The 1970s gave horror film fans quite a few stone-cold classics, and the biggest and best of them have already received remakes. Dawn of the Dead, The Wicker Man, Last House on the Left, Suspiria, The Crazies, The Hills Have Eyes, When a Stranger Calls, they’ve all received remakes. Then there are those that kicked off franchises that continue to this day (and have also received remakes, in some cases), such as The Omen, The Amityville Horror, The Exorcist, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Halloween. Heck, even some of the decade’s more iconic B-movies have received remakes, like Piranha.
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But what about the ’70s horrors that have not received a reboot, sequel, or rebootquel in quite some time? Those are the movies that follow. So, naturally, no major classics here, because they’ve already been done. Also missing the cut was It’s Alive, which is definitely a cult classic horror movie that came out in the ’70s, but it also received a little-seen remake back in 2009.
3) Grizzly
There were quite a few “When Animals Attack” movies that came out in the wake of Jaws‘ massive critical and commercial success. None of them were more shameless than Grizzly, released just one year after Steven Spielberg’s classic. Almost every story beat and character archetype is replicated to much lesser effect.
But it’s still fun, and goofy even when it’s taking itself very seriously (which is most of the time). The very concept of a grizzly bear going on a rampage could be scary today. They’re animals you don’t want to mess with in the wild, so one could be a frightening antagonist on the big screen…provided the script didn’t once more attempt to blatantly rip off Jaws.
Stream Grizzly on Prime Video.
2) Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Sure, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is more of a parody film than a horror flick, but it certainly has elements of the latter genre so we’re including it. Furthermore, while it led to three sequels (one of which served as an early star vehicle for George Clooney) it has not received any sort of follow-up since way back in 1992.
The Naked Gun has shown the industry that the comedy genre isn’t entirely a thing of the past on the big screen, so why not a new Attack of the Killer Tomatoes? We get so many different straightforward horror films these days it might be nice to have something that pokes fun at them. After all, we’re getting a sixth Scary Movie, so this seems do-able, even if it ends up debuting on streaming (which seems likely).
Stream Attack of the Killer Tomatoes on Prime Video.
1) Frogs
Frogs is a midnight movie delight, and it would absolutely still work today. The plot revolves around an outsider getting himself invited to a super-rich family’s private island. However, this family (especially its patriarch), has made their fortune by destroying the environment. And now nature is coming back at them with a vengeance.
Sam Elliott made for a perfect everyman outsider surrounded by people who would ordinarily dismiss him, so if they could find someone with a similar gravitas and likability a new Frogs would work. The rich are still destroying the environment, so there would probably be an audience up for watching them get attacked by spiders and alligators (we never actually see any frogs attack a person, just one of Frogs many charms).
Stream Frogs on Kanopy.
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Image courtesy of Prokino Filmverleih
