Thirteen Thrilling Tales: More Halloween Movies

7. Horror Express; Eugenio Martín, 1972 (Spain)

There is nothing like a 1970s horror movie set in the early twentieth century. On a train. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee play two scientists who don’t particularly care for each other and their sparring provides a delightful camp factor. Yet the creep factor, in the form of the mysterious fossil that Lee’s character is transporting on the train, provides spooky substance. Mad monks and sultry spies round out the cast, along with Telly Savalas as a scenery-chomping, ass-kicking Cossack soldier. The musical motif is both lovely and deadly. Oddly enough, several plot points predate both the television show Heroes as well as the science fiction movie District 9.

8. Inside (À l’intérieur); Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury, 2007 (France)

Instead of the premise being merely an excuse to show excessive gore and then shoehorning in some plot as an afterthought, this is one film where the two elements are essential, even symbiotic. It’s Christmas Eve: an extremely pregnant woman is going to the hospital the next day so the doctors can induce labor. But a mysterious female is outside of her house trying to get inside. That might sound boring, but trust me, no horror film has ever reduced me to such a blubbering mass of goo. This isn’t just a horror movie; it is a real work of art.

9. Macabre (Macabro); Lamberto Bava, 1980 (Italy)

Partly shot in New Orleans, Macabre is the first film directed by Lamberto Bava (Demons), the son of famed giallo master Mario Bava. The events develop almost too slowly; you don’t understand quite what’s happening and when you realize what is happening, you wish you didn’t know. Macabre mixes lust, quasi-voodoo, and murder into one truly nasty cocktail. At first I felt that the “sexy saxophone” music was wholly misplaced, but interspersed with some unsettling drumbeats, it eventually found its way into my fears. Like a lot of Italian movies, there is some unfortunate dubbing, but it does not negatively impact the film’s grotesque tableau.

10. Patrick; Richard Franklin, 1978 (Australia)

Although the set up seems similar to the original Halloween, this is not a slasher movie, despite what the strikingly original opening scenes might imply. Kathy Jacquard is a nurse desperate for a job at the Roget Clinic, despite the fact that the head nurse, Matron Cassidy, has about as much warmth as Nurse Ratchet from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Kathy feels sorry for comatose patient Patrick and that’s precisely what seems to unleash a lot of bizarre behavior. There is very little gore, but plenty of spooky atmosphere here, supported by believable acting and an engaging and unique storyline.

11. Possession; Andrzej Zulawski, 1981 France/West Germany (France/West Germany)

I’m not quite sure how to describe Possession without giving too much away. Actually, I’m not quite sure how to describe it at all. It’s a horror movie, a psychodrama, a sexual exposé, and a political statement. It’s perhaps too ambitious at times—some of the acting feels staged and over-the-top—or just plain nonsensical, but that only adds to its surreal, viscerally unsettling nature. Isabelle Adjani plays the beautiful, yet deeply disturbed cheating wife and Sam Neill is the husband cuckolded into equally complicit craziness.

12. Rabid; David Cronenberg, 1977 (Canada)

The French title of this film is Rage, and its influence upon 28 Days Later quickly becomes obvious. Yet it’s never clear whether the victims of this particular strain of “rabies” are vampires or zombies or something else entirely. The spread of a pandemic is played out more believably than in other similarly themed movies; here overarching terror is offset with a kind of numb resignation. The Cronenberg themes of body horror and medical experiments quickly make themselves known, but perhaps more captivating is the presence of the exquisitely beautiful Marilyn Chambers, in a rare non-porn movie role. She is both tragic prey and unwilling perpetrator.

13. The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh (Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh); Sergio Martino, 1971 (Italy/Spain)

“The worst part of you is the best thing you have and will always be mine.” So reads a note from a mysterious stranger who may or may not be the sadistic ex-boyfriend of the titular Mrs. Wardh. This giallo is gushing with gorgeous women, beautiful clothing, lovely décor, and blood. It was likely visually inspired by Psycho (and probably Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls as well), but retains its distinct giallo flair, likely influencing the mysterious black-gloved murderer in Dario Argento’s The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. Just when you think you know whodunit, you will be proven wrong.

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