Horror – Classic Films Blog

Oct92021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

Halloween Movies: 10 Great Black and White Horror Movies

Horror

There have been horror films for nearly as long as there have been movies. The genre was there from the beginning, pulling in audiences who wanted to watch things they'd never imagined they'd want to see. Vampiric monsters, ghostly apparitions, and human oddities were all the stuff of nightmares a century ago, and they're still the stuff of nightmares today. Many of the titles on this list of great black and white horror movies are well-known classics while others are minor cult favorites. They are all worth revisiting! The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a stylized nightmare of sharp angles, abstract places, diagonal stairs, and horrific landscapes. It is often considered the oldest example of horror film and the archetypal piece of German ...

Jun272021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

The Screaming Skull

Horror, Thriller

The Screaming Skull is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white horror film, produced by John Kneubuhl and directed by Alex Nicol, starring John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway, Tony Johnson, and Nicol. The Screaming Skull marked Nicol's directorial debut; he decided to try it because he felt that he was not acting in the roles which he wanted. The film was distributed by American International Pictures as a double feature in different markets with either Earth vs. the Spider or Terror from the Year 5000. The film's storyline concerns a neurotic newlywed woman who believes she is being haunted by the ghost of her new husband's previous wife. Over a scene of an opening coffin, a narrator explains that the film's climax is so terrifying that it may kill the viewer, whil...

Jun272021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

White Zombie

Horror

White Zombie is a 1932 American horror film independently produced by Edward Halperin and directed by Victor Halperin. The screenplay by Garnett Weston, based on The Magic Island by William Seabrook, is about a young woman's transformation into a zombie at the hands of an evil voodoo master. Bela Lugosi stars as the zombie master "Murder" Legendre, with Madge Bellamy appearing as his victim. Other cast members include Joseph Cawthorn, Robert W. Frazer, John Harron, Brandon Hurst, and George Burr MacAnnan. On arrival in Haiti, Madeleine Short reunites with her fiancé Neil Parker, with imminent plans to be married. On the way to their lodging, the couple's coach passes Murder Legendre, an evil voodoo master, who observes them with interest. Neil and Madeleine arrive at the home of the...

Jun212021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

Last Man on Earth

Horror, Sci-Fi

When a plague devastated life on Earth, the population died or became a sort of zombie living in the dark. Dr. Robert Morgan is the unique healthy survivor on the planet, having a routine life for his own survival: he kills the night creatures along the day and maintains the safety of his house, to be protected along the night. He misses his beloved wife and daughter, consumed by the outbreak, and he fights against his loneliness to maintain mentally sane. When Dr. Morgan finds the contaminated Ruth Collins, he uses his blood to heal her and he becomes the last hope on Earth to help the other contaminated survivors. But the order of this new society is scary. Runtime: 86 min Release Date: 8th March 1964 Genres: Sci-Fi - Horror Director: Ubaldo Ragona Actors: Vincent Price - Franca...

Jun212021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

The Little Shop of Horrors

Comedy, Horror

When the clumsy Seymour Krelboyne spoils two flowers of a client, the owner of a small florist shop Gravis Mushnick is ready to fire him. However Seymour tells that he has mixed two plants of different breeds at home and created a hybrid named Audrey Jr. and Mushnick decides to give another chance to his employee. On the next day, Seymour brings Audrey Jr. that becomes the pride and joy of Mushnick, his other employee Audrey Fulquard and clients. Out of the blue, the flower seems to be dying and Seymour accidentally learns that she likes blood. One day, Seymour is upset since he does not know how to feed the flower and he walks along a railroad. When he throws a stone near a railroad track, he accidentally hits the head of a man that falls on the track and is a train runs over him. Seymo...

Jun212021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

Attack of the Giant Leeches

Horror, Sci-Fi

The story is set in the Florida everglades where the local storekeeper, Dave Walker, is married to a young sex-bomb named Liz, who just keeps on walking all over him. But poor old Dave is just a sucker for a pretty face and he just keeps on letting Liz do it. There are lots of suckers in this film though and most of them are attached to the giant leeches that have set up home in the swamp. Attack of the Giant Leeches originally titled as The Giant Leeches is an independently made 1959 black-and-white science fiction-horror film, produced by Gene Corman and directed by Bernard L. Kowalski. It stars Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers and Jan Shepard. The screenplay was written by Leo Gordon. The film was released by American International Pictures on a double bill with A Bucket of Blood. Later, ...

Jun212021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

The Terror

Horror, Thriller

The Terror is a 1963 American independent horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman. The film stars Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson, the latter of whom portrays a French officer who is seduced by a woman who is also a shapeshifting devil. The film is sometimes linked to Corman's Poe cycle, a series of movies based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe; however, The Terror is not based on any text written by Poe. The movie has become famous because of the circumstances of its production, including the fact all of Boris Karloff's scenes were shot in two days, the long time it took to complete, the number of people who worked on it that became famous, and the part the film played in the financing and production of Targets (1968), directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Karloff. Corman ...

Jun212021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

Dementia 13

Horror, Thriller

Shocked by the death of her spouse, a scheming widow hatches a bold plan to get her hands on the inheritance, unaware that she is targeted by an axe-wielding murderer who lurks in the family's estate. What mystery shrouds the noble house? Dementia 13 (UK title: The Haunted and the Hunted) is a 1963 Horror film-Thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman. Although Coppola had been involved in at least two nudie films previously, Dementia 13 served as his first mainstream, "legitimate," directorial effort. The plot follows a scheming young woman who, after having inadvertently caused the Myocardial infarction death of her husband, att...

Jun202021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

The Wasp Woman

Horror, Sci-Fi

he Wasp Woman (a.k.a. The Bee Girl and Insect Woman) is a 1959, independently made, American black-and-white science fiction-horror film, produced and directed by Roger Corman, that stars Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, and Barboura Morris. The film was originally released by Filmgroup as a double feature with Beast from Haunted Cave. To pad out the film's running time when it was released to television two years later, a new prologue was added by director Jack Hill. The founder and owner of a large cosmetics company, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot), is disturbed when her firm's sales begin to drop after it becomes apparent to her customer base that she is aging. Zinthrop has been able to extract enzymes from the royal jelly of the queen wasp that can reverse the aging process. ...

Jun202021 by Classic FilmsNo Comments

Carnival of Souls

Horror

Carnival of Souls is a 1962 American independent horror film produced and directed by Herk Harvey and written by John Clifford from a story by Clifford and Harvey, and starring Candace Hilligoss. Its plot follows Mary Henry, a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident. She relocates to a new city, where she finds herself unable to assimilate with the locals, and becomes drawn to the pavilion of an abandoned carnival. Director Harvey also appears in the film as a ghoulish stranger who stalks her throughout. Filmed in Lawrence, Kansas and Salt Lake City, Carnival of Souls was shot on a budget of $33,000, and Harvey employed various guerrilla filmmaking techniques to finish the production. It was Harvey's only feature film, and did not gain widespread attention when original...