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June 07, 2007

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'70s Horror Trailers

By Matthew Ross

The Grindhouse experiment may not have been a resounding success at the box office, but gross-out horror flicks are still alive and well at the box office. 35-year-old director Eli Roth deserves much of the credit. Today, the release of Hostel: Part 2, marks the shockmeister's third -- and most extreme -- gore extravaganza. In interviews, Roth has often expressed his fondness for the horror boom of the 1970s, when directors like Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Tobe Hooper, and Sam Raimi helped usher in a golden age of campy, clever, and ultraviolent exploitation pictures. Without them, it's safe to say there probably wouldn't be a Hostel franchise.

So, without further ado, let the bleeding begin.

1 Last House on the Left (1972)

Before Wes Craven created the meta-horror genre with Scream, his cinematic pursuits were fairly straightforward: scare the living shit of you. This rape-murder-and-revenge fever dream rightfully deserves its reputation as one of the gnarliest horror films ever to hit U.S. screens.

2 The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Another Craven gem. The tagline for this story about a family that gets terrorized by a band of desert-dwelling maniacs pretty much sums it up: "The Lucky Ones Died First."

3 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

The film that defined an era. Made for just $83,000, Tobe Hooper's sickening tale of a cannabilistic family that preys on strangers went on to gross more than $30 million in the U.S. alone. It also gave us Leatherface, perhaps the most terrifying horror villain of all time.

4 Night of the Living Dead (1968)

One of the most inflential low-ludget films ever made, this zombie frightfest from first-time director George A. Romero redefined the horror genre forever.

5 Halloween (1978)

The hockey mask, the chilling, minimalist piano score, Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis. By the time John Carpenter's low-budget film about an escaped homicidal mental patient finished its theatrical run, it was the highest-grossing independent film of all time.