What is the best horror movie of the 1970s?

The 1970s were horror cinema's most fertile decade — raw, transgressive, and genuinely terrifying in ways slicker modern films rarely match. Which film defines the era?

1

The Exorcist

William Friedkin's 1973 terrifying landmark about the demonic possession of a young girl that defined an entire era of Hollywood horror.

2

Jaws

Steven Spielberg's 1975 thrilling blockbuster about a great white shark terrorizing a beach town, widely credited with inventing the summer blockbuster.

3

Halloween

John Carpenter's 1978 seminal slasher film introducing masked killer Michael Myers and establishing the modern horror template.

4

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Tobe Hooper's raw and gritty 1974 nightmare about five friends who encounter a cannibalistic family in rural Texas.

5

Suspiria

Dario Argento's 1977 visually spectacular Italian giallo about an American student uncovering a coven of witches at a German dance academy.

6

Alien

Ridley Scott's 1979 claustrophobic sci-fi horror about the crew of a commercial spacecraft hunted by a lethal extraterrestrial organism.

7

Carrie

Brian De Palma's 1976 Stephen King adaptation about a bullied high school girl with telekinetic powers who takes revenge on prom night.

8

Don't Look Now

Nicolas Roeg's 1973 haunting psychological thriller following a grieving couple in Venice tormented by cryptic visions of their dead daughter.

9

The Omen

Richard Donner's 1976 chilling supernatural horror about an American diplomat who discovers his adopted son may be the Antichrist.

10

The Wicker Man

Robin Hardy's 1973 unsettling British folk horror about a devout Christian police officer investigating a missing girl on a pagan island.

11

Phantasm

Don Coscarelli's 1979 dreamlike and bizarre horror about a teenage boy who uncovers a mortuary run by a supernatural grave robber.

12

Rosemary's Baby

Roman Polanski's 1968 slow-burn paranoia horror — released just before the decade — about a young woman fearing a Satanic conspiracy around her pregnancy.