unfairly dismissed by horror buffs. So, please comment on your favorites from the overlooked decade. Whether they're classics, trash, box office smashes or B-movie drive-in fodder, I'd love to hear about them.


The Haunting
Robert Wise's 1963 film was largely forgotten for years, but underwent a reevaluation after it was remade near the turn of the millennium, and is now rightfully considered a classic in the pantheon of psychological horror films. The film excels at creating a disturbing mood throughout without relying on cliche cinematic contrivances, evoking very similar feelings to one of my all time favorites 'The Mummy' (1932).

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul &
This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse
The "Coffin Joe" movies have become cult classics over the years, and the first two are still my favorites. The Brazilian writer-director-star Jose Mojica Marins created one of the darkest and most engaging characters to have ever graced the horror movie houses at the time. His films are dark and twisted with vivid fantasies of Hell and depravity that leave you feeling sort of dirty by the time they're finished.

Psycho
There's nothing I could write about Hitchcock's horror-thriller masterpiece that hasn't already been written, so I won't even bother. To the handful of you who have never seen it, what the heck are you waiting for? It's one of the most expertly-paced and riveting works of horror ever shot. Go now, stop reading this and go watch it immediately!

Eyes Without a Face
This French film received much notoriety upon its release and was severely edited before being released in the United States. However, the Criterion DVD and Blu releases available today are of the original uncut film. It's a dark tale of a mad surgeon stricken with grief over disfiguring his daughter in an auto accident. With the help of his assistant, he lures girls to his laboratory and performs skin graft surgeries on them to fix his daughter's appearance. The film has both visceral and psychological horror and delves into some deeper themes concerning humanity.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness
My favorite of the Hammer films, Christopher Lee is unforgettable in the titular role as everyone's favorite vampire. And he does it not with dialogue but with presence. While Bela Lugosi set the standard by which all subsequent performaces have rightfully been judged against in Tod Browning's 'Dracula' (1931), Christopher Lee absolutely excels in the role, and this film is memorable, intense and provocative.


An honorable mention goes out to the Roman Polanski classic 'Rosemary's Baby.'

 

And the film that greatly influenced the next generation of horror, Night of the Living Dead.

 

Love Psycho & Night Of the Living Dead. Of course, there's also Rosemary's Baby is great as well

 

Psycho is my favorite. And there's

Carnival of Souls
Blood Feast
Two Thousand Maniacs!

 

Three of your five are ones I like quite a bit but Dracula: Prince of Darkness suffers from not having Van Helsing's character.

 

Fair enough, but Van Helsing is a major player in the first Hammer 'Dracula' which came out in the late 50s. In fact, Peter Cushing plays him and he's wonderful. He also played Dr. Frankenstein in the Hammer adaptation 'The Curse of Frankenstein.' He's a heck of an actor, excellent presence and charisma. While I tend to prefer the classic Universal horror films, the Hammer movies are generally great as well.

Haven't seen the latter two, thanks for the tip.

 

I'd throw in Brides of Dracula. No Lee but Cushing and a guy blonde vampire!

 

Psycho and The Birds, of course...
Rosemary's Baby

 

Black Sunday, Village of the Damned, Little Shop of Horrors, 13 Ghosts (1960)

 

The Birds
The Witches (1966)
The Innocents
Rosemary's Baby
Peeping Tom
The Haunting
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? - I suppose this is more of a thriller
Repulsion
Village of the Damned

 

Circus of Horrors (1960) I will never forget Anton Diffring's face.

 

I know the thread is limited to the 60s, which is why you chose Dracula: POD, but 1958's Horror of Dracula is the greatest of these films, and it feels like it should have been from the 60s. The same with the two Hammer Frankenstein movies of the 50s and Hammer's Mummy. Great stuff.

 

You may be right that the first Hammer 'Dracula' is superior, I suppose it depends on the day for me. What really resonates with me so much about 'Prince of Darkness' is Lee's dialogue-less performance in which he still manages to convey so much emotion. The Hammer series of classic horror as a whole is exceptional. I wanted to focus this thread on 60s films as the decade seems to get little attention from horror buffs. The 50s get plenty of love. The Hammer series happens to cross that 50s/60s threshold though.

 

Night of the Living Dead
Quatermass & The Pit
The Masque of the Red Death
The Haunting
Day of the Triffids
Psycho
Village of the Damned

 

Rosemary's Baby is one of my favorites.

 

Spider Baby
Eyes Without a Face

 

I like all of these a LOT - I would give "Rosemary's Baby" much more than an honorable mention; I think it's a certified classic as is Polanski's "Repulsion"

Night of the Living Dead is probably my favorite overall, but The Innocents is a very close second

 

Castle of the Living Dead

 

Good to see Coffin Joe getting the recognition he deserves at the start of the thread. Those films are highly recommended and well ahead of their time. I cant even imagine the impact they had on people seeing them in the theatre for the first time not knowing what to expect. A course in philosophy brought to you via horror film.

A few more films I'd like to add to the list.
Ship Of Monsters
Blood And Roses
The Skull
The Brainiac
Spirits Of The Dead
Black Sabbath
Kill Baby Kill
Las Vampiras
Kiss Me Quick(nudie cutie)
Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (no Frankenstein in the film but still lots of fun)
The Lemon Grove Kids Meet The Monsters

 

Night Of The Living Dead is the first one I thought of. I love that one.
The Haunting is great, too. Psycho is a classic. Hitchcock was brilliant!

 

Black Sabbath terrified me as a kid. The dead woman in the bed still gives me the willies!

 

Several of the movies mentioned here are airing on TCM this month - along with plenty of other good films and some not-so-good ones. Large font and italic have been cited in this thread:

Friday, October 14

8 pm, The Cat and the Canary (1939)

9:30 pm, The Fearless Vampire Killers (1966)

11:30 pm, Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

Saturday, October 15th

1 am, Young Frankenstein (1974)

3 am, Hillibillys in a Haunted House (1967)

4:30 am, Spooks Run Wild (1941)

5:45 am, Ghosts on the Loose (1943)

7 am, Master MInds (1949)

8:15 am, Spook Busters (1946)

9:30 am, Spook Chasers (1957)

10:45, The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954)

8 pm, The Innocents (1961)

Sunday, October 16th

12 am, Eye of the Devil (1966)

8 pm, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

9:45 pm, The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)

Monday, October 17th

12 am, Kurutta Ippeiji (1926)

2 am, Goke: Body Snatcher from Hell (1968)

3:30 am, The X from Outer Space (1967)

8 pm, Horror Hotel (1960)

9:30 pm, Horror Express (1972)

11:15 pm, The House that Dripped Blood

Tuesday, October 18th

1:15 am, The Creeping Flesh (1972)

3 am, The Oblong Box (1969)

6:15 pm, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)

Friday, October 21st

8 pm, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)

10 pm, Eyes Without a Face (1960)

11:45 pm, The Body Snatcher (1945)

Saturday, October 22nd

1:15 am, Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954)

2:45 am, Macabre (1958)

4 am, The Corpse Vanishes (1942)

5:15 am, The Brain that Wouldn’t Die (1962)

6:45 am, The Killer Shrews (1969)

8 am, The Devil Bat (1940)

9:15 am, The Seventh Victim (1943)

8 pm, Jaws (1975)

10:15 pm, Jaws 2 (1978)

Sunday, October 23rd

12:15 am, Jaws 3 (1982)

8 pm, Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)

10 pm, Frankenstein Must be Destroyed! (1970)

Monday, October 24th

12 am, The Phantom Carriage (1921)

2 am, Epidemic (1987)

3:15 pm, The Gorgon (1964)

4:45 pm, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

6:15 pm, Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966)

8 pm, Horror of Dracula (1958)

9:30 pm, Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965)

11:15 pm, Dracula has Risen from the Grave (1969)

Tuesday, October 25th

1:00 am, Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)

2:45 am, Scars of Dracula (1970)

4:30 am, Dracula A.D. (1972)

Wednesday, October 26th

4:15 pm, Logan’s Run (1975)

6:15, Soylent Green (1973)

Friday, October 28th

8 pm, Dracula (1931)

9:30, The Mummy (1932)

11 pm, The Invisible Man (1933)

Saturday, October 29th

12:15, The Wolf Man (1941)

1:30 am, The Black Cat (1934)

2:45 am, The Uninvited (1944)

4:30 am, Island of Lost Souls (1933)

6 am, The Devil-Doll (1936)

7:30 am, The Leopard Man (1943)

9 am, Bedlam (1946)

12 pm, The Black Scorpion (1957)

1:45 pm, The Blob (1958)

3:15 pm, The Village of the Damned (1961)

4:45 pm, The Thing from Another World (1951)

6:30 pm, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)

8 pm, Blood and Black Lace (1964)

9:30 pm, Carnival of Souls (1962)

11 pm, It’s Alive! (1974)

Sunday, October 30th

12:45 am, The Baby (1973)

12 pm, The Tingler (1959)

1:30 pm, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

3:45 pm, Dead Ringer (1964)

6 pm, The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

8 pm, Young Frankenstein (1974)

10 pm, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Monday, October 31st

4 am, Gaslight (1944)

6 am, Mark of the Vampire (1935)

7:15 am, Cat People (1942)

8:30 am, I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

9:45 am, Dementia 13 (1963)

11:15 am, The House of Wax (1953)

12:45 pm, Black Sabbath (1964)

2:30 pm, Dead of Night (1945)

4:30 pm, House on Haunted Hill (1958)

6 pm, The Haunting (1963)

8 pm, The Devil’s Bride (1968)

9:45pm The Mummy (1959)

 

Blind Beast 1969 Japanese

Peeping Tom 1960 British

Horror Hotel 1960 British

 

Witchfinder General
The Devil Rides Out

John Frankenheimer's Seconds isn't a horror in the traditional sense, but it certainly has elements of it. An incredibly creepy film.

Hiroshi Teshigahara's The Face of Another covers similar ground to Seconds, and was actually released the year before Frankenheimer's film.

Japanese culture has a long tradition of ghost stories. Some favourites from the 1960s:

Onibaba
Kuroneko
Pitfall