Detailed Guide to Vintage Horror Movies

Horror movies. Some people like them, some sleep with their lights on after watching them. They are perfect to get your girlfriend tug into your hug on a rainy Saturday night movie session at your place. Horror movies draw inspiration from the supernatural, fantasy and macabre and they are so good at eliciting emotions such as fear, excitement and terror to the viewer.

Prevalent elements in the horror movies include vampires, zombies, psychopaths, monsters, ghosts, witches, demons, Satanism, serial killers, aliens et cetera. Like other movie genres, there are various sub-genres such as folk horror, psychological horror, slasher horror, science fiction horror, body horror and many more.

Horror movies have existed for more than a century. The Phantom of the Opera for example was released as a silent movie in 1925, adapted from Gaston Leroux's novel of the same name. Another vintage horror movie from the silent era is White Zombie, directed by Victor Halperin and stars the legendary Bela Lugosi. Even though Mr.Lugosi is most famous for portraying Count Dracula, he also stars in Invisible Ghost, shot in 1941 and directed by Joseph H. Lewis.

Vintage horror movies hold a special place in every movie geek?s heart. Even though most of them are low budget productions, such as The Terror, A Bucket of Blood, Grave of the vampire by John Hayes, The Driller Killer, Haunts, Snowbeast, Night of Bloody Horror, The Tell-Tale Heart, Wes Craven?s Chiller, they are elevated to a cult status among movie watchers. 

Night of the Living Dead is a cult classic vintage horror movie that grossed nearly $30 million worldwide and was shot on a $100 000 budget. It was a groundbreaking horror movie and helped define the zombie sub-genre. It was so popular among movie geeks, that five more feature movies were released between 1978 and 2009. Many remakes were made, the most popular being the 1990 one, directed by Tom Savini.

Most of the cult vintage horror movies are of American production. However, there are movies such as The Devil?s Nightmare - a Belgian production, House of the Living Dead which is co-produced by Great Britain and South Africa, The House by the Cemetery - an Italian production and The House That Screamed and Horror Express - Spanish made movies that also make the list and are definitely worth watching. They all dab into the occult. 

The Last Man on Earth is a post-apocalyptic vintage horror movie that belongs in the science-fiction sub-genre. Shot in Rome, Italy, it was based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson which popularized worldwide apocalyptic scenarios due to disease. The movie of the same name which stars Will Smith was based on this novel as well.

In the ?50s there was a search for new and exciting ways to create horror movies. One such thing was the use of gimmicks and 3-D which exploited audience excitement. House on Haunted Hill is one example, which was a huge success despite being a low budget production and even inspired the great Alfred Hitchcock to create his world famous Psycho.

The ?50, ?60 and ?70 respectively were considered the Golden Age of horror movies. Many independent productions emerged that defined the genre and elevated it to a cult status that it enjoys nowadays. Vintage horror movies such as Tormented, Carnival of Souls, Grave of the Vampire, Night of the Blood Beast, Embryo, Beast from Haunted Cave (which is directed by Roger Corman?s brother) paved the way for the horror movies and inspired many directors that cultivated and expanded the genre furthermore. Even though these productions were mostly low budget and performed poorly in cinemas, they got a large cult following that lasts to these days.

Some cult classics such as It?s Alive even got sequels and remakes in the newer history. This vintage horror movie got distributed by Warner Bros. Many famous directors have been involved in making horror movies. One such example is Francis Ford Coppola, known for The Godfather movie series. His first legitimate directorial debut is Dementia 13, a horror movie that was produced by Roger Corman. 

Many horror movies got banned in certain countries due to the excessive violence they portrayed. One such example is Death Warmed Up, a New Zealand science-fiction zombie horror movie that was banned in Australia. Other horror movies for example, were film adaptations from off-Broadway theatrical releases. The Little Shop of Horrors is the prime example of this, directed by Frank Oz and released in 1986. Along with Creature From the Haunted Sea, they belong to the comedy horror sub-genre. 

With all this being said, we hope to encourage you to start watching  this genre on W4FREE (if you haven?t already), or if you are a fan of horror movies, the vintage horror movies we mention above are a great introduction to this popular genre. The thrill and adrenaline rush we experience while watching horror movies are actually good for boosting the immune system, and this is scientifically proven.