Full Transcript for Things That Scare the HELL Out of Us! The 1970s Horror Edition

fiction horror so unsettling. It doesn't have to involve a ghost jumping out of a closet. Sometimes the scary part is watching human beings make decisions they have [02:42] absolutely no business making. I won't pretend I remember every single scene, but I know that lady lost her mind and was killing people because she wanted a baby. I remember seeing this at the Whitestone Drive-In with my mother and her friends. It's probably one of the reasons I didn't want to be pregnant. Now let's talk about Phantasm, released in 1979. Listen, the tall man, just saying his name brings back that creepy feeling. The story centers on a mysterious mortician, played by Angus Scrimm. [03:10] whose funeral home hides some seriously disturbing secrets. There's a young boy named Mike, played by Michael Baldwin, who begins investigating after witnessing things that don't make sense. And then we get those flying silver spheres. Why? Who looked at a perfectly ordinary sphere and said, [03:26] You know what this needs? A drill, some blades, and the ability to fly around attacking people? I have questions. Is this where Ryan Murphy got some of his murderous ideas for American Horror Story from? Murder house and hotel come to mind. Anyway, that's what made Phantasm so effective. It had this strange dreamlike atmosphere where you never felt completely sure of what was happening. The tall man was unsettling. The funeral home was creepy. [03:51] and the whole movie felt like something you might see in a nightmare. And then there was that sense that even when you thought you understood what was happening, the movie could pull the rug right from under you. That's one of the things I appreciate about 1970s horror. Sometimes the filmmakers didn't explain everything. They let you sit there, confused and uncomfortable, trying to figure out what you had just watched. And apparently we liked being traumatized. Was it his appearance, the way he moved, or just the whole atmosphere of the movie? [04:19] or that damn sphere? Or is it the realization that humans were being turned into dwarf slaves? Whatever it was, Phantasm earned its place on my list. Let's move on to Halloween. John Carpenter's 1978 classic and one of my favorites, Michael Myers. This man was not interested in conversation, a relationship, or a new career. He just wanted to continue where he left off, murdering his sister and anyone that got in the way. And no, we're not discussing that whole plot twist in recent years. [04:49] Laurie Strode is Michael Myers' sister. Anyway, Michael was freaking scary. He never ran. He could walk slowly down the street and somehow that was even more frightening. The movie follows Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, as she becomes the target of Michael Myers, played by Nick Castle on Halloween night. What makes the film so well is the suspense. You see him in the background. You wonder whether he's still there. You wait for something to happen. And that feeling of being watched, that's what gets you. Because let's be honest, [05:19] You don't need a monster with eight arms to scare you. Sometimes an ordinary looking person standing across the street is enough to make you reconsider your entire evening. And the movie's use of silence makes everything worse. That's one of the reasons why I like Asian horror. They let our minds create the scare. The lack of music, chef's kiss. You start anticipating the next scary moment. [05:40] and sometimes the waiting is more frightening than the actual scare. After watching Halloween, you could be looking out your window and suddenly decide that everything outside is suspicious. Somebody taking out the garbage. Why are they walking like that? A neighbor sitting in their car. And you know that's a thing these days. People needing an escape are chilling in their vehicles, are they not? What else might they be doing in those vehicles? Plotting. Somebody standing still. Okay, I'm exaggerating, of course. But that's the power of a good horror movie. [06:09] It takes an ordinary situation and makes you look at it differently. And Halloween helped establish a formula that countless slasher movies would follow. What did Randy from Scream say? There's a formula, a very simple formula. Michael Myers the Shape became an icon, but in 1978 he was just getting started. Now let's talk about Carrie, released in 1976 and based on a Stephen King novel. Carrie White, played by Sissy Spacek. This young girl is bullied at school, [06:38] and abused by her fanatically religious mother at home. She also has telekinetic powers, meaning that she can move things with her mind. And if you've seen the movie, you know that things really pop off at the prom. I don't wanna spoil the entire film for anybody who somehow hasn't seen it, but the prom scene has become one of the most memorable moments in horror history. The tension builds, and when everything finally happens, [07:01] The consequences are devastating. But what makes Carrie different from a straightforward monster movie is that the horror starts with cruelty. Carrie is isolated, she's humiliated, she's mistreated by people who should know better. And the movie asks what happens when someone who has been pushed and pushed finally reaches a breaking point. And of course telekinesis is not exactly a typical response to bullying, but shit happens. But beneath the supernatural story is a very human subject. [07:28] the damage people can do when they treat someone as if the person doesn't matter. And that is still relevant today. The movie also gives us Piper Laurie as Carrie's deeply disturbed mother, Margaret White. Their relationship adds another layer of psychological horror to the story. Amy Irving and Betty Buckley also stars as the sympathetic classmate, potential friend, and caring teacher. So Carrie wasn't just something supernatural happening at a high school. It was about cruelty, control, [07:56]

and the consequences of treating people terribly. And that ending, when her hand popped out, let's just say I had a hard time falling asleep that night. That movie understood the assignment. Now we're getting into the kind of horror that could make you afraid of your own bedroom. Salem's Lot premiered as a television miniseries in 1979 based on a Stephen King novel. It stars David Soul from Starsky and Hutch, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, and Bonnie Bedelia. [08:20] And if you grew up during that era, you may remember the movie posters that made this movie so frightening. One scene in particular has become legendary. The young vampire Danny Glick floating outside a bedroom window. Yeah, there are certain things you should not see outside your bedroom window at night. A tree branch? Cool. A bird? A side eye. A person floating in the air scratching at the glass? You already know. Close the curtains, turn on every light. [08:46] call somebody, and if nobody answers, grab a weapon and start praying to whoever you believe in. What made Salem's Lot so effective was that it brought the vampire story into an ordinary small town. These weren't distant castles and mysterious European villages. This was a community where people lived their everyday lives, unaware that something terrible was happening around them. And because it was made for television, the story entered people's homes. [09:11] You didn't have to go to a movie theater to be frightened. You could be sitting in your living room watching television with your family and suddenly you were afraid to look toward the window. That is a special kind of horror. And vampires, they have been part of storytelling for generations, but Salem's Lot made them feel frighteningly close to home. So if you remember that floating vampire scene, I wanna hear from you. Did it scare you? Did you have trouble sleeping afterward? Or are you one of those people who claim they weren't scared while quietly checking the window anyway? [09:39] We're among friends here, you could be honest. Speaking of things that can make you afraid of your own home, let's talk about Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, the 1973 made for television horror movie. The story follows Sally, played by Kim Darby, who moves into an old house and discovers that mysterious little creatures are hiding in its dark spaces. Little creatures hiding in the house, coming out when you least expect them. Who thought this was a good idea? Because the whole point of having a house is that you're supposed to feel safe there. You lock the doors. [10:08] You close the windows, you turn on the lights, you tell yourself that whatever is outside cannot get inside. But what happens when the threat is already in the house? And what happens when the places you normally ignore, the basement, the closet, the dark corner of a room, suddenly seem suspicious? That's where the movie gets you. It takes something familiar and makes it frightening. And because the creatures are small, you can imagine them hiding in places where you wouldn't normally look. [10:34] under the furniture, behind doors, in dark corners. Now you've got me looking around my own house. This is why I appreciate those old made for TV horror movies. They understood that you didn't need a massive special effects budget to scare people. Sometimes a creepy idea, a dark room, and a little imagination were all you needed. And once the movie was over, your imagination could keep working for free. Now this next one, need I only mention the name? Trilogy of Terror? [11:00] the 1975 television anthology starring Karen Black. The movie contains three separate stories, but one segment became especially famous, Amelia featuring the terrifying Zuni Fetish doll. This segment was written by Richard Matheson, a frequent writer for Twilight Zone, and the stories turned into movies, Somewhere in Time, What Dreams May Come, and Stir of Echoes. And when I say terrifying, I mean that thing had absolutely no business being in anybody's apartment. [11:29] The doll comes to life armed with a little knife and chases Amelia around her home. Knowing his name is he who kills, why would you say to it, man, you're ugly. Then call your mom and in that conversation you tell her about the doll adding that the chain around his neck can't be removed or will come to life. Well, what do you think happens? And I don't care how small something is. If it has a weapon and is actively chasing me, we are no longer discussing its size. We are discussing my escape plan. [11:57] or how I'm gonna kill his little ass. What makes this segment so effective is the contrast between the doll's small size and the intensity of its attack. It's quick, relentless, and genuinely unsettling. And because Amelia is trapped in her own apartment, the situation feels claustrophobic. There's no easy way out. This is another example of how 1970s television horror could leave a lasting impression without showing us everything. Sometimes all you needed was a strange looking doll, a knife. [12:26] and a woman desperately trying to get away. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, this was the kind of thing that could make you look at a toy collection differently. And if you had that type of doll in your house, I'd have one question, why? Who bought it? And did anybody check to make sure it wasn't moving after everybody went to bed? I'm just asking. Let's move from Little Creatures to one of the most frightening science fiction movies of the decade, Alien, released in 1979. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film follows the crew of the commercial spacecraft [12:55] Nostromo as they encounter a deadly extraterrestrial organism. And that is already enough information for me. We need to get up out of here. But no, they investigate, they bring the unknown organism aboard, and then everything goes terribly wrong. What makes aliens so effective is the isolation. The crew is far from

Earth, trapped in a confined environment and facing something they don't fully understand. There's nowhere easy to run. The creature can hide in the ship. [13:23] and the crew's members don't know who will be targeted next. And then there's that infamous chest-burster scene, acid for blood, if you know, you know. The movie combines science fiction with the kind of suspense usually associated with a haunted house. Every hallway feels dangerous, every shadow seems suspicious, every strange noise could mean trouble. And Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley became one of the most memorable heroes in science fiction cinema. She wasn't simply waiting around for someone else to save her. [13:51] She was intelligent, resourceful, and determined to survive. So while Alien absolutely belongs on our list of terrifying films, it also gave us a fantastic female lead and supporting cast that included Tom Skerritt that we recently lost. Rest in peace. Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and the amazingly talented Veronica Cartwright who helped terrify us in other classics like The Birds, [14:17] and the one that's next on my list. If you guessed Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1978 version starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy, and yep, Veronica Cartwright as Nancy, you would be correct. Now this movie gets into psychological territory. The story follows people who discover that mysterious alien organisms are producing duplicates of human beings. These copies look like the people they replace, but something essential is missing. [14:46] And that is what makes the idea so disturbing. Imagine looking at your best friend, your neighbor, or somebody in your own family and wondering whether they are really the person you know. They look the same, they sound the same, but something is wrong. How would you know? That's the question at the center of this movie. And it makes the horror much more unsettling than a creature simply jumping out of the bushes. The movie builds a sense of paranoia. People begin questioning what they see and who they can trust. And when everybody around you appears normal, [15:16] How do you convince anyone that something terrible is happening? This is what makes a good science fiction horror thriller. It takes an impossible situation and asks you to imagine how you would respond. And then there's that ending. I won't spoil it, I won't, I promise. But let's just say the final moment is one of the most recognizable endings in science fiction horror. [15:37] This movie reminds us that sometimes the scariest possibility isn't that a monster is coming to get us. It's that the world has changed and we're the only ones who know it. Now let's have a little conversation about Piranha, the 1978 horror film directed by Joe Dante, the story by Richard Robinson and John Sayles. He also wrote Alligator and The Howling. It stars Bradford Dillman, [16:00] Heather Menzies, and Kevin McCarthy, who starred in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It co-stars Melody Thomas. You know, Nicki Newman from Young and the Restless. I remember always saying that's Nicki whenever I watched it. [16:13] She's also in one more of my favorite horror movies that we'll get into later in this episode. After Jaws made people nervous about going into the ocean, along came another movie reminding us that the water might not be our friend. This time the threat is a swarm of genetically altered piranhas, and they are hungry. The story involves a secret military experiment that goes wrong, releasing the dangerous fish into waterways where people are swimming. [16:37] Now I don't know about you, but the moment somebody tells me that a body of water contains genetically altered flesh-eating fish, I'm going to find another activity. What made Piranha memorable was that it took the basic fear of being attacked in the water and gave it another twist. With Jaws, you worry about what's beneath the surface. With Piranha, the danger comes in numbers. It's not necessarily one enormous predator. It's a whole swarm of hungry little fish. And the film also mixes horror with dark humor. [17:05] giving it a different flavor from the more serious terror of Jaws. Still, it leaves you with a very important question. Why are people in horror movies always getting into water where something dangerous is happening? Do they not read the warning signs? Do they not listen to the locals? Stay your ass out the water. Now we cannot talk about horror in the 1970s without giving Black Horror its proper recognition. Let's talk about Blacula, released in 1972 and starring William Marshall as Prince Mamuwalde, [17:33] Vonetta McGee as his reincarnated love, Luva, Denise Nicholas as Luva's sister, Michelle, and Thalmus Rasulala as her boyfriend, Dr. Gordon Thomas. I think it was Ketty Lester's scene stealing moment in the morgue that was most terrifying to me. You know, the cab driver that he turned? Yeah. My little self was shook. You hear me? Story begins in the 18th century when Mamuwalde seeks help from Count Dracula to stop the slave trade from continuing. Dracula laughs and instead curses him. [18:02] transforming him into a vampire and trapping him in a coffin. Surprise, surprise. Centuries later, Mamuwalde awakens in modern day Los Angeles. What makes Blacula significant is that it brings the vampire myth into the world of blaxploitation cinema. With black characters, black cultural context, and a different perspective on the classic horror figure, William Marshall brought dignity and presence to the role. His performance gave Mamuwalde a tragic dimension that made him more than just another monster. [18:32] And that's something I appreciate about looking back at the films of this era. We can enjoy the scares while also recognizing the cultural history behind the movies. Horror has always reflected the anxieties, social issues, and

imaginations of the people making it. And black filmmakers and performers were contributing their own stories to the genre. Blacula became a memorable part of the history, and it deserves a place in our conversation. After all, this is Gen X territory. [18:58] Ain't no way I'm leaving our cultural history out of the party. Now we need to talk about four more movies that belong in any serious conversation about 1970s horror. First, Jaws, released in 1975. And Jaws understood something important. Sometimes what you cannot see is scarier than what you can. You see the water, you hear the music, you know something is out there, but you don't always know where it is. Suddenly swimming isn't just swimming anymore. [19:24] You're looking at the water and wondering what might be underneath. Steven Spielberg made an ordinary summer beach trip feel like a life or death decision. Roy Scheider stars as police chief Martin Brody, Robert Shaw as experienced seaman Quint, and Richard Dreyfuss as marine biologist Matt Hooper, who's sent to investigate. The movie opens with the young woman Chrissy making her way into the water, in the dark I might add, as she beckons a visibly drunk young man to join her. [19:51] Little as she knows, she's being stalked by a predator until she feels a tug which quickly becomes violent. Then there's complete silence as Chrissy disappears under the water and the ocean is once again calm. Now that's how you start a horror movie. And that music, those two alternating notes composed by John Williams? [20:08] the Jaws theme became one of the most recognizable signals of danger in movie history. Jaws is a timeless, terrifying classic whose tagline lived up to the hype because many of us never wanted to go in the water again. Next, The Exorcist, released in 1973. This movie brought supernatural horror into a family home through the story of a young girl named Regan, played by Linda Blair, and the terrifying events surrounding her possession, which starts after she plays with the Ouija board. We know where this is going. [20:36] Ellen Burstyn plays her actress mom, Chris MacNeil, who's desperate to save her daughter. Jason Miller plays the conflicted priest, Damien Karras. What makes the film so disturbing is the contrast between childhood innocence and something profoundly frightening. It also explores faith, doubt, fear, and the desperation of a mom trying to save her child. The atmosphere is dark, the performances are intense, and the movie takes its supernatural subject matter very seriously. [21:03] It is not a casual little ghost story. Then we have The Omen, released in 1976. This film follows husband American diplomat Robert Thorn, played by Gregory Peck, and his wife Katherine, played by Lee Remick, whose infant son dies at birth. Thorn is convinced by the hospital chaplain to adopt another newborn whose mother died during childbirth that same night. He doesn't tell Katherine about the switch. As time goes

on, Damien appears to be connected to something much more sinister than anyone initially understood. [21:32] We have random people dying all over the place and a hellhound Rottweiler that refuses to leave. The idea of evil hiding behind the face of an innocent child is unsettling on its own. Then we find out he's the Antichrist. But the film builds that dread gradually using strange events, disturbing discoveries, and a growing sense that something terrible is unfolding. [21:53] The Omen definitely provides the jumps and scares that allow it to remain a classic. And finally, we have The Car, released in 1977. It stars James Brolin as Sheriff Wade Parent and Kathleen Lloyd as school teacher Lauren and Wade's girlfriend. Kim and Kyle Richards play Wade's daughters, Lynn Marie and Debbie. In the very beginning, there's a cameo by Melody Thomas as Suzy. Miss Thomas was definitely making moves during the 70s. Now this one deserves a special mention because as I said, it scared the crap out of me, yo. [22:22] The premise is simple but frightening. A mysterious, driverless black car begins terrorizing a small town. And that's really what it did the entire movie, terrorized the town. You see a car coming down the road, but there's no ordinary explanation for its behavior. It isn't just a vehicle anymore, it becomes a threat. And unlike a monster that lives in a cave or a creature hiding in the ocean, a car is something most of us see every single day. You cross streets, [22:50] You walk along sidewalks, you stand in parking lots. Nobody, especially me, was expecting a damn car to crash through a house to get to its intended victim. That scene was crazy. The movie takes something familiar and turns it into a nightmare. Before there was Christine, there was the car. And there's a recurring theme in the 1970s horror. The things we normally trust, our homes, our neighborhoods, the water, even the people around us, can become sources of fear. [23:17] These movies found creative ways to make ordinary life feel dangerous. So what was it about horror movies in the 1970s? Why do so many of us still remember these films decades later? I think one reason is that many of them gave fear time to build. They didn't always rush to show you the monster. They let you hear something strange. They showed you an empty hallway. They made you wonder what was hiding in the darkness. [23:40] Sometimes the atmosphere was more frightening than the actual creature. A lot of these movies dealt with fears that were bigger than the monster itself. Invasion of the Body Snatchers made us question the people around us. Jaws made us afraid of what might be hiding beneath the water. Alien trapped us in a place where escape was not an option. Carrie explored cruelty, isolation, and revenge. The Exorcist and the Omen explored supernatural evil and questions of faith. [24:06] And don't be afraid of the dark made us suspicious of the darkest corners of our own homes. These movies gave us different kinds of fear, but they all had one thing in common. They got our imaginations working. And sometimes our imaginations were worse than the movies. We might have watched a scary film for two hours, but that movie could live in our heads for days. And that's what makes Nostalgia so interesting. [24:30] We can revisit something that frightened us as children and experience it differently as an adult. We might laugh at certain scenes now. We might notice things we didn't understand back then. We might appreciate the filmmaking, the acting, and the storytelling. But every once in a while, a scene comes along that just gets us. And when that happens, we have to give the filmmakers their credit. They knew what they were doing. All right, y'all. We reached the end of our trip through the 1970s horror vault. [24:56] And I know there are more movies out there that deserve a mention. Maybe I missed your favorite. Maybe there is a movie you watched as a kid that scared you so badly you never watched it again. Or maybe you're one of those people who loves horror movies and laughs at everybody else hiding behind the pillow. Either way, I want to hear from you. What movie scared the hell out of you when you were growing up? Was it a monster, a vampire, an alien, a possessed child, a creepy doll, or something that made you afraid to look out your own bedroom window? Tell me the movie. [25:25] Tell me how old you were and tell me what scared you the most. Share your memories with me because I would love to hear your stories and maybe feature some of them in a future episode. That's what this podcast is about. Bringing us together, sharing our memories and giving our generation its shine. We may be older now, but some of those childhood memories are still hanging around. And listen, if you enjoyed taking this trip down horror memory lane, please like the episode, follow or subscribe to GenX Gon' Give It To Ya and tell everybody you know to listen and share. [25:55] Bring your friends, bring your family, bring the people who remember watching these movies when they first came out, because my podcast is a block party and everybody's invited. Until next time, keep those memories alive, keep celebrating the things that made you who you are, and remember, if you see a creepy little doll holding a knife, don't go investigate. Happy Halloween, everybody, and as always, thanks for hanging out with me on GenX Gon' Give It To Ya. Peace.