A lot of horror here. I was in that kind of mood.
1. House of Evil (a.k.a. "The Evil" and "Cry Demon") (1978)
The Premise: A group of people (doctors?) attempt to open a rehabilitation center in -- you guessed it -- a haunted house.
Where Are They Now?: Richard "Colonel Trautman" Crenna passed on in 2003. His last movie was 1998's Wrongfully Accused.
Overall: It covers all the usual bases. The spooky basement, the religiously inclined psychic, the old book found in a corner of the house, warnings from pets, windows and doors that lock themselves, etc., etc., etc. I can remember seeing the VHS a lot when I was a kid in the 80s. Now I know why no one I knew mentioned seeing it.
2. Alucarda (1977)
The Premise: Uh... religious hysteria?
Where Are They Now?: The beautiful Tina Romero is, as it turns out, American. She was born in New York, and her family relocated to Mexico when she was around nine years old. Since the release of Alucarda she's enjoyed a long career in Mexican television.
Overall: I make no assumptions about the kinds of movies you watch, but this will probably be the weirdest thing you've seen in a while. It reminded me a bit of 1971's The Devils, which explores many similar themes.
3. Diary of a Murderess (a.k.a. "La Encadenada") (1975)
A dumb way to kill someone if you ask me. She knew there were people downstairs. Wouldn't they smell the gas? And can't her husband still blackmail her regardless? Why would she think her position was secure?
The Premise: A "psychiatrist" with a troubled past is hired as a governess by a wealthy industrialist.
Where Are They Now?: Marisa Mell appeared in increasingly lower budget European films up to 1991. She died two years later, in 1993.
Overall: It's relatively suspenseful up to the one hour mark, and star Marisa Mell is certainly easy to look at, but her character's plan doesn't make much sense.
I enjoyed the twist at the end, however. A very Italian ending!
4. Next Stop Greenwich Village (1976)
The Premise: A young man moves out on his own with hopes of becoming an actor.
Where Are They Now?: Keep your eyes peeled. If you look very closely you'll see Bill Murray in both the local bar and at the party. This was his very first movie. He'd start his run on Saturday Night Live a year later, and he most recently appeared in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
Christopher Walken already had a long career in film and television prior to Next Stop Greenwich Village. He'd appear in Annie Hall the following year. Dune: Part Two is his most recent movie.
Jeff Goldblum appears in this movie very briefly. He was also discussed in the Still More 70s Movies entry. In 2019 a reality show centered around him appeared on Disney+.
Shelley Winters passed on in 2006. Her film career lasted from 1943 to the year of her death. She was often typecast, but I think that given a good role she always rose to the occasion.
Antonio Fargas might be recognizable from numerous Blaxploitation movies. He was self aware enough to later appear in 1988's I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
Writer and director Paul Mazursky died in 2014. He voiced a minor role in Kung Fu Panda 2 prior to his death. The last big movie he wrote and directed was 1988's Moon Over Parador.
Overall: The dream sequences feel unnecessary, but otherwise it's a good coming of age tale.
5. The Jericho Mile (1979)
The Premise: Prison authorities discover that an inmate has a talent for running.
Where Are They Now?: Star Peter Strauss now runs a citrus production business. He's married to actress Rachel Ticotin, who you may remember from 1990's Total Recall.
Brian Dennehy passed on in 2020. He had a long and varied career which included films such as 10, First Blood, Cocoon, Tommy Boy and many others.
Overall: It's nice to see a Michael Mann movie this ISN'T some work of crystalline perfection. The Jericho Mile suffers from pacing issues, it includes several "moments" that don't feel earned, and the ending is a head scratcher if there ever was one. Even so, it's gratifying to see what Mann was doing earlier in his career, long before movies like Heat elevated him to the level of directors like Scorsese and Spielberg. The Jericho Mile is a movie full of missteps, and I appreciate it for that reason. Yes, it won Emmy awards, and in some respects it led to the far superior Thief, but no, it's not perfect.
6. Claudine (1974)
The Premise: An unmarried mother of six finds love after a series of setbacks.
Where Are They Now?: Diahann Carroll -- whose name I will always have difficulty remembering how to spell -- passed away in 2019. Despite the moderate success it enjoyed, Claudine was the only movie she appeared in during the 70s. Most of her career consisted of roles in TV shows.
James Earl Jones is still alive! He's around 93 years old now. His film career started with a minor role in 1964's Dr. Strangelove. His most recent movie was 2021's Coming 2 America.
Overall: An excellent movie from beginning to end. The editing was especially well done, and some of the points Claudine's characters make about economic inequality ring true today.
7. The White Buffalo (1977)
The Premise: Wild Bill Hickok and Crazy Horse team up to bring down a supernaturally strong buffalo.
Where Are They Now?: Charles Bronson's career has been discussed here many, many times already. He went to his Great Reward back in 2003.
Will Sampson, who plays Crazy Horse, might be familiar. He played Chief Bromden opposite Jack Nicholson in 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He died relatively young in 1987.
Overall: The titular white buffalo looks very fake and there are some unintentionally funny moments, but otherwise it's not a bad movie.
8. Deranged (1974)
Not sure what's going on with that narrator in the beginning. I'm guessing that scene was shot at the last minute, and he was reading his dialogue off of cue cards for the first time.
The Premise: Good 'ol Ed Gein. This movie will remind you a lot of the much earlier Psycho, but aside from that film it's loosely based episodes in Gein's life.
Where Are They Now?: Star Roberts Blossom was in a ton of movies. His first movie was 1971's The Hospital, one of those gloriously overblown Paddy Chayefsky efforts featuring George C. Scott. His last movie prior to his death in 2011 was 1995's The Quick and the Dead.
Overall: A good, if unsurprising stomach-churner from the mid-70s. This said, I can't help but wonder if the dinner scene in this movie inspired a similar scene at the end of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which came out later the same year.
9. Spectre (1977)
NO ONE has ever been cockblocked harder than the Watson stand-in during the first night at the manor. Succubi or no, that's just a damn shame.
The Premise: Robert Culp plays a detective battling demonic forces in this TV pilot.
Where Are They Now?: Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, wrote the script. He passed on in 1991.
Robert Culp lived until 2010. He appeared in movies and television up until the same year.
John Hurt is best remember as the Alien franchise's first victim, famously expiring on the lunch table after his foray into the alien ship. He died in 2017.
Overall: It's very much in line with the occult craze of its time. Astrology, TV shows like In Search Of..., comic books like Son of Satan, movies like The Fury. Powers of the mind, ghosts, bigfoot and aliens. Taken on its own merits Spectre does a decent job keeping it light while at the same time keeping it spooky.
Fun Fact: OF COURSE there's a metal band by the name "Asmodeus." Here you go.
10. The Devil with Seven Faces (a.k.a. "Bloody Mary" and "Nights of Terror" (1971)
Wow, those outfits. This movie couldn't be more early 70s if it tried.
The Premise: A pair of twins find themselves pursued by knife-wielding strangers.
Where Are They Now?: Carroll Baker had a celebrated career on Broadway before becoming a Hollywood actress. The Devil with Seven Faces represents her "European period," which ended in 1975 with her return to American film and theater.
Her costar Stephen Boyd might be familiar from his role in Ben-Hur. He died of a heart attack in 1977.
Overall: Overdubs aside it's a genuinely good movie.
11. Lisa and the Devil (1972)
That theme by Albeniz is one of my favorite pieces of classical music. Excellent choice.
The Premise: A young woman travels back in time after encountering the Devil on the street in Italy.
Where Are They Now?: Mario Bava was one of the great horror directors. He didn't always hit it out of the park, but at his best he was very, very good. Blood and Black Lace is a personal favorite -- you just don't get any more giallo than that.
Bava's last movie was 1998's Rabid Dogs, which wasn't released until long after his death in 1980.
The beautiful Elke Sommer is still around. She lives in Los Angeles, and hasn't appeared on film since 2010.
None other than Telly Savalas plays the Devil in Lisa and the Devil. The 60s were probably the height of his film career, while in the 70s and 80s he was better known as Kojak. He did a few movies in the 80s and 90s, but I doubt many people hearken back to the likes of Cannonball Run II and Mind Twister. He died in 1994.
Overall: One of the best movies here. It veers away from gore and nudity, but in terms of atmosphere it surpasses any of the other horror films discussed in this entry.
12. Doomsday Machine (1976)
This one's more a product of the 60s than the 70s. It began production in 1967, but wasn't completed until 1972.
The Premise: A mission to Venus is launched ahead of schedule after a potentially world-ending weapon is discovered in China.
Where Are They Now?: Most of them are no longer with us. Actress Chia Essie Lin (林嘉) had a somewhat interesting career, veering between Hong Kong, Blaxploitation and American television.
Overall: It's just as bad (and thus just as "good") as you'd expect. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being Moonfall, I'd give this one an 8.
Fun Fact: The "distant future" in which the events of this film take place is 1975. Doomsday Machine's original title was Armageddon 1975.
13. Don't Look in the Basement (a.k.a. "The Forgotten") (1973)
The Premise: A nurse arrives for work right after the inmates have taken over the asylum.
Where Are They Now?: Nobody in this movie went on to become famous, though Don't Look in the Basement does enjoy a cult following.
Overall: You'll probably see the plot twist coming from far away, but it's an enjoyably cheesy horror movie.
14. The Summertime Killer (a.k.a. "Target Removed") (1972)
The Premise: A New York detective chases an assassin through Europe in this Spanish-Italian co-production.
Where Are They Now?: Christopher Mitchum is the son of actor Robert Mitchum. He now divides his time between movies and California politics.
Karl Malden passed on in 2009. Towards the end of his life he was primarily working in TV.
The beautiful Olivia Hussey's star was on the rise in the early 1970s. She appeared as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet in 1968, and in 1972 she was two years away from Black Christmas, a movie fondly remembered by fans of horror films. These days she does a lot of voice work for animation.
Former Bond girl Claudine Auger died in 2019. Up until the late 1990s she was appearing in French films.
Overall: A good, entertaining movie with some nice twists and turns.
15. Night Slaves (1970)
The Premise: A man recovering from an automobile accident discovers a small town hiding a sinister secret.
Where Are They Now?: Leslie Nielsen went on to star in the Naked Gun movies, though he'd been in films like Forbidden Planet and The Poseidon Adventure long before. He passed on in 2010.
James Franciscus, who died in 1991, was, I kid you not, the man to whom Jane Fonda lost her virginity. He did a lot of TV during his lifetime. His biggest movie was probably Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
Overall: By-the-numbers TV thriller.
16. Straw Dogs (1971)
The Premise: A pacifist learns he has a capacity for violence after clashes with villagers in the English countryside.
Where Are They Now?: Dustin Hoffman appears in Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, which was recently screened at Cannes. He also voiced "Master Shifu" in Kung Fu Panda 4. Anyone interested in 70s films would do well to work their way through his movies from that decade. Little Big Man, Straw Dogs, Papillon, Lenny, All the President's Men, Marathon Man, Kramer vs. Kramer and Straight Time are all great.
Susan George was an underrated actress. Her conflicted portrayal of "Amy" in Straw Dogs is one of the things that make it so good. Critics at the time derided the controversial rape scene, but I think the ambiguity of that scene adds a lot to the movie. And who's to say that women can't be perverse? Isn't imposing that type of limiting factor on artistic depictions of women just another kind of sexism?
Director Sam Peckinpah's substance abuse was a constant issue in his career. One of the reasons he shot Straw Dogs in England was that he'd been largely blackballed from Hollywood due to his propensity for going overbudget and getting bogged down in reshoots. He went on to do some classic movies as the 70s wore on, but his one movie of the 80s, The Osterman Weekend, wasn't well received by critics.
Overall: An excellent movie, one of the best of the decade.
17. End Play (1976)
The Premise: A serial killer attempts to hide his deeds from his inquisitive brother.
Where Are They Now?: Between the two leads and the director there's a lot of Australian television work, but no one in this movie went on to become especially famous.
Overall: The filmmakers probably thought that such a slow pace built tension, but in my opinion End Play moves too slowly for its own good. Some of the exchanges between the brothers and the detective also seem implausible.
18. Forbidden Love Games (1975)
For a second I thought this movie was going to detour into Salo country. I'm glad that it didn't?
The Premise: Two young lovers find themselves imprisoned in a remote mansion.
Where Are They Now?: None of the cast or crew are well known outside of Spain, where this movie was filmed.
Overall: It's an entertaining movie. Subtitles aside, it's the kind of thing Cinemax would have shown late at night back in the 80s.
19. The Serpent's Egg (1977)
It's Ingmar Bergman, so strap yourself in.
The Premise: An American Jew living in pre-WWII Germany struggles through a series of misfortunes.
Where Are They Now?: David Carradine's death via auto-erotic asphyxiation was widely reported on in 2009. After the success of the television show Kung Fu he was offered many high profile roles up until the end of the 70s. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 could have rejuvenated his career if Bangkok hadn't happened.
Actress Liv Ullman was a favorite of Bergman's, appearing in many of his films. She was offered roles in Hollywood movies, but chose to remain in Europe where she continues acting and directing.
Ingmar Bergman died in 2007, two years before David Carradine. His last movie as director was 1982's Fanny and Alexander, an excellent film. His last movie as writer was 2007's Faithless, which was directed by Liv Ullman.
Overall: It wasn't loved by critics, but if you're in the right mood The Serpent's Egg is alright. It pales next to other Bergman films (it lacks that kind of punch), but it does have many redeeming features.
I don't think Carradine was the best choice for the lead. Bergman originally wrote the role for Elliot Gould, who would have been much more convincing, but the studio insisted on Carradine instead.
The script (or perhaps the way in which the movie was edited) also fails to draw a clear line between what its characters are experiencing and its theme of human-engineered suffering. It's not a bad movie, but I don't think they quite hit what they were aiming for.
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20. Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
The Premise: A young woman comes to terms with her own and other's sexuality.
Where Are They Now?: Diane Keaton was already an established star at the time of this movie's release. I briefly discussed her career in relation to Lovers and Other Strangers in the previous entry.
Tuesday Weld has also been discussed here.
Richard Gere, Tom Berenger, Brian Dennehy and LeVar Burton (!) all appear in this movie. It was Brian Dennehy's first. He passed on in 2020, but the other three men are still around and still active in the world of film. Richard Gere appeared in two movies, Oh, Canada and Longing, this year, Tom Berenger was in the direct-to-video One More Shot, and LeVar Burton voiced a character in The Imaginary.
Fun Fact: While sitting at the bar Diane Keaton is holding a copy of Mario Puzo's The Godfather. She starred in the movie version of the book five years before.
Overall: A very good movie. I particularly enjoyed Diane Keaton and Tuesday Weld's scenes together. They complimented each other nicely.
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