Why the ‘60s Were The Best Decade For Horror Movies

Horror, like comedy, is a genre that changes drastically with the times. The foundations of horror films in the early decades of the movie industry are what the horror of subsequent decades are built on. So when you go back and watch, say, the horror of the 1960s, it’s almost impossible to watch them with fresh eyes. Eyes that haven’t seen the indie gore of the ’70s, the slasher cash-grabs of the ’80s, the teen screamers of the ’90s, or the torture porn of the 2000s. It can be easy to look at these horror classics and scoff that they’re not scary enough.

But the horror films of the 1960s were hugely foundational for everything that would come after, featuring exceptional work from some of the masters: Mario Bava, George Romero, and of course Alfred Hitchcock. The case for the ’60s as the greatest horror decade is one for quality over quantity. The decade may not have dozens upon dozens of creepers, but the four or five greatest horror movies produced during this span ended up inspiring the next 40 years of horror cinema at least.

Here’s a small sample of the best of ’60s horror that is available to stream:

SCARIEST

It’s been remade a bunch, and that’s not counting the cottage industry of zombie movies that owe their existence to it, but George Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead (1968) is a masterpiece of low-budget scares. The conceit of the dead rising from the graves feels elemental and terrifying as everyone from neighbors to sweet little girls goes hungry for brains. And with Romero’s choice to cast African American actor Duane Jones as the film’s lead, the racial politics of the ’60s were put front and center, setting the stage for further horror movies to contain political messages within their multitudes. [Stream Night of the Living Dead on Amazon Prime.]

Italian director Mario Bava paved the way for decades of Italian horror cinema with the sinister black-and-white witch’s tale Black Sunday (1960). It tells the story of a persecuted witch who is put to death in 17th century Eastern Europe, who then returns hundreds of years later to seek her revenge. While not especially bloody by today’s standards (especially with it being in black-and-white), Black Sunday was shockingly violent for its time. The film opens with the witch’s execution, carried out by hammering a mask with spikes on it onto her face. You can imagine how 1960s audience were scandalized (the film was banned in the United Kingdom until 1968). [Stream Black Sunday on Filmstruck or the Shudder subscription on Amazon Prime.]

CLASSIC THAT HOLDS UP

When you’re talking 1960s horror, they’re basically all classics that hold up. But no film holds a place of higher prestige in the history of horror cinema than Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece Psycho. It’s a titan in the industry, and for good reason. It’s easy to take Hitchcock for granted these days, but watch what he does in Psycho, creating real terror with things like camera movement and editing. Anthony Perkins is massively unsettling as Norman Bates, but nothing gets that sense of dread across better than those low-angle shots of him beneath taxidermied birds of prey as he chats with Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). This movie is the real deal; it shouldn’t be consigned to the museums. [Rent Psycho on Amazon Video.]

And while you’re on a Hitchcock kick, don’t forget The Birds (1963), his follow-up horror classic about a seaside town beset by crazed attacking birds. The premise seems almost comical until Hitchcock’s camera puts you right in the middle of these swarms of crows and gulls and such. It’s terrifying. [Rent The Birds on Amazon Video.]

WORTH DISCOVERING

The ’60s are a great decade for unearthing cult classics. Peeping Tom is a 1960 British horror film whose premise wouldn’t make any fan of modern horror bat an eye. A serial killer masquerades as a photographer, murdering women and then using his camera to record their faces as they die. It’s unsettling and even disturbed, but it’s also what we’ve come to expect out of horror. In 1960, people were aghast, especially in the more restrictive UK, where the film was received so poorly that director Michael Powell’s career was essentially ended. [Stream Peeping Tom on Amazon Prime with a Tribeca Shortlist subscription.]

If you’re really into discovering some weirdness, check out the 1962 indie horror forerunner Carnival of Souls. The surrealistic story of a woman who walks away from a terrible car accident only to be drawn further and further into a ghostly supernatural world, including the titular carnival. The film is ghostly and almost dreamy, with a score of unsettling organ music. Enjoy the film on its own creepy terms, but you can also appreciate the film for its clear influence on everything from Beetlejuice to the films of David Lynch. [Stream Carnival of Souls on Amazon Prime.]

Meanwhile, the 1980s musical version of Little Shop of Horrors gets all the attention, and deservedly so, but how many people have seen the 1960 original film, directed by Roger Corman? While not a musical, the original Little Shop is a dark comedy with some delightful discoveries (Jack Nicholson in one of his earliest roles). Corman, of course, is a legend in the business, known for helping to shepherd the careers of the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and others, all of whom got their starts working on Corman’s low-budget indie productions. [Stream Little Shop of Horrrors on Amazon Prime.]

BEST AVAILABLE TO STREAM FREE

It’s legendary for a reason: director Roman Polanski’s 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby is every bit the disturbing, terrifying modern horror story it’s always been. The film stars Mia Farrow as a newly married woman living on the Upper West Side of New York City. She befriends the neighbors, helps her husband grapple with his struggling acting career, and eventually gets pregnant with … well, I won’t spoil the surprises. Polanski’s filmmaking is pristine, with terror lurking just outside the frame and the swanky apartment building transformed into a kind of hellish prison. The fact that it’s Polanski directing this movie that derives much of its horror from the notion of a woman who does not have control over her body and the dark things being done to it certainly don’t make the film un-problematic by modern standards. But as a piece of filmmaking and visual storytelling, it’s flatly one of the best movies ever made in any genre. [Stream Rosemary’s Baby on Amazon Prime with a Starz subscription.]

Previously:

Why The 1960s Were the Best Decade For Horror Movies
Why The 1970s Were the Best Decade For Horror Movies
Why The 1980s Were the Best Decade For Horror Movies
Why The 1990s Were the Best Decade For Horror Movies
Why the 2000s Were the Best Decade For Horror Movies