Seems like the end of each decade produces some stinkers when it comes to horror. Everything seems to get derivative and the studios just seem to go on auto pilot producing the same movie all the time.

well, i've said it before but it bears repeating ..

the 70's were a special time for horror. It was geared at adults. major adult stars, major adult directors. the genre was taken seriously. it wasn't tongue in cheek, it wasn't about fake tits and indestructable shambling masked killers.

it was satan, monsters, the unknown.

i blame home video for what happened to horror. The Home Video market made backyard slashers incredibly profitable. Kids could see 2 or 3 pairs of big fake tits, splashing blood, and crude jokes without their parents knowing. You could make any crap film you wanted - direct to video. as long as it had a suggestive name, a lurid cover, and at least one pic of a girl in ripped lingerie on the back - it would rent. I know there is a lot of nostalgic love for this era - many folks got their first exposure to horror with these films.

but for the most part they arent good. they are more often than not sad imitations of better films - starring kids (because kids want to watch kids) who cant act, directed by untalented first time directors.

The genre became a joke.

it wasnt until just recently - and i'll credit the japanese with this - that horror began to be taken seriously again. The japanese were making profitable influential films mixing their old cultural fears with the obsession for modern technology and it worked. Adults were once again featured in horror films. the genre became to be taken seriously and that eventually lead to the strongest boom of horror we've seen since my beloved 70's.

there's still a fair bit of crap but i can easily find 15 - 20 films that are modern classics to me made in the last 10 years. and tons of excellent films that fall just below the 'classic' benchmark.

i dont think horror has ever been stronger as a film genre.

we dont have the grit of the 70's anymore - or those classic actor/directors
but there are certainly a new breed of young clever directors working now who really do care about horror and are trying to do new things.

Great film. One of Frankenheimer's best. Still remember the old Injun calling the monster "Katahdin".

I have the book too, by David Seltzer. Makes for a really fascinating read.

help me!!!!!!!
 

I know this is supposed to be in the 'need help' thread. However i've had it up in there for about 2 weeks and i haven't received any help or clues, plus other fans looking for film titles keep posting in front of it, and therefore it's getting forgotten or missed, also thought that it might get a few more views as a standalone thread. Anyway sorry about that, and hope someone can please help.

Need help finding a horror film for my wife. She thinks it was made in the 40s or 50s and is sure it's in black and white. she doesn't know much, but what she does know is this. The film is a ghost story/supernatural type affair, rather than a horror, and she thinks the name of it, is something like 'carmel' or 'carmella' or something like that. All she can remeber of the film is that she thinks it's one of those 'haunted house' type things and that there is a wind or something blowing through the house, and the wind itself is a ghost of a gypsy (which is called carmella or whatever) (she's pretty certain about it being a gypsy). However she can't remember any specific scene or any actors/actresses in it That's all i can tell you, however my wife is pretty sure that the title of the film is also the same name as the ghost/gyspy in it. akin to how the film 'carrie' is about a girl called carrie. i'm sorry i'm giving you so very little to go on, however i do know that there are a lot of classic horror fans on this site, and i desperately hope someone can help me. thanks for any help you can give me.

Try The Uninvited (1944), there's a ghost of a woman named Carmel in that one and it seems to fit the bill.

Santa murderer ... or sth
 

Hi,

I'm looking for a movie, which is probably not really a horror but it's about killing, my mum has been talking about bout it ... it's from between 1970 and 1990 she thinks, as she saw it when she was younger.

Se says it's about a young boy staying with his sick grandpa in his castle and there's a toy chamber with new inventions or something ... it's christmas eve and the boy [about 9 or 10] is waiting for santa underneath a table with a camera and binoculars. then when santa comes it's not what he expected as he starts stealing stuff [even santa cookies] then he somehow hears the boy and starts i think chasing after him, and the boy fights back making traps of his toys and using them for ex. putting a camera in a toy car to see where the guy was and such ...

the santa also wanted to kill the grandfather as he wasn't able to run so the boy helped out somehow, going over the roof with him and putting him in a knight suit where he later faints and the boy revives him somehow ...

as you can see it's all a bit blurry but apparently it's a french movie ....

any help is appreciated =)

Thank you,
Anna

what was that movie
 

rember watching a movie a longtime ago were a woman moved into a house and removed some grate from a wall or chimney or something and it releases some miniature people or spirits and they go about trying to kill her . seems like other people did not believe her and thought she was going insane . if i rember right the ending she was tripped on a flight of stairs and turned into one of them at the end . was thinking it was from trilogy of terror but thats not it but i think it was made around the 70's ? but im not sure

Title of strange old 1980's film
 

Hi everyone, I'm trying to find the title of a film I saw several times in the 1980's/early 1990's when I was very young. My memories are only very vague. I remember it was about a boy who had nightmare or visions of a ghost or creature of some sort. I think he was able to traval through a green mist in his basement to defeat it or something like that. I also recall a scene where he received a key from the mouth of a puppet or something similar. I know it's not much to go on, but if anyone can help I would be glad to hear from you.

It's The Gate