1977 Horror - Spiders and Artsy Horror

 Well, we finished another year of horror films! And it was a fairly interesting year. Still, there weren't too many stellar films this year. Except for a couple films, it felt pretty bland. But let's get into what the films were, initial thoughts, and then our faves at the end.

Suspiria: My first time watching it, and I loved just all the aesthetic. All the colors, the music, the lighting. Beautiful! Plot was a little predictable, but I loved seeing the main actress from Phantom of the Paradise in this. Had some fun giallo elements. Loved the wire scene. Overall a good time.

Day of the Animals: A Jawsploitation film that took notes from Frogs. I liked seeing the cast from Grizzly again. They just had such good chemistry. It was a fairly dark film with elements of Lord of the Flies thrown in. Nature felt threatening, which has been tough to accomplish in these Jawsploitation films. It's definitely one of my favorites of the genre.

Empire of the Ants: It's fine. Nowhere near as good as Phase IV. But it's fine. The giant ants aren't believable, and they get a lot of ant biology wrong. I really enjoyed the overall plot though!

Eraserhead: I don't know, ya'll. I'm a huge fan of Twin Peaks. I enjoyed Blue Velvet. I feel I know enough about David Lynch to know that the film isn't meant to be understood. You're just along for the ride. So, I knew what I was getting into. So, it was an all right experience. Wasn't as shocking or surprising as it might have been had it been my first Lynch film.

Kingdom of the Spiders: William Shatner again, and it's not a bad spider film. Ironic that the director believed Spielberg copied this with Arachnophobia...given that Kingdom is literally just a Jaws film. It's okay though. For spider films, I felt it was a bit overrated.

The Pack: Another Jawsploitation film about dogs. Some scenes were pretty unrealistic, and I often felt more bad for the dogs than the humans.

Tintorera: One of the few 70s films we actually couldn't finish. Tarantino, sure, I'm glad you liked it. We thought it was complete garbage.

The Uncanny: An anthology film about cats. I enjoyed this! Easily the best cat horror film so far. The best part is the third story, where Donald Pleasance, usually a subtle actor, acts like Vincent Price in Pit and the Pendulum. And he has a complete blast doing it. Watch this film if nothing else.

Tarantulas: Deadly Cargo: Another Jawsploitation spider film. Not very threatening. The final thirty minutes is just hilarious it's so bad. Yeah, one of those.

Curse of the Black Widow: Were-spiders....Yeah, it's a thing. The plot had all kinds of issues with it, and the pacing was all wrong. Special effects were surprisingly okay. 

Rabid: Our next Cronenberg film. Deals with sexuality and disease again, but very different from Shivers. Rabid had some entertainment value, but the social commentaries it makes were fun to talk about after.

The Sentinel: Omen meets Exorcist meets Rosemary's Baby. Best of all worlds. Such a fun and ambitious story. Did it have issues? Yes. I still loved the story on the whole and would watch again.

The Hills Have Eyes: I had never seen it before! It felt like Texas Chainsaw meets Last House on the Left. Was fairly entertaining, but the pacing felt a bit off on it. Granted, I thought there were pacing issues with Last House, too.

Tentacles: Another rare 70s film we couldn't finish. We ended up skipping to the last fifteen minutes halfway through the film. A squid Jawsploitation movie. Super bad and not interesting.

Rituals: A woodsy slasher. I enjoyed the drama aspects all right. Almost Gillian Flynn / Herman Koch. The horror elements were meh.

Death Bed: Despite the straightforward title, it was more surrealist. Kind of like...if Barker and Lynch had a lovechild...and it stayed in the bed where it was born. I actually enjoyed the film, though it was definitely an artsy slow burn.

The Car: Despite the name...it's more of a Jawsploitation film than a Christine-style film. It really just felt like Jaws. Beginning to end. I liked it for a Jawsploitation film though!

The Exorcist II: Massively better than the original! Linda Blair actually gets to act. Pazuzu gets more story. There's more interesting plot. More interesting locations. It's just all around a superior film. Fight me.

My favorites were definitely The Exorcist II, The Sentinel, The Uncanny, and Suspiria. These were just entertaining, and I could watch them again.

Sin's favorites: "Suspiria. Death Bed. The Uncanny. The Sentinel. The Car. And Hills Have Eyes."

Comment question of the day: Do you have a favorite Jawsploitation film? What about a favorite spider film in general?