We’re getting a little trippy, a little sexy, and going full-on grindhouse… here comes the 1970’s!
In this episode, Mike and Eric are joined by The Horror Trivia Massacre’s Jeff Dean for this nostalgic trip to one of our favorite periods in horror. Jeff is a true horror historian, and he has volunteered to help us unload upon you the zaniness that is 70’s horror. Jeff helped us out with the Mount Rushorror presentation for Wizard World, and we had such a good time that we had to have him back for more of his horror lore.
The MPAA rating system was brand new, and horror is taking full advantage of being able to up the gore and sex quotient in the movies with seminal films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Black Christmas, and Last House on the Left. At the same time, the big Hollywood studios found that producing quality literate horror films, following in the footsteps of Rosemary’s Baby from the 60’s could make serious bank. The Exorcist was a movie that burst that dam open, and even while upping the ante for what the rating system would allow and pushing the comfort zone of theatergoers everywhere, people will pay to see scary. The race would be on to replicate that success later in the decade, with some fantastic results.
For this episode, we’re concentrating on films we haven’t talked so much about. Perhaps they got overlooked, even by us, in our top 100. But the early 70’s brought us some great new horror concepts to the table, that we can point you to some cool stuff you may not have seen yet. So many fun movies to pick from, and with the boom of independent filmmakers, there are a whole bunch of different flavors of horror for you to pick through.
Horror musical? Check! Horror Blaxploitation? Check! Sexy lesbian vampires? Check! A serious psychological PTSD study? Check! The prototype serial slasher movie? Yep, that too. Occult body swapping? Uh huh, we have on of those for you as well. Plus killer fetuses and some of that Italian Giallo goodness. We’ve covered all the bases for you this week.
With Jeff on board, this podcast is extra long, and that’s what happens when we get a guest host, you get more podcast! I’m sure you won’t mind. Get your lava lamp ready, set the mood lighting and get ready for some groovy, and gruesome 70’s movies!
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