1977

[1] A patient escapes a mental institution and starts killing people on a nearby campus in this ultra-low-budget, supremely bad movie that has nothing to do with ‘Son of Sam’. The film is so poorly made that you’ll likely be shaking your head in confusion over the scripting, staging, and editing. The first few deaths in the movie happen when the killer puts his hand …

[3] An abominable snowman terrorizes a Montana ski resort in this made-for-TV movie from the late ’70s. Since Snowbeast was made for a television audience, you get no gore and very little in terms of viscera or genuine scares. The monster’s presence is mostly achieved through the old ‘point of view’ shot, which quickly gets tedious. When we do see the monster, it’s usually just …

[6] A deadly alien lands in the English countryside and assumes the form of a human male. Two lesbians living in a large manor invite him for dinner, and then to stay the night. He studies them with great curiosity… but he’s also hungry. He eats their chickens and some of the local wildlife. His presence begins to drive a wedge between the women, just …

[6] In this dream-like film from director Juan López Moctezuma, a teenaged girl named Justine goes to live at a convent after the death of her parents. Unfortunately, her nun roommate, Alucarda, turns out to be a satanic lesbian with slightly vampiric tendencies. How the nuns missed the warning signs, we’ll never know. But after Alucarda takes Justine to a devil orgy in the woods …

[7] This American/Japanese animated venture would be the first feature-length movie journey into J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Produced by Rankin/Bass (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Last Unicorn) and animated by the studio that would later become Studio Ghibli, The Hobbit is a brisk 77-minute adaptation that features many folksy songs and a notable voice cast led by John Huston as Gandalf. While it may be …

[8] Writer/director Steven Spielberg follows up his immensely successful Jaws with this tale of extra-terrestrials and government conspiracy. Richard Dreyfuss stars as a family man whose encounter with a UFO brings him into contact with a grieving mother (Melinda Dillon) whose young son has been kidnapped by aliens. Together, they are haunted by visions of a mountain. When they figure out their mysterious, shared vision …

[7] Julie Christie is trapped inside a house run by a super-computer called Proteus IV that wants to have a baby with her. Yep, you heard me. Demon Seed, based on the book by Dean Koontz, is mostly a one-woman show, with Christie running here and there, being captured and tormented by Proteus IV, which manifests itself as a disembodied voice (an uncredited Robert Vaughn), …

[8] Stranded in the desert on their way to California, a family is attacked by savage cannibals in Wes Craven’s brutal, low-budget horror flick, The Hills Have Eyes. I love the setting and tone of the film. The isolation of the desert location and the darkness that surrounds the family’s wrecked camper create a palpable atmosphere of dread and terror that’s hard to shake, especially …

[6] This may be Roger Moore’s quintessential outing as James Bond, but The Spy Who Loved Me suffers from a wretched co-starring performance from Barbara Bach (Mrs. Ringo Starr) and a boisterous, sloppily choreographed climax on the sea. This is also the Bond that begins to tilt the franchise’s tone from ‘tongue-in-cheek’ to slapstick, thanks primarily to the introduction of the goofy Jaws (Richard Kiel) …

[6] Lethal tarantulas take over an Arizona town in this remarkably well-paced, well-put-together little B-movie. And William Shatner is the star! How frickin’ cool is that? He actually delivers a decent performance. And Shatner fans will be happy to know that old Shat ain’t afraid of no spiders — to juice up the climax of the movie, it was his own idea to glue a …

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