Classic Horror Movies of the 1970s

Horror movies with a religious theme can often be the scariest kind. Perhaps it is because religion is often viewed as mysterious and therefore, while we can assure ourselves that it's unlikely we'll be attacked by a killer clown, it's hard to rule out religious phenomena that we don't understand. How does an omnipotent being decide through whom to communicate? Or when? Or why? The particular horror of this 1973 classic is twofold. It deals with a particularly nasty demon possession and to make it more horrifying, we see this happen to a young child.

A successful actress named Chris (played by Ellen Burstyn) notices a series of strange events around her house and particularly with her daughter, named Regan. There are strange noises in the attic and Regan complains that her bed is shaking. She begins talking of Ouija boards and her ability to communicate with spirits. After Chris finds her daughters bed shaking madly and levitating off the ground with Regan in it, she has her daughter's health evaluated time and again by physicians who can't find a problem with her. A psychiatrist suggests the possibility of demon possession and Chris and that is how the idea of an exorcism begins.

This movie depicts some truly disgusting scenes, such as the daughter urinating on the carpet in front of a party of people and threatening the guests, and the demon inside Regan convincing her to violently rape herself with a crucifix.

Carrie

In 1976, Sissy Spacek played Carrie White in an iconic movie that is more scary for the example of terrible parenting than it is for blood and gore. Carrie gets her first menstrual period in gym class and traumatized. She asks the other girls in her class for help and when it is clear she doesn't know what a period is, they make fun of her until the gym teacher, Miss. Collins, interferes. Miss Collins is extremely concerned for Carrie, and rightly so. Carrie's mom locks her daughter in a closet and makes her pray for the "sin" of getting her period.

One of the girls who made fun of Carrie feels guilty and asks her boyfriend to take Carrie to the prom. The leader of the popular girl clique feels no remorse and sets out to ruin Carrie's prom experience with the help of her boyfriend, played by John Travolta.

All throughout the movie, Carrie is discovering and honing her telekinesis skills. When a grotesque prank is played on her at prom, she imagines the whole auditorium is laughing at her, just as her mother warned and she snaps and uses her newfound special skills to bring the prom to an end...then she returns home to deal with her mother.

You can't help but feel sorry for Carrie. She is a victim to her delusional mother and the preying "mean girls" style high school clique. Let this be a lesson to them.

Halloween

The original 1978 Halloween movie is a terrifying ride from the beginning. An unidentified person sees a teenage girl and boy kissing in front of a two-story Victorian house. The couple moves up to the bedroom and the unidentified person stalks up to the house, enters and grabs a knife. As the boyfriend leaves the bedroom, suggesting the rendezvous is over, the eerie figure moves up the staircase, finds and puts on a clown mask and enters the girl's bedroom.

The girl sees that it is just her 6-year-old brother Michael and doesn't worry, until he begins stabbing her repeatedly. His parents discover what he has done and send him away to an institution. Years later, on the night before Halloween, a now 21-year-old Michael escapes from the institution and wreaks havoc on his old hometown. He sets his sights on a high school girl named Laurie, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. The rest you should watch for yourself!