Best 1950-1959 Horror Films
Aug 13 '00
A dozen of the finest horror films from the 1950's. I think you will find them all of them worthwhile viewing. Most have held up very well.
12. I Bury the Living (1958)
One of Stephen King's favorite films is this above average tale of a cemetery caretaker, played by Richard Boone, who notices that there is a map of the cemetery and occupied graves on the map are marked by black pins, but empty ones have white pins. By switching the pins around he seems to be able to cause the premature deaths of the people who have bought their graves ahead of time. Theodore Bikel is also on hand.
11. Dementia (1955) aka Daughter of Horror
A strange Bunnuel like horror film that clocks in at just under an hour. It was quickly banned when released and it remains pretty gruesome stuff so it's easy to see why. It's Narrated by (I hope your sitting down) Ed McMahon. Scenes from this film and it's adults only Re-release
poster from 1957, show up in 1958's The Blob. A young woman moves through dark alleys and then is in the middle of a confrontation between a drunk and a cop. She escapes into the safety of a man's limousine–but the man is a gangster who resembles the woman's abusive father. Then, in the man's apartment , a struggle ensues and the man lands on the street below, his hand clutching a necklace. The girl can't get the necklace out of his hands so pulls the knife out of his stomach and begins sawing off his hand.... You'll have to find it and watch it for the ending. Produced/Written and Directed by John Parker
10. House of Wax (1953)
It forever made a horror star of Vincent Price and was one of the first and perhaps best 3d films ever made. This is a re-make of the 1930's Mystery of the Wax Museum. Price plays the horribly scarred museum sculptor (the scars the result of a purposefully set fire which nearly killed him and destroyed his museum of wax figures). Price wants and begins exacting revenge. He has the help of a mute servant Igor played by Charles Buchinsky (you know this chap as Charles Bronson). Phyllis Kirk and Carolyn (Morticia Addams) Jones also star. Director Andre de Toth who helmed what is the most successful 3D feature film of all time, was blind in one eye and had no depth perception, nor could he see the 3d effects he created. Price would make three more 3-D films The Mad Magician, Dangerous Mission, and Son of Sinbad.
9. Curse of Frankenstein, The (1957)
In the midst of atomic mutations attacking rock and roll parties, and creatures from outerspace terrorizing teenagers on lover's lane, Hammer Films from England revived the gothic horror genre with their remake of Frankenstein and (Dracula the following year) made cult stars of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the process. The beautiful black and white tapestries of the Universal classics were turned into living color. Dr. Frankenstein wasn't merely an obsessed-with-work-scientist, but a horny guy who took some time out with women of ample cleavage. There were severed body parts and blood and of course the gore and titillation upset the puritan in many folks. It was made for about $250,000 and grossed millions. Peter Cushing would play the Dr. Frankenstein role 5 more times. Christopher Lee in much different make-up than Karloff, played the monster.
8. Fly, The (1958)
Though the special effects today might seem a bit hokey, this was an unforgettable and horrifying film. It was based on a strange short story from Playboy Magazine and stars Al Hedison (who would later become well known on Irwin Allen's T.V's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea).
Why did the scientist's wife crush her husbands head in a hydraulic press.... TWICE. We learn why soon enough. Her husband's experiments went horrible wrong and he became a genetic mutation , part fly, part human. Vincent Price plays the brother-in-law. A classic.
7. The Creeping Unknown (1956 - U.S.) The.Quatermass Experiment, The (1955- England)
Hammer Films first international hit is based on a famous British t.v. series. American Actor Brian Donlevy does a great job as super-scientist Quartermass. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy. This film is about a strange growing fungus that is found on the only surviving astronaut or a rocket crash. The blob grows, eats him, grows tentacles and the finale occurs in the Westminster Cathedral during a live t.v broadcast. The special effects show their age, but the acting remains quite good. It's sequel Enemy from Space (1957) is also quite good and is about alien life forms who take over a research plant and begin to infiltrate the government. It's very similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Donlevy is again superb as Quartermass.
6. Horror of Dracula (1958)
To many, this is the best vampire film ever made. Time has done little to diminish the impact of this still wonderfully stylized gothic horror film–Hammer style. With doses of blood, sex and horror delivered under the tutelage of director Terence Fischer, this was the first of Hammers eight Dracula films. It was written by Jimmy Sangster. Seven starred Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, Three co-starred Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing. This remains the best and is a fairly faithful version of Bram Stoker's classic novel. Michael Gough as Arthur Holmwood is quite good as well. Brides of Dracula was the first sequel.
5. Flesh and the Fiends, The (1959) aka Mania (1961)
Find the original 97 minute version. This isn't a Hammer film, but very much like them and some shocking (at the time) gore scenes (eyes being burned out for instance) and brief nudity (rare for Britain and the U.S.) as well. The film is very atmospheric and reminiscent of The Body Snatcher from the 1940's. Peter Cushing is the by any means necessary doctor who buys bodies for his experiments from two despicable grave robbers and murderers played by George Rose and Donald Pleasence (Burke and Hare).
4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Directed by Don (Dirty Harry) Siegel, this is the original and I believe still the very best version of Jack Finney's novel. This screenplay was co-written by Daniel Mainwaring and Sam Peckinpah. Peckinpah appears in the film as a meter reader at the end of the film who joins the crowd
and chases Miles (Kevin McCarthy) Bennett. The film originally ended with ‘You're NEXT." But a safer happier ending was added (with Whit Bissell and Richard Deacon) since it was the Eisenhower era. The movie struck an immediate chord with audiences who recognized the coincidence of the films plot with the red scare and McCarthy era.. There's an intense somewhat amateurish urgency in the original, which is missing in all the remakes. A gem.
3. Curse of the Demon aka Night of the Demon (1957)
Jacques Tourneur the director of The Cat People and others for Producer Val Lewton, returned to helm this stylish, and extremely effective horror classic. Tourneur did not want to ever show the monster, but the producers insisted and they came up with quite a horrifying looking one.
Dana Andrews plays a cynical psychologist who refuses to believe there's any validity to the idea that a colleague's death was caused by a curse. Niall MacGinnis is superb as the possible head of a secret cult–a strange fellow who also thoroughly enjoys entertaining children as a clown. The film starts quickly and never lets up. One of the finest horror films ever made. Do find the now available uncut 95 minute British released version rather than the 87 minute original U.S. released version.
2. Yeux sans visage, Les (1959)...aka Eyes Without a Face and aka Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus, The (1962)
Although it's unlikely few saw it when it was first released in 1959, this now recognized classic of poetic, moody horror, still has some shock value in it. The plot about a plastic surgeon trying to save his daughter's beauty has been re-used many times. But none have duplicated the
moodiness, and atmosphere of this unsettling masterpiece. It was directed by Georges Franju, written by Franju, Jean Redon, Claude Sautet, Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. The music was by Maurice Jarre.
1. Diabolique (1955)
One of the first very successful foreign films (France) was this psychological horror film. You have seen the twist ending horror plot by now many, many times, but it has never been better than it was in this gem. Simone Signoret helps Vera Clouzot (who was married to producer/co-writer/director Henri-Georges Clouzot), drown her husband. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? It isn't of course. It was remade into a superior T.v. movie in (1974) called Reflections of Murder (directed by John Badham and starring Tuesday Weld) and most recently into a pointless remake starring Sharon Stone. Stick with the original and best.
...
Hold on a moment. Where is THEM! The Thing, Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, War of the Worlds, Godzilla, The Day the Earth Stood Still, or The Creature from the Black Lagoon etc. etc.
I decided to draw a line between horror, creature features and science fiction. While some on this list could easily be considered science fiction, they are enough horror elements in them, I've decided they belong here then in a Best of 50's creature feature or 50's Science Fiction list.
I hope if you haven't seen any of the films you will make a point of doing so in the near future.
Chris Jarmick (Author: The Glass Cocoon – Available November 2000)
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ChrisJarmick
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Member: Chris Jarmick
Location: Seattle
Reviews written: 503
Trusted by: 163 members
About Me:
I am writing for Viewpoints.com now. Good site. I'll check in here sometimes. Keep Writing.
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.