5 Great Horror Movies of the 1960s That Aged Incredibly Well

The 1950s was the decade that gave birth to the kaiju film. On the United States side of things there was The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and, the following year, the true father of the subgenre, Toho’s Gojira. It was also the close of the Universal Monsters period, with Creature from the Black Lagoon serving as the final franchise-initiator of that studio’s spooky golden age. The 1970s, in turn, saw the rise of legendary voices John Carpenter and Tobo Hooper with their Halloween and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, respectively. And, while Halloween and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre are surprisingly bloodless, they’re still a step up from the horrors of the ’50s.

So what came between? The ’60s, of course. Within that decade there were quite a few truly formidable trendsetters. Some of them haven’t aged well, mostly because 60 or so years of advancing filmmaking techniques inevitably leads to that. But what about the ’60s scary movies that, to this day, look as good as can be expected and still have a way of frightening modern audiences. Those are the ones that follow.

5) Cape Fear

While Martin Scorsese’s ’90s remake of Cape Fear is underrated, it’s still the 1962 original by J. Lee Thompson that works the best. With a perfectly cast Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum as, respectively, the often-timid hero and the forever-sadistic villain, it’s one of the best matches of performer(s) to role of the decade.

This is a narrative of escalation, and we as the audience fully believe that Mitchum’s newly released convict, Max Cady, is not only perfectly willing to initiate such an escalation of terrorization, but that he is loving every minute of it. It’s all a relatively straightforward revenge tale, and it doesn’t have a dull moment in its 106 minutes. Here’s hoping the TV show remake starring Javier Bardem and Amy Adams continues moving forward, because that’s an exciting prospect.

4) The Birds

Thanks to the combination of trained live birds and mechanical birds as well as some fun camera tricks, we really do come to believe that The Birds‘ Bodega Bay is being attacked. Yet it’s because of the mood Alfred Hitchcock sets that we fear them and believe them as a real threat (the still-effective scene with the pecked-out eyes helps).

What really makes The Birds hold up, though, is how we enjoy the company of the main characters. Then there’s Tippi Hedren, who delivered an iconic performance as Melanie Daniels, a socialite pursuing a man who can perpetually feel his mother’s hooks digging deeper in his back. It all makes for an interesting and tense dynamic even before the birds really start attacking children at birthday parties. To that latter point, The Birds is frightening because its title antagonists are indiscriminate. They have no revealed motive, they don’t have any preferred target, they’re just dangerous. They’ll even kill the film’s most likable character (Annie Hayworth).

Stream The Birds on Shudder.

3) Rosemary’s Baby

Released towards the tail end of the decade, Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby stands as one of the most important entries in the controversial but very talented director’s oeuvre. It makes you feel the title character’s forced captivity (even before she’s fully aware of it) and does a miraculous job of conveying a deeply sinister presence without showing hardly a thing.

This is as much an art film as it is a horror film, with sublime acting by Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, and, especially, the duo of Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer, as well as a razor-sharp screenplay and a haunting score. It’s a character-focused piece and, for that reason, it will likely never age but so much in the audience’s eye, regardless of what decade they watch it in.

Stream Rosemary’s Baby on Paramount+.

2) Night of the Living Dead

It’s amazing how much they got away with in Night of the Living Dead. This thing was released in 1968, and we see zombies getting shot and bludgeoned, a partially devoured face, a little girl coming back to “life” and stabbing her own mother to death…it’s heavy stuff.

But it’s not just the film’s pull-no-punches visuals that still hold up, as the film’s display of humanity turning on itself is probably more relevant now than it ever has been. Not to mention, it’s devastating ending will always remain as such.

Stream Night of the Living Dead on Peacock.

1) Psycho

There aren’t many flawless films out there, but Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is one of them. It’s hard to imagine a director more respected than Hitchcock, and between Vertigo, Rear Window, and this one, it’s impossible to say what his number one masterwork was.

But at the very least Psycho was his biggest trendsetter. Its camera techniques grab you and pull you in, the decision to kill off the protagonist midway through was ingenious, and the casting couldn’t have been any better. Toss in how its twist ending is still one of the best in cinema history and Psycho remains a true treasure of the horror genre.

Stream Psycho on AMC+.

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