Obscure 1970s Horror Movies


The 1970s were one of the biggest horror decades and the reason was the broadcast channels found it acceptable to play horror, even make made-for-tv terror for a hungry viewing audience. Put on top of that a time fraught with cults, serial killers, gas shortage, and inflation and you have citizens who are feeling rather bleak about their chances against these things. The theme of something stalking you and you using your wits to survive was a popular scenario. Let's look at the obscure ones you might have missed.

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Shattered Silence (aka When Michael Calls) (Michael Douglas) A woman begins receiving ominous phone calls from a relative who died 15 years prior. With each phone call, a family member dies. Will she be the next in line?

The Tenant (Roman Polanski) A bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.


The People (Kim Darby) A young woman is assigned to teach school in a secluded valley whose inhabitants appear stern, secretive and anti-pleasure. Following two children who disappear to play in the woods, she finds that this is actually a community of extraterrestrials with mild paranormal powers who are attempting to repress and deny their heritage for fear of arousing prejudice and hatred in their human neighbors.

Magic (Anthony Hopkins) A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.


The Strange and Deadly Occurrence (Robert Stack) A family moves into a new home in an isolated area, and soon realizes that someone--or something--doesn't want them there.

The Car (James Brolin) A mysterious black, sleek automobile terrorizes everyone it comes into contact with in a small town in Utah. The local sheriff may be the only person who can stop this menace which has been possessed by pure evil.

Day of the Animals (Leslie Nielsen) A battle for survival ensues after a group of hikers encounters a chemically imbalanced forest.

Burnt Offerings (Karen Black, Oliver Reed) 
A family moves into an old, haunted house that regenerates itself by feeding off of the life forces of its injured occupants.

Audrey Rose (Anthony Hopkins) A stranger attempts to convince a happily married couple that their daughter is actually his daughter reincarnated.

Scream Pretty Peggy (Betty Davis) A sculptor hires young college girls to take care of his elderly mother and his supposedly insane sister, both of whom live in the old family mansion with him.

Devil Dog: The Hound From Hell (Richard Crenna) A dog that is a minion of Satan terrorizes a suburban family.

Snowbeast (Bette Davis) A Colorado ski resort is besieged by a sub-human beast that commits brutal murders on the slopes.

The Victim (Elizabeth Montgomery) A wealthy woman is trapped during a storm in a house with no electricity or phone. A killer has murdered her sister, stuffed the body in the basement, and is now after her.

Alice Sweet Alice After a young girl is brutally murdered during her first communion, her strange and withdrawn older sister becomes the main suspect. But are the authorities mistaken?

Night Drive (Valerie Harper) A housewife is stalked by a psycho after she sees him murder a highway patrol officer.

Something Evil (Darren McGavin) A young couple moves into a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. What they don't know is that there is an unseen presence in the house, and that it wants to take possession of the wife.

Don't Look Now (Donald Sutherland) A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.

Bad Ronald A perverted teenage boy who lives in the walls of a house finds the house sold to a family after his mother dies, and he falls for one of the new residents.

The Haunting of Julia (aka Full Circle) (Mia Farrow) After the death of her daughter, Julia Lofting, a wealthy housewife, moves to London to re-start her life. All seems well until she is haunted by the sadness of losing her own child and the ghosts of other children.

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