The Vampire's Revival - Horror films of 1970

 So, starting from now on, we're just going to have a blog post for every year. Because...it's a lot of films. And it'll be hard to keep them straight at some point. So, here's what we watched, and our faves at the end with a comment question after!

Ancines Woods: This one was such a tough find. When we did, it was a fun serial killer film. It's coded as focused on lycanthropy, but don't expect any actual werewolves!

The Blood on Satan's Claw: This was a fun folk horror film, a la Wicker Man. Very sexual and pretty violent, too. Plus, we got to see a demon! Pretty fun plot all around.

Dunwich Horror: I was really skeptical of watching our first Lovecraft film. Lovecraft relies so much on the unseen, the indescribable, that I was anxious seeing his work put in a film version. But I actually enjoyed that aspect. The "creatures" had fun silhouettes of indeterminate species, and the sound effects reinforced that. Pretty well done. Terrible plot otherwise.

Lokis: Polish fantasy horror film. Not worth the watch.

Dorian Gray: Damn, I got aroused by some of the scenes here. Plus, it was so much more queer than previous iterations of the film. Definitely the best Dorian Gray film so far!

The Vampire Lovers: The first of Hammer's Carmilla-based Karnstein Trilogy. Easily one of our favorite vampire films yet! Carmilla had such a killer actress, and it was a fun plot all around. Plus, all the queer sex was a bonus.

The Horror of Frankenstein: I really love Ralph Bates as a horror actor. He gave Frankenstein this much more cruel and violent edge. The ending was stupid. But I loved this film a lot.

Taste the Blood of Dracula: A weird slasher version of Dracula. Kind of a revenge plot. Was pretty cool but definitely heavy-handed with its religion themes.

Scars of Dracula: This was fucking stupid. The vampire rules got fucked over, and the way Dracula died was stupid.

Blind Woman's Curse: A yakuza film from Japan with lots of fun supernatural elements. We saw the interesting choreo guy from Horrors of Malformed Men. So it had some surreal qualities to it. Worth the watch.

Count Dracula: An "obscure" Dracula film directed by Franco but still starring Christopher Lee. Most accurate to the book surprisingly.

Cry of the Banshee: A Vincent Price film with a demon-werewolf plot. Really loved this one. Just the cinematography was gorgeous.

Equinox: An inspiration for Evil Dead, this cabin-in-the-desert film has a professor translating an evil book, some claymation devils, KFC, and Scooby Doo-inspiring dialogue. Worth the watch!

House of Dark Shadows: Based on the TV show, this is a really dark vampire film that is so much more horrific than the Tim Burton treatment (the only one I had seen). Another amazing vampire film!

I Drink Your Blood: This was a fucked up fake-zombie film about a vengeful kid who gives a local Satanic gang pies full of rabies. And the rabies immediately infects the whole town, and everyone goes on a killing spree. Was a very fucked up film. Worth the watch for that craziness alone. Had some race issues for sure.

The Vampire Doll: A Japanese vampire film, and again ties with Carmilla and Dark Shadows from this year. Just the eye effects were super creepy, and I'm excited to see the sequels.

The Wizard of Gore: A crazed magician whose sawn-in-half victims are already gored hours after the show. Was so trippy especially at the end, but it was surprisingly engaging. Just a little too long though.

So, favorites!

For me, my favorite has to be Equinox as bad as it was. Close seconds would be The vampire Doll, The Vampire Lovers, and Cry of the Banshee.

Sin says, "There were so many good ones in this one year. Are you typing everything I'm saying? Jesus, we go through this every time. You don't have to type every word I fucking say. Fine. Um. I love the Carmilla film, The Vampire Lovers. The House of Dark Shadows is easily the best Dracula film without being a Dracula film. It's like they knew what they were doing. It's like, wow, good writing actually exists for Dracula. The Wizard of Gore is just a fun little gory flick. And Equinox was a good preview as to what we'll get to when we see Evil Dead. Oh fuck, the chicken I'm cooking!"

Comment question of the day: What's your favorite vampire or Dracula film and why? :)