Many horror fans feel that the ’80s were the best decade the genre ever saw, so we here at Arrow in the Head have decided to go back to the beginning and take a look at the Best Horror Movies of 1980. In the list below, we take a journey through 1980, picking ten of the best horror movies the year had to offer along the way. See what you think of our list, and let us know what your picks would have been by leaving a comment!

Film	Release Date	Director	Subgenre	Key Strengths	Notable Cast
The Fog	Feb 1, 1980	John Carpenter	Supernatural horror	Atmosphere, ghost revenge story	Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau
Cannibal Holocaust	Feb 7, 1980	Ruggero Deodato	Found footage / exploitation	Disturbing realism, shocking violence	Robert Kerman
The Changeling	Mar 26, 1980	Peter Medak	Haunted house	Creepy atmosphere, mystery	George C. Scott
Friday the 13th	May 9, 1980	Sean S. Cunningham	Slasher	Camp setting, gore FX	Betsy Palmer
Maniac	May 10, 1980	William Lustig	Psychological slasher	Intense performance, gore effects	Joe Spinell
The Shining	May 23, 1980	Stanley Kubrick	Psychological / supernatural	Cinematography, performances	Jack Nicholson
Prom Night	Jul 18, 1980	Paul Lynch	Slasher mystery	Whodunit structure, dance sequence	Jamie Lee Curtis
Mother’s Day	Sep 19, 1980	Charles Kaufman	Exploitation horror	Dark humor, revenge elements	Beatrice Pons
Terror Train	Oct 3, 1980	Roger Spottiswoode	Slasher	Costume-switch gimmick, train setting	Jamie Lee Curtis
Motel Hell	Oct 18, 1980	Kevin Connor	Horror-comedy	Satire, bizarre humor	Rory Calhoun

THE FOG (February 1)

• Director: John Carpenter
• Release Date: February 1, 1980
• Subgenre: Supernatural ghost horror
• Setting: Coastal seaside town
• Primary Threat: Vengeful undead sailors
• Key Themes: Revenge, buried history, paranoia
• Production Notes: Major reshoots improved scares and pacing
• Tone: Atmospheric and eerie
• Notable Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins

Production on John Carpenter’sThe Fog was a bit of a mess, and Carpenter has even flat-out stated that his first cut of the film “sucked”. The project always had an interesting concept: the story of undead sailors invading a seaside town, enveloped in a thick fog, to get revenge for their murders 100 years earlier. Problem was, the scare sequences just didn’t work as originally shot. Reshoots were required to punch them up with added jumps and violence, and those reshoots saved The Fog from being a disappointment. The film also receives a boost from its cast, which includes Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Janet Leigh, and Hal Holbrook.

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (February 7)

• Director: Ruggero Deodato
• Release Date: February 7, 1980
• Subgenre: Found footage exploitation horror
• Setting: Amazon rainforest
• Primary Threat: Cannibal tribe and human cruelty
• Key Themes: Media ethics, exploitation, savagery
• Historical Significance: Early found footage pioneer
• Tone: Graphic and disturbing
• Content Warning: Extreme violence and animal cruelty

Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust is not an easy movie to watch, and I might be fine if I never sat through it again, but the fact that it is so deeply disturbing makes it rank as one of the best horror movies of 1980. An early found footage movie, it follows a crew that claims to be making a documentary about a cannibal tribe in the Amazon, but footage they never intended to be shown reveals that they were actually terrorizing the tribe and staging moments of shocking violence. Which is why the tribe ends up striking back against them. Cannibal Holocaust has the power to make you queasy even when it’s not showing those infamous moments of actual animal deaths.

THE CHANGELING (March 26)

• Director: Peter Medak
• Release Date: March 26, 1980
• Subgenre: Haunted house mystery
• Setting: Historic Seattle mansion
• Primary Threat: Restless spirit
• Key Themes: Grief, loss, hidden secrets
• Tone: Slow-burn supernatural suspense
• Notable Feature: Emotional opening tragedy sequence

After losing his wife and young daughter in a tragic accident shown in the film’s gut-punch of an opening sequence, composer John Russell (George C. Scott) moves from New York out to Seattle… and picks a bad place to settle into: a historic mansion that happens to be inhabited by a spirit that drags him into a complicated mystery. Directed by Peter Medak, The Changeling is a little slow, but also manages to be quite creepy while telling a very interesting story. Plus you get to witness George C. Scott calling a ghost a “goddamn son of a bitch.”

FRIDAY THE 13TH (May 9)

• Director: Sean S. Cunningham
• Release Date: May 9, 1980
• Subgenre: Camp slasher
• Setting: Camp Crystal Lake
• Primary Threat: Mrs. Voorhees
• Key Themes: Revenge, trauma, isolation
• Special Effects: Gore FX by Tom Savini
• Legacy: Spawned major horror franchise

A lot of slasher movies came out of the ’80s, but one of the best ones was Sean S. Cunningham’s summer camp slasher Friday the 13th, which spawned a massive franchise that is still dearly beloved by fans more than 40 years later. It took a few films for all of the elements to come together for the franchise, but this is a great movie even if it doesn’t feature a hockey mask-wearing Jason Voorhees. The isolated Camp Crystal Lake setting is wonderfully creepy, FX legend Tom Savini provided some awesome gore as the counselors are knocked off, and Betsy Palmer delivers an iconic performance as the bereaved and insane Mrs. Voorhees.

MANIAC (May 10, Cannes premiere)

• Director: William Lustig
• Release Date: May 10, 1980 (premiere)
• Subgenre: Psychological slasher
• Setting: New York City
• Primary Threat: Frank Zito
• Key Themes: Isolation, psychosis, misogyny
• Tone: Grimy and nihilistic
• Standout Element: Joe Spinell’s unsettling performance

Tom Savini created some of the grossest special effects of his career for William Lustig’s slasher Maniac, but as gross as they are, they aren’t nearly as troubling as Joe Spinell’s performance in the titular role of Frank Zito. Driven insane by some major mommy issues, Frank roams New York City at night, murdering random people and collecting scalps to stick on the mannequins he keeps at home. There isn’t much to Maniac beyond murder scenes and Frank giving crazy monologues, but Spinell, Savini, and Bond girl Caroline Munro – who shows up as a photographer Frank makes a connection with – make it a must-see.

THE SHINING (May 23)

• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• Release Date: May 23, 1980
• Subgenre: Psychological supernatural horror
• Setting: Overlook Hotel
• Primary Threat: Madness and ghosts
• Key Themes: Family collapse, isolation, addiction
• Source Material: Novel by Stephen King
• Legacy: Widely regarded as a horror classic

Stephen King may not like this adaptation of his novel The Shining, and some fans agree that the film dropped the ball when bringing King’s story to the screen, but if you can separate it from the book, director Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining stands up as an all-time great horror film, an incredibly well-crafted examination of a family’s destruction in a ghost-ridden hotel. It’s packed with thrills and scares, and carried by unforgettable performances from Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers. When a film is this fascinating on its own, I can’t bring myself to be too concerned with how well it matches the source material.

PROM NIGHT (July 18)

• Director: Paul Lynch
• Release Date: July 18, 1980
• Subgenre: Slasher mystery
• Setting: High school prom
• Primary Threat: Unknown killer
• Key Themes: Childhood guilt, revenge
• Tone: Stylish and suspenseful
• Notable Feature: Famous disco dance sequence

Halloween heroine Jamie Lee Curtis’s horror streak continued with this “dead teenager” whodunit from Paul Lynch. Prom Night is pretty much your average slasher, but manages to stand out from the pack due to the cast (Leslie Nielsen plays Curtis’s father), some memorable death scenes, a three minute disco dance break, and an opening scene that I found to be deeply disturbing when I first saw this movie at a young age. A group of kids are playing a “Hide and Seek”/”It”-style game called “Killers” in an abandoned convent, and their creepy game results in the accidental death of a 10 year old.  This death is the reason for all the murders that follow years later.

MOTHER’S DAY (September 19)

• Director: Charles Kaufman
• Release Date: September 19, 1980
• Subgenre: Exploitation revenge horror
• Setting: Rural woodland area
• Primary Threat: Violent family unit
• Key Themes: Abuse, revenge, twisted family dynamics
• Tone: Darkly comedic and disturbing
• Notable Connection: Released by Troma Entertainment

Filmed at the same time and in the same area as the “killer mommy” classic Friday the 13th, Mother’s Day was directed by Charles Kaufman, the brother of Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman. It’s clear that Charles has a sense of humor that’s very much in line with his brother’s, as the film about an awful mother (Beatrice Pons) and her two dimwitted sons (Frederick Coffin and Michael McCleery as Ike and Addley) tormenting a trio of women (Nancy Hendrickson, Deborah Luce, and Tiana Pierce) on a camping trip has some really goofy, amusing stuff in it. It also has disturbing moments, and some satisfying violence when the women are able to strike back against their attackers.

TERROR TRAIN (October 3)

• Director: Roger Spottiswoode
• Release Date: October 3, 1980
• Subgenre: Slasher
• Setting: Moving train during New Year’s Eve
• Primary Threat: Costume-switching killer
• Key Themes: Revenge, humiliation
• Tone: Claustrophobic and suspenseful
• Notable Feature: Appearance by David Copperfield

Jamie Lee Curtis was in three films that were released in 1980, and every one of them made it onto this list. She isn’t a horror fan herself, but somehow ended up starring in a lot of classics. Director Roger Spottiswoode’s slasher Terror Train starts off with a group of college students playing a really appalling prank on one of their classmates. Jump ahead three years and those college students are having a New Year’s Eve costume party on a moving train – and someone starts slashing their way through the partiers, switching costumes between kills. Most of the characters in the film are either unlikeable or bland, but you get to see some David Copperfield magic and in the end Curtis screams her way through an extended chase sequence.

MOTEL HELL (October 18)

• Director: Kevin Connor
• Release Date: October 18, 1980
• Subgenre: Horror-comedy
• Setting: Rural motel and farm
• Primary Threat: Vincent and Ida
• Key Themes: Cannibalism, capitalism, rural grotesque
• Tone: Satirical and bizarre
• Memorable Scene: Chainsaw duel with pig mask imagery

Rory Calhoun delivers a terrific performance in director Kevin Connor’s Motel Hell, playing a farmer and motel owner who sells a line of smoked meat products that just happen to be made from human flesh. Calhoun’s character Vincent and his sister Ida (Nancy Parsons) capture people, sever their vocal cords, and keep them buried from the neck down in their secret garden, waiting for the right time to harvest their meat. Boasting a crazy sense of humor and some very strange characters, Motel Hell is an entertaining horror comedy that builds up to a chainsaw duel where one of the participants wears a pig’s head over their own. Classic.

FAQ

What are the best horror movies of 1980 according to this article?

The article selects these ten films:

• The Fog
• Cannibal Holocaust
• The Changeling
• Friday the 13th
• Maniac
• The Shining
• Prom Night
• Mother’s Day
• Terror Train
• Motel Hell

Why is 1980 considered an important year for horror?

1980 was the beginning of one of horror’s strongest decades, featuring:

• the rise of the slasher boom
• influential supernatural horror
• exploitation cinema
• early found footage experimentation
• horror-comedy hybrids

Which subgenres are represented?

The list includes:

• Slasher
• Supernatural horror
• Found footage
• Psychological horror
• Exploitation horror
• Horror-comedy

Which actors appear multiple times?

Jamie Lee Curtis appears in:

• The Fog
• Prom Night
• Terror Train

Which film launched the biggest franchise?

Friday the 13th became one of horror’s most successful long-running franchises.

Which film is considered the most controversial?

Cannibal Holocaust is highlighted as deeply disturbing due to its violence and real animal deaths.

Which film had production problems?

The Fog underwent major reshoots after director John Carpenter felt the original cut did not work.

Do you think these are the best horror movies of 1980? If you think we missed one, sound off in the comments below!

The post The Best Horror Movies of 1980 appeared first on JoBlo.

Originally released on June 4, 1982, Poltergeist was made on a budget of $10.7 million and ended up earning more than $121 million at the box office… and for more than forty years, viewers have been debating which member of the creative team should get the credit for that success. Was credited director Tobe Hooper really responsible for calling the shots, or did he let producer/writer Steven Spielberg take the helm? Apparently this is a debate that will never die, as director Joseph Kahn decided to stir it up again on social media – and Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 star Caroline Williams is taking him to task for it.

What is Poltergeist about?

Officially on the record, Tobe Hooper, who had previously made The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive, Salem’s Lot, and The Funhouse, directed Poltergeist from a screenplay Steven Spielberg wrote with Michael Grais and Mark Victor. Spielberg also crafted the initial story.

The film has the following synopsis: Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family, the Freelings — Steve, Diane, teenaged Dana, eight-year-old Robbie, and five-year-old Carol Ann — when ghosts commune with them through the television set. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing, and, when Carol Ann goes missing, Steve and Diane turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help.

Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, Heather O’Rourke, Beatrice Straight, Michael McManus, Virginia Kiser, Martin Casella, Richard Lawson, James Karen, Dirk Blocker, and Zelda Rubinstein star, with appearances by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2‘s Lou Perryman and Predator‘s Sonny Landham.

What did Joseph Kahn say about Poltergeist?

Kahn wrote on X, “I am a huge Spielberg nerd, and also a Tobe Hooper fan (especially Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2). So, knowing both styles in and out, I say this with full conviction and authority: Spielberg directed Poltergeist. I think at a certain point Tobe spoke to the actors, but no question, Spielberg staged the scenes, the camera work, the lighting, the editing, the music, story, script, locations, casting, basically everything else. Except talk to the actors…and even on that part, debatable. Anyone who doesn’t think Spielberg directed it simply has no eye for cinema. No sense of editing or movement. It’s night and day. It’s like watching Michael Jordan wear a Tobe Hooper skin suit and do dunks from the free throw line. And no, people cannot suddenly emulate this style. If they could there would be a million Spielbergs. There is only one. And I’ll add one very f*cking obvious thing: Poltergeist is shot with Spielberg’s LENSES. Spielberg controls actual T Stops and DEPTH OF FIELD like few directors do, certainly not Hooper.“

Kahn got a lot of responses, some agreeing with him and some disagreeing. Then Williams stood up for her director.

What did Caroline Williams say?

Williams posted a letter Spielberg sent to Hooper on June 2, 1982 to lament that “some of the press has misunderstood the rather unique, creative relationship” they had behind the scenes on Poltergeist, and had started giving him credit for directing the film instead of Hooper. She has no time for anyone trying to “kick the pins out from under one of Tobe’s greatest achievements.”

She went on to say, “Joseph Kahn considers himself to be a film expert. He will never achieve the legendary heights that Tobe Hooper did and revels in trying to add to the libel that Tobe didn’t direct Poltergeist. Steven’s letter to Tobe puts the lie to that. When confronted with proof in print, he resorts to ‘Hollywood politics.’ He’s a mean, envious, ordinary little man who only feels himself when he’s pretending to be better than all the others. My views are well known and better expressed through John Bloom’s article Last of the Hippie Filmmakers. It explains Hollywood politics surrounding the film then and now.

Steven offered the film to Tobe & enthusiastically worked with him on it. All of the stars except the embittered Zelda Rubinstein said so. When I worked with Craig T. Nelson on The District we shared Tobe stories. At an industry party, I did the same with JoBeth Williams. Neither said that Tobe didn’t direct the film, were actually flattering about their portrayals of him. While I grow tired of this bullshit popping up occasionally, I enjoy the support of Mick Garris (listen to his podcast with me) and Joe Russo, who have taken up the cause. As I stated, John Bloom’s article Last of the Hippie Filmmakers states the case. … Mick was unit publicist and was there every day, as well as in production meetings, etc. He’s also the single most honorable man in show biz. Whatever he says, you can take to the bank.“

So there we have the latest chapter in this seemingly endless debate. What do you think of the “did Tobe Hooper really direct Poltergeist” confusion? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Poltergeist: Joseph Kahn stirs up the “Hooper or Spielberg” debate, Caroline Williams responds appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: A young woman (Midori Francis) who is desperate to lose weight is given access to a new wonder drug called “The Gray,” which allows her to lose weight—fast—but the consequences prove to be more dire than she anticipates.

REVIEW: We live in an interesting era. A lot of people struggle with their weight (most of us do at one point or another), but now there seem to be pharmaceutical solutions that are helping people lose weight and keep it off, upending diet culture in a real way. Natalie Erika James, who previously helmed the well-received Relic (as well as the misbegotten Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A), takes on this new reality head-on with this intriguing new entry into the resurgent body-horror genre.

Our heroine, Midori Francis’s Hana, suffers from severe body dysmorphia. While a more extreme version of this film would have presented her as significantly overweight, Hana starts the movie looking like a pretty average person, although Francis does wear prosthetics that are never quite convincing. Yet she has some family trauma that’s made her fear her growing weight, plus she’s also lusting over a fit grad student, Madeleine Madden’s Alanya, who she feels will never notice her unless she’s rail-thin.

One night, when clubbing with her much more body-positive friend Josie (a likable Danielle Macdonald), she runs into a girl she knew in high school who was once obese but now looks like a model. She’s given some pills called “The Gray,” which she’s told will help her lose weight—although they cost upwards of $5K. Yet Hana also happens to be a med student, and she’s able to synthesize the drug herself, only to discover it contains human ash, prompting her to steal some from an obese cadaver she and her fellow grads have cruelly named Big Bertha. Soon Hana starts losing loads of weight, but also finds herself haunted by Bertha’s increasingly pissed-off ghost—or is she?

Natalie Erika James tackles a lot here—from body dysmorphia to LGBTQ romance to body horror, with a ghost story thrown in too for good measure—but it mostly works. While a little too deliberately paced at close to two hours (there’s a smashing ninety-minute movie in there), Saccharine is always compelling, with some pretty gross gore effects thrown in for good measure. It will also strike a chord with anyone who’s ever wished they could take a shortcut and get the body of their dreams—even as getting the kind you see in movies is ultimately unattainable for a lot of us.

Midori Francis, who was a regular on Grey’s Anatomy, delivers a standout performance as the vulnerable Hana, with whom you always empathize, even if it’s a little hard to swallow that this med student would violate so many ethical lines without ever being caught. She keeps you invested in Hana’s journey, with James also keeping the horror vague enough that for much of it you never know whether the horror is real or just in Hana’s head.

While it’s not The Substance, and isn’t as much of a knockout as another great Sundance body-horror flick from last year, The Ugly Stepsister, Saccharine is always stylish and compelling. It’s now playing in limited release and will come out on Shudder in a few months.

The post Saccharine Review: A New Body Horror Flick Taking On Weight Loss Drugs appeared first on JoBlo.

Cody

Hammer Films was founded in 1934, but it took an eleven year hiatus on the way to the ‘50s, the decade when the company entered the era it’s best known for. In 1955, the sci-fi horror film The Quatermass Xperiment became their first major international success, inspiring Hammer to start building toward becoming one of the most popular genre companies of all time. Since this year marks the 90th anniversary of Hammer Films, we decided it was time to put together a list of some of The Best Hammer Horror Movies. Here we go:

The Many Faces of Hammer Horror

Gothic Aristocracy

• Horror of Dracula
• The Curse of Frankenstein

Occult Terror

• The Devil Rides Out
• The Mummy

Sci-Fi Horror

• Quatermass and the Pit
• X the Unknown

Psychological Thrillers

• Die! Die! My Darling!
• Fear in the Night

Folk & Village Horror

• The Reptile
• The Gorgon
• Night Creatures

Literary Adaptations

• The Hound of the Baskervilles
• The Phantom of the Opera

HORROR OF DRACULA (1958)

Sure, this is yet another adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula; a re-telling of the story that any horror watcher will see roughly fifty versions of over the course of their fandom. But director Terence Fisher and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster brought some twists to this one that are not present in others and shuffled some of the characters. As usual, it begins with a young man named Jonathan Harker coming to Count Dracula’s castle on business – but then we get the twist that Harker is actually a vampire hunter, in league with professional vampire killer Doctor Van Helsing. He knows what Count Dracula is and has come to destroy him. Of course, that doesn’t work very well for him, and Van Helsing has to spend the rest of the movie trying to stop Dracula, who has his evil sights set on Harker’s fiancée. Horror of Dracula is a thrilling reimagining of Stoker’s story that moves along at a surprisingly fast pace, telling its story in a brisk 81 minutes. Since it’s so great, it’s no shock that it spawned a franchise. Movie-goers couldn’t get enough of Christopher Lee’s performance as Dracula, and he came back for six sequels (Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Scars of Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972, and The Satanic Rites of Dracula). Peter Cushing, the coolest Van Helsing ever, came back to share the screen with Lee in a couple of those sequels, and also returned for two adventures without Lee (The Brides of Dracula and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, a martial arts / horror mash-up that saw Hammer collaborating with Shaw Brothers Studios) – which are actually more entertaining than some of the Lee Dracula sequels.

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1967)

Hammer’s Quatermass trilogy is the rare franchise that gets better with each installment. The first film, The Quatermass Xperiment (a.k.a. The Creeping Unknown) is a fine story about an astronaut who’s a bit different when he returns from a trip into space. Turns out, he has been taken over by an alien entity and is mutating. Quatermass 2 (a.k.a. Enemy from Space) has more going on, dealing with a village that has fallen under the control of aliens, and has elements reminiscent of Halloween III: Season of the Witch – which makes sense since these stories originate from the same person, Nigel Kneale. Directed by Roy Ward Baker and scripted by Kneale, Quatermass and the Pit begins when workers extending the London Underground unearth a strange skull and a mysterious metal. Investigating the situation, the character at the center of this series, Professor Bernard Quatermass (played in this film by Andrew Keir and in the previous films by Brian Donlevy) finds himself dealing with Martians that resemble the Devil, may be responsible for rumors of a haunting in the area, and have deadly telekinetic abilities. You can see reflections of Quatermass and the Pit in some of John Carpenter’s work, especially Prince of Darkness. For a bonus, also check out X the Unknown, which Hammer wanted to turn into a Quatermass sequel, but Kneale wouldn’t let them. It’s sort of like The Blob, before The Blob existed.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about the detective character Sherlock Holmes and his friend / biographer Dr. John H. Watson in four novels and fifty-six short stories – but as a horror fan, the one I have always been drawn to is The Hound of the Baskervilles. And, of course, this story that involves a curse and a demonic beast was also the one that most appealed to Hammer Films. They had director Terence Fisher bring it to the screen with Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes and Christopher Lee as the man who could be the latest victim of the curse. This isn’t exactly a horror story; it’s a mystery that happens to have some weird, creepy stuff going on in it, and fun scenes involving the man-eating hound, a deadly tarantula, and a trip into an old mine. It’s an entertaining movie that left me wishing Hammer had made more Sherlock Holmes movies with Cushing in the lead. Cushing would go on to play the character again (and Lee would play him as well), but not for Hammer.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1968)

A Hammer film that was written by author Richard Matheson but based on the work of a different another (a novel by Dennis Wheatley, in this case), The Devil Rides Out is one of the many classics that were directed by Terence Fisher. Christopher Lee is the hero this time around, bringing to life Nicholas, Duc de Richleau, a character Wheatley wrote about many times. The Duc is out to bring down a devil-worshipping cult headed up by Lee’s fellow Bond movie villain Charles Gray, an endeavor that takes a lot of effort. The film moves along at a quick pace and has plenty of creepy action, including possession, black magic attacks, a giant spider, the conjuring of the Angel of Death, and an appearance by Satan himself in the form of the Goat of Mendes. If only Hammer had made more Duc de Richleau movies with Lee as the character… They made a lot of franchises, but they also left plenty of promising opportunities on the table.

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)

One franchise opportunity they did not fail to pursue was the chance to make a series of Frankenstein movies – in fact, they made nearly as many Frankenstein movies as Universal did back in the day! It begins with The Curse of Frankenstein, a director Terence Fisher / writer Jimmy Sangster collaboration that tells a variation on the classic Mary Shelley story, this time with Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein and Christopher Lee as his monstrous creation. It’s a great take on the very familiar tale and opened the door to multiple sequels, with Cushing returning for monster-making, brain-swapping, and soul-transferring adventures in The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Evil of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Created Woman, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. In the midst of this, Hammer also produced a tongue-in-cheek remake of The Curse of Frankenstein called The Horror of Frankenstein, which starred Ralph Bates as Victor Frankenstein. But the people wanted more Cushing, so Hammer gave them more Cushing.

THE MUMMY (1959)

Hammer dealt with some of the same characters as Universal’s classic monster movies, but their Dracula and Frankenstein films have nothing to do with the ones Universal made about those characters. The Mummy is a different situation. For this one, they secured the remake rights from Universal and proceeded to cherry-pick elements from the studio’s entire Mummy franchise, mixing together ideas, characters, and scenes from all of the movies (except Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy). Directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster, The Mummy 1959 has Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee facing off again, this time with Lee as the silent, bandage-wrapped, mud-caked title character and Cushing as archaeologist John Banning… whose wife has a strong resemblance to the great love the mummy lost in ancient Egypt. Blending bits and pieces of all the Universal Mummy stories worked well, resulting in an excellent film. This also sparked a franchise and was followed by The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Shroud, and Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, all of which are stand-alone mummy stories.

NIGHT CREATURES (1962)

Night Creatures, a.k.a. Captain Clegg, is an odd one, because this a movie I would never think to call a horror movie if not for the fact that it’s traditionally considered a horror movie. For the most part, it’s a sort of adventure film / drama, with Royal Navy soldiers coming to the small village of Dymchurch to investigate reports of an alcohol smuggling operation. Peter Cushing stars as local parson Dr. Blyss, who may have some connection to the legendary pirate captain Nathaniel Clegg, a man who was supposedly hanged for his crimes. The locals are indeed smuggling alcohol, and we watch how they try to avoid getting caught. Horror elements only enter the picture in a couple of scenes that involve the Marsh Phantoms; men on horseback, wearing glow-in-the-dark skeleton costumes. I don’t really think those moments are enough to make this a horror flick, but it’s a good movie nonetheless.

DIE! DIE! MY DARLING! (1965)

This one is also known as Fanatic, but Die! Die! My Darling! is a much better and more attention-grabbing title. Directed by Silvio Narizzano from a screenplay written by legendary author Richard Matheson and based on the novel Nightmare by Anne Blaisdell, the film manages to be a captivating, engaging thriller despite the fact that the lead character is one of the most pathetic, ineffectual heroines you would ever hope not to see; the stereotypical damsel in distress. Played by Stefanie Powers, that character is Patricia Carroll, an American woman who decides to meet with the mother of her late British fiancé during a trip to England – and finds that her almost-mother-in-law, played by Tallulah Bankhead in her final screen role, is a religious fanatic with some extreme beliefs. So extreme that she locks Patricia in the attic of her home so she can try to save the girl’s soul. Die! Die! My Darling is one of several great psycho-thrillers that were made by Hammer. Other standouts include Fear in the Night, The Nanny, The Snorkel, and Nightmare (which had nothing to do with Anne Blaisdell’s novel).

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1962)

Following in the footsteps of Universal again, Hammer sent their own take on the Gaston Leroux novel The Phantom of the Opera out into the world in 1962 – and this is a fun version of the story, if you can tolerate the amount of opera singing that director Terence Fisher included in its 84 minute running time. Herbert Lom plays the Phantom that lurks around the opera house, abducting chorus girl Christine (Heather Sears) and taking her down into his sewer lair with the help of his dwarf assistant (Ian Wilson). Edward de Souza is Christine’s love interest Harry – and there’s some confusion as to whether the role of the Phantom or Harry was originally intended for Cary Grant, who had expressed interest in working on a Hammer horror movie. Grant didn’t end up playing either character… but the movie would have been even better if he had. As it is, it’s still a good time.

THE GORGON (1964) / THE REPTILE (1966)

Here we have a two-for-one special, as director Terence Fisher’s The Gorgon and director John Gilling’s The Reptile are two similar movies that are both well worth checking out. The Gorgon is set in a village that has been the site of several strange murders in recent years, with victims having been turned to stone. This all links back to ancient mythology, the stories of Medusa and her sisters, and it’s up to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to put a stop to all of this. In The Reptile, residents of a village are falling victim to a mysterious ailment referred to as the Black Death… and it turns out that one of the local people transforms into a reptile creature with a fatal bite. These are fun monster movies that can be paired for an entertaining double feature.

Film	Year	Horror Style	Key Themes	Key Creatures / Threats	Key Collaborators	Hammer Hallmarks	Influence / Legacy
Horror of Dracula	1958	Gothic Vampire Horror	Seduction, bloodlust, corruption, immortality	Dracula, vampires	Terence Fisher, Jimmy Sangster, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing	Technicolor blood, gothic castles, aristocratic monsters	Redefined cinematic vampires with sensuality and physical aggression; established Hammer’s signature style
Quatermass and the Pit	1967	Cosmic Sci-Fi Horror	Evolution, paranoia, buried history, possession	Martian entities, psychic forces	Roy Ward Baker, Nigel Kneale, Andrew Keir	Apocalyptic atmosphere, intellectual horror, supernatural science	Influenced later sci-fi horror, especially John Carpenter’s work
The Hound of the Baskervilles	1959	Gothic Mystery Horror	Family curses, superstition, rationalism vs fear	The Hound, hidden killers	Terence Fisher, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee	Foggy moors, eerie atmosphere, literary adaptation	One of Hammer’s strongest non-monster gothic adaptations
The Devil Rides Out	1968	Occult Horror	Satanism, black magic, faith, good vs evil	Satanic cults, Angel of Death, Satan	Terence Fisher, Richard Matheson, Christopher Lee, Charles Gray	Ritual horror, supernatural spectacle, occult imagery	Became one of Hammer’s defining occult films and a major influence on satanic horror cinema
The Curse of Frankenstein	1957	Gothic Science Horror	Scientific obsession, hubris, morality, resurrection	Frankenstein’s creature	Terence Fisher, Jimmy Sangster, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee	Mad science, vivid gore, gothic laboratories	Reinvented Frankenstein for modern audiences and launched Hammer’s Frankenstein franchise
The Mummy	1959	Gothic Monster Horror	Reincarnation, lost love, revenge, archaeology	The Mummy	Terence Fisher, Jimmy Sangster, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing	Atmospheric tombs, tragic monsters, Technicolor horror	Successfully modernized Universal’s Mummy mythology for a new generation
Night Creatures (Captain Clegg)	1962	Folk Adventure Horror	Smuggling, hidden identities, local legends	Marsh Phantoms, Captain Clegg myth	Peter Graham Scott, Peter Cushing	Coastal gothic atmosphere, supernatural ambiguity	Became a cult favorite for blending adventure storytelling with eerie folk-horror imagery
Die! Die! My Darling! (Fanatic)	1965	Psychological Thriller Horror	Religious extremism, imprisonment, manipulation	Fanatical captor	Silvio Narizzano, Richard Matheson, Tallulah Bankhead	Claustrophobic tension, psycho-thriller atmosphere	One of Hammer’s standout psychological thrillers outside traditional monster horror
The Phantom of the Opera	1962	Gothic Tragedy Horror	Obsession, disfigurement, artistic madness	The Phantom	Terence Fisher, Herbert Lom	Lavish gothic sets, tragic monster, melodrama	Hammer’s reinterpretation of classic gothic romance horror
The Gorgon	1964	Mythological Monster Horror	Ancient curses, transformation, fear	The Gorgon / Medusa	Terence Fisher, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee	Mythology blended with gothic horror	One of Hammer’s most unique monster films outside classic Universal-inspired creatures
The Reptile	1966	Folk Monster Horror	Colonialism, curses, disease, isolation	Reptilian humanoid creature	John Gilling	Rural paranoia, mysterious illness, atmospheric dread	Anticipated later folk horror and rural monster cinema
The Quatermass Xperiment	1955	Sci-Fi Body Horror	Mutation, infection, fear of space exploration	Alien-mutated astronaut	Val Guest, Nigel Kneale	Postwar anxiety, creeping body horror	Hammer’s first major international success and a foundational British sci-fi horror film
Quatermass 2	1957	Sci-Fi Paranoia Horror	Infiltration, conformity, alien control	Alien invaders	Val Guest, Nigel Kneale	Government paranoia, science fiction suspense	Expanded Hammer’s science-fiction horror identity and influenced invasion thrillers
X the Unknown	1956	Atomic Age Horror	Radiation, scientific danger, mutation	Radioactive subterranean creature	Leslie Norman	Nuclear paranoia, creeping dread	Early example of British atomic horror cinema
The Brides of Dracula	1960	Gothic Vampire Horror	Seduction, vampiric contagion, temptation	Vampires	Terence Fisher, Peter Cushing	Gothic romance, eerie castles, vampire mythology	Considered one of Hammer’s strongest Dracula films despite Dracula himself being absent
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires	1974	Martial Arts Horror	East-meets-West mythology, teamwork, supernatural evil	Golden Vampires	Roy Ward Baker, Peter Cushing, Shaw Brothers Studios	Genre fusion, kung fu action, gothic horror	Notable international collaboration blending Hammer Horror with martial arts cinema
Dracula: Prince of Darkness	1966	Gothic Vampire Horror	Resurrection, corruption, blood rituals	Dracula	Terence Fisher, Christopher Lee	Atmospheric castles, silent menace	Helped cement Christopher Lee’s Dracula as Hammer’s defining monster
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave	1968	Gothic Religious Horror	Sin, faith, blasphemy	Dracula	Freddie Francis, Christopher Lee	Gothic imagery, religious symbolism	One of Hammer’s most visually striking Dracula films
Taste the Blood of Dracula	1970	Gothic Revenge Horror	Moral hypocrisy, corruption, vengeance	Dracula	Peter Sasdy, Christopher Lee	Victorian decadence, revenge-driven horror	Added social commentary to Hammer’s Dracula formula
Scars of Dracula	1970	Gothic Exploitation Horror	Brutality, sadism, fear	Dracula	Roy Ward Baker, Christopher Lee	Increased violence, darker tone	One of Hammer’s most aggressive Dracula films
Dracula A.D. 1972	1972	Contemporary Gothic Horror	Counterculture, generational conflict	Dracula	Alan Gibson, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing	Modern London setting, youth culture	Bold attempt to modernize Dracula for the 1970s
The Satanic Rites of Dracula	1973	Occult Conspiracy Horror	Apocalypse, satanism, world destruction	Dracula, satanic conspirators	Alan Gibson, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing	Occult paranoia, modern conspiracy themes	One of Hammer’s strangest and most experimental Dracula entries

What do you think of this list of The Best Hammer Horror Movies? How would you rank the films, and where would you place some of their other classics, like The Curse of the Werewolf, The Plague of the Zombies, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, or Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post The Best Hammer Horror Movies appeared first on JoBlo.

More than any horror character except perhaps Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula has continuously evolved to reflect the fears and fantasies of each cinematic era. From Max Schreck’s plague-like nightmare in silent German Expressionism to Gary Oldman’s operatic romantic antihero, every major Dracula performance has redefined what the vampire represents. With that in mind, here are our picks for the Best Dracula Actors.

The Many Faces of Dracula

• The Plague Creature — Max Schreck
• The Hypnotic Aristocrat — Bela Lugosi
• The Passionate Showman — Carlos Villarias
• The Feral Predator — Christopher Lee
• The Tragic Romantic — Jack Palance
• The Existential Parasite — Klaus Kinski
• The Operatic Antihero — Gary Oldman
• The Secret Manipulator — Christian Camargo
• The Storybook Monster — Duncan Regehr
• The Meta Vampire — Willem Dafoe

C​hristian Camargo – Penny Dreadful (2016)

W​hile Universal was trying to figure out how to create their Dark Universe, over on Showtime, Penny Dreadful was already doing a fantastic job beating them to the punch. The series pulled together literary versions of Frankenstein’s monster, the wolfman, Dorian Gray, and eventually Dracula himself. Christian Camargo played Dr. Alexander Sweet in Season Three, who begins to seduce Eva Green’s Vanessa Ives. It is revealed later that this doctor is, in fact, the Count himself, making him an unconventional addition to the Best Dracula Actors list. Carmargo brought out the seductive side of the vampire while later revealing just how deadly he could be.

D​uncan Regehr – The Monster Squad (1987)

His version of Count Dracula appeared in the kid’s film The Monster Squad but brought a lot of menace to the role. He appears in town with his other monster friends, looking for Van Helsing’s diary. Our group of young heroes crosses paths with him multiple times and only barely escape with their lives. Dracula has no problem using some dynamite to blow up their tree house and sees no problem with wanting a group of children killed. He was so terrifying in the role that child actor Ashley Bank legitimately screamed for her life during their face-to-face confrontation. Regehr scared a whole generation of movie fans. We would for sure list him as one of the best on-screen Dracula portrayals… and to make things he even better, he spends a good portion of his screen time hanging out with versions of Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Gill-Man.

K​laus Kinski – Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

I​n 1979, Werner Herzog remade the classic vampire tale, and in a twist of genius casting, put Klaus Kinski in the title role. His version of Dracula is more animalistic in its approach. He doesn’t seduce his victim but instead drinks from them in their sleep. His creepy look harkens back to the Max Schreck version but has even less humanity than that film put on display. With his giant lips and sharp teeth, he seems more like a leech than anything that can pass for human. Even though the performance from Kinski is completely strange (from Kinski? Go figure), it still is one of the best on-screen versions of Dracula.

J​ack Palance – Dracula (1974)

W​ith the popularity of Dan Curtis’s series like Dark Shadows and his Kolchak TV movies, he decided to turn his attention to bringing Dracula to the small screen. He teamed up with his usual collaborator Richard Matheson to bring it to life. They cast Jack Palance in the role of Dracula, and he brings an edge of pathos to the character. In this version, he sees a woman that reminds him of his long-dead wife. We see a little more of the character’s humanity as he tries to find the one thing that used to make him happy. He’ll get it no matter who he has to kill.

W​illem Dafoe – Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

T​his fictional take on the making of Nosferatu turns Max Schreck into an actual vampire. The director F. W. Murnau brings aboard this strange actor who suddenly seems too well-equipped to play the famed vampire. Dafoe disappears into the role of the strange creature. The interactions between him and the rest of the cast is fantastic to watch, and Murnau getting frustrated that he won’t stop killing the cast is great. A strange meta performance but still ranks as one of the best on-screen Dracula portrayals even if it’s by technicality.

G​ary Oldman – Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Sometimes Dracula just can’t help falling in love. I​ don’t think it will be a shock to say that Gary Oldman is an amazing actor. Francis Ford Coppola cast him to play Dracula in his 1992 big-budget story version. They used some of the best state-of-the-art effects to transform Oldman during different stages of his rejuvenation. He starts out as a decrepit old man, and as he feeds, he ages backward until he becomes a spry young man. Oldman plays the character perfectly, and you can see how easily seductive he is. At the same turn, there is a danger underneath that seeps through onto the screen. Easy to see why he’s a contender for the best on-screen Dracula.

C​arlos Villarias – Dracula Spanish Version (1931)

W​hen sound was first introduced to films, studios would sometimes make foreign language versions as well with different actors on the same sets and using the same costumes. For the 1931 Dracula, they shot the English version with Bela Lugosi during the day, and then another crew would come in to shoot the Spanish Language version of the horror film at night.

When compared, Villarias’ version of the character isn’t quite as stiff as Lugosi’s. His expressions and movements were more free-flowing and set this version apart. This, along with making the female leads sexier due to less stringent film codes in other countries, made this version of the story stand out from its English counterpart. Some even like it better than the Todd Browning film that everyone knows.

M​ax Schreck – Nosferatu (1922)

E​ven if someone hasn’t seen this film they definitely know the look of Max Schreck in the film. It has transcended the film and lodged itself so completely in pop culture that a single image of the film is enough for people to recognize it. This silent film from Germany used light and shadow to give Schrek’s Count Orlok (we all know it’s really Dracula) such a commanding presence in the film. His look and mannerisms have given generations the creeps just by looking at him. The filmmakers were sued by Stoker’s estate and lost. All film copies were to be destroyed, but a few survived, which is good for history as this version of the character might just be the creepiest it has ever been.

C​hristopher Lee – Horror of Dracula (1958)

W​hen Universal’s monster series began to grow long in the tooth (pun intended), they began to shift away from some of the classic monsters and move more into the atomic-age films that had started to become popular. Across the pond, Hammer Films decided to do their own version of these classic creatures. Christopher Lee was cast, and his take on Dracula was something audiences hadn’t seen up to that point. His version was very proper and dignified, but once he went into his blood-lust, he became savage and unhinged. You were in trouble if you were unlucky enough to come across him at this stage. He bared his fangs and hissed while his eyes became bloodshot and unsettled. The switch almost happens instantly. You could be having a thoroughly normal conversation, but he would suddenly go into a rage, and there would be no way to calm him down until he was able to dine. A scary portrayal of the character for sure.

Lee portrayed Dracula in a total of ten films. In addition to Horror of Dracula, he starred in Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). He also played the character in Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (1970), Jerry Lewis’s One More Time (1970), and Édouard Molinaro’s Dracula and Son (1976).

B​ela Lugosi – Dracula (1931)

The Universal horror icon. U​ntil the world finally turns to dust and escapes into the vacuum of space, no other actor will be as associated with the character of Dracula as Bela Lugosi. His slow walk and deep gaze became a stereotype for how the character was portrayed in every version afterward. His menacing stare and slow walk toward his victim became the stereotype for every characterization of Dracula.

Even when Lugosi would return to the role in the Abbott and Costello movies, his presence was enough to send a chill down your spine even with all the comedy going on around him. The simple delivery of the line, “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!” is enough to send Lugosi to the Dracula hall of fame. Even with a smile on his face, the darkness in his performance is bone-chilling.

Actor	Film / Series	Year	Dracula Style	Key Traits	Influence / Legacy
Christian Camargo	Penny Dreadful	2016	The Secret Manipulator	Intellectual, seductive, psychologically controlling	Modern prestige-TV reinterpretation of Dracula as a hidden corrupter
Duncan Regehr	The Monster Squad	1987	The Storybook Monster	Cruel, theatrical, physically threatening	Introduced younger audiences to a classic-style Dracula during the ‘80s
Klaus Kinski	Nosferatu the Vampyre	1979	The Existential Parasite	Lonely, corpse-like, melancholy	Helped popularize the tragic and emotionally exhausted vampire
Jack Palance	Dracula	1974	The Tragic Romantic	Emotional, grief-stricken, sympathetic	Early blueprint for the romantic Dracula archetype
Willem Dafoe	Shadow of the Vampire	2000	The Meta Vampire	Uncanny, darkly comic, self-aware	Explored vampire mythology through metafiction and horror satire
Gary Oldman	Bram Stoker’s Dracula	1992	The Operatic Antihero	Romantic, seductive, monstrous	Influenced the modern romantic vampire boom of the 1990s and 2000s
Carlos Villarias	Dracula (Spanish Version)	1931	The Passionate Showman	Expressive, volatile, sensual	Became a cult-favorite alternative to Bela Lugosi’s portrayal
Max Schreck	Nosferatu	1922	The Plague Creature	Inhuman, rat-like, nightmarish	Defined the monstrous vampire archetype in horror cinema
Christopher Lee	Horror of Dracula	1958	The Feral Predator	Violent, aristocratic, animalistic	Revolutionized Dracula with sensuality and physical aggression
Bela Lugosi	Dracula	1931	The Hypnotic Aristocrat	Elegant, restrained, commanding	Established the definitive mainstream image of Dracula

Who do you think is the best on-screen Dracula? Would you have included Frank Langella, Gerard Butler, John Carradine, or Richard Roxburgh? Maybe George Hamilton in Love at First Bite? Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania)? Lon Chaney Jr. (Son of Dracula)? Let us know in the comments.

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Christopher Lee portrayed Dracula in a total of ten films, and his epic run as the legendary bloodsucker began with the 1958 Hammer production Horror of Dracula, one of the best Dracula movies ever made. As that film’s 70th anniversary draws near, Deadline reports that the recently revived Hammer Horror Films has crafted an uncensored 4K restoration of Horror of Dracula that will be coming to theatres this Halloween!

This restoration of Horror of Dracula will also be available on home entertainment. 

What is Horror of Dracula about?

Directed by Terence Fisher from a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster and based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, Horror of Dracula is a fun twist on a familiar story. In this one, Jonathan Harker arrives at Count Dracula’s Transylvanian castle to destroy the vampire. His mission fails when he is bitten and becomes undead. Dr. Van Helsing arrives to investigate, kills his turned friend, and travels to Karlstadt to protect Harker’s loved ones from Dracula’s revenge.

Lee was joined in the cast by Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, and John Van Eyssen.

Following Horror of Dracula, Lee reprised the role of Dracula in the Hammer productions Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). He also played the character in Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (1970), Jerry Lewis’s One More Time (1970), and Édouard Molinaro’s Dracula and Son (1976).

What do we know about the restoration?

Horror of Dracula was the first full color production of a Dracula film, so the first cut of the film proved to be too intense for ’58. There were reports of people fainting at screenings, and censors took issue with the bloodshed. Only moviegoers Japan had the chance to see the uncut version.

Hammer owner John Gore told Deadline, “It was the fangs that scared them. People were screaming, which was the point. Think of every Halloween, and you see all those fangs, that’s a Hammer and Christopher Lee invention. It all started when Christopher Lee said, ‘I want more teeth with this,’ so (makeup artist Philip Leakey) came up with something that had some bite. That thing that we just associate with vampires everywhere all came up with Lee and the makeup guy.“

As for the censored moments, Gore said, “We managed to get the uncut original Christopher Lee Dracula. So we’ve just been remastering that now. So there’s like three minutes missing. Hammer’s business was based on the censor. Getting that X-rated certificate was crucial to marketing, but they could only go so far because the censors didn’t like what they saw — all that blood. So Warner Brothers, they have this massive, massive storage near LAX where everything from the 1920s onwards is there. I mean, there’s like 10 Batmobiles and God knows what. And they found the director’s cut of the original 1958 Dracula. So we will be unlocking that and the world will get to see the bits they weren’t seeing, which is mostly to do with how Dracula dies at the end.“

There’s also “a bit that’s so famous, it’s where Christopher Lee descends on the woman and is about to bite her. It’s so sexual and they had to trim that because it just looked like it was nothing to do with vampires. So they had to trim a bit of the sexual stuff and then how he’s destroyed at the end. They cut quite a lot out because they went, ‘It’s too gruesome.’ And now that’s back in. All the crucial points that were axed are now back in.“

Silver Salt Restoration oversaw the upgrade of the picture. Gore added that he and his team are looking at the entire Hammer catalogue and exploring how the vault of 160+ productions might be further exploited.

Horror of Dracula is a great movie, so it’s very cool to hear that an uncensored 4K version will be in theatres this Halloween. Are you a fan of this one? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Tyler

It’s time for another episode of the WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? video series, and with this one we’re looking back at writer/director John Carpenter’s 1988 sci-fi horror cult classic They Live (rent or buy it HERE). To hear all about it, check out the video embedded above!

Inspired by the 1963 short story Eight O’Clock in the Morning by Ray Nelson, They Live tells us that aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission. Humanity’s last chance lies with a lone drifter who stumbles upon a harrowing discovery — a unique pair of sunglasses that reveals the terrifying and deadly truth.

The film stars “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, Raymond St. Jacques, George “Buck” Flower, and Peter Jason.

This is what the WTF Happened to This Horror Movie series is all about: Hollywood has had its fair share of historically troubled productions. Whether it was casting changes, actor deaths, fired directors, in-production rewrites, constant delays, budget cuts or studio edits, these films had every intention to be a blockbuster, but were beset with unforeseen disasters. Sometimes huge hits, sometimes box office bombs. Either way, we have to ask: WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?

The episode of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? covering John Carpenter’s They Live was Written, Narrated, and Edited by Tyler Nichols, Produced by John Fallon and Tyler Nichols, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

A couple of the previous episodes of the show can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

Are you a fan of They Live, and what did you think of this episode of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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