Top 10 Vintage Horror Movies
Many years ago, before CGI, horror movies relied on more visceral effects to elicit scares. Monsters, ghosts, and all things gory had to be created with hours upon hours of special effects wizardry. It was, arguably, a much scarier way of making horror movies.
Some of those movies became vintage classics. These types of movies are often fondly remembered as a person’s “first time”… forever attracting them to the genre.
10. Freaks (1932):
One of the first horror movies, Freaks hit the screen in 1932. Tod Browning’s masterpiece needed no special effects at all. Instead, Browning used actors who were real-life carnival sideshow performers. Schlitzie, who played himself in the film, was a well-known sideshow performer at the time. While the “freaks” in this movie may look like monsters, we learn that the true monsters in life look very much like ourselves. If this movie had been made in recent years, it probably would have never made it past the first pitch, but luckily for all of us horror fans, it is available for all to see.
9. Nosferatu (1922):
Pre-dating even Freaks, Nosferatu could easily be considered one of the scariest movies of all time. An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the movie almost didn’t survive after Stoker’s family sued and all but a few copies were destroyed. Shot in black and white before even 8mm was around, it has a creepy “found footage” effect that reminds us that a movie can be frightening without modern day advancements. When talking about Nosferatu, the story of how the film was made has to be discussed. Rumor had it that lead actor Max Schrek was a real vampire. Whether he was just getting into his character, Count Orlok, or was indeed a blood-sucking menace has been debated for years. Of course, his bizarre real-life appearance only added to the suspicion. His behavior on the set was so frightening that the story was turned into the 2000 horror film, Shadow of the Vampire, staring John Malkovich.
8. Burnt Offerings (1976):
Burnt Offerings should probably be on a “great horror movies nobody has seen” list, but that is all the more reason to include it. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see this unsettling movie, definitely take the time to check it out. Starring Karen Black, this haunted house movie centers on a family who moves into an old summer house that, of course, is a heck of deal. If there is any indication that a house is going to regenerate itself by taking the souls of its occupants, it’s the fact that it’s being rented for dirt cheap. Short on special effects, this movie relies on an unsettling mood and an ultra creepy score to deliver one of the best haunted house movies of all time. You will never be able to listen to a music box again.
