Get Spooked and Enjoy Horror Season with These Drive-In Favorites
This horror season, take a step back in time for some classic scares from the golden age of Hammer horror and beyond.
The 1950s saw the introduction of television bringing entertainment into homes, leading studios to go big to get audiences into theaters with innovations like Cinemascope and the advent of 3D. It also saw the rise of the drive-in that turned summer nights into double feature adventures and scares.
It’s a great era for horror thanks to Toho, Hammer, and American International putting out fantastical films with new monsters created not just by the supernatural, but by nuclear blasts. You get everything from giant ants to creepy grave robbers – and a bunch of classics that got remade in the 1970s and 80s like The Fly, The Thing, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Start horror season right–with Price, Lee, Cushing, and more!
The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
The original inspired Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water. The creature is one of the big monstrous faces of 1950s horror movies along with the Wolf-Man and Dracula, making this a must-watch from the era.
Remnants of a mysterious animal have come to light in a remote jungle, and a group of scientists intends to determine if the find is an anomaly or evidence of an undiscovered beast. To accomplish their goal, the scientists must brave the most perilous pieces of land South America has to offer. But the terrain is nothing compared to the danger posed by an otherworldly being that endangers their work and their lives.
House of Wax (1953)
Everything is more chilling with Vincent Price, including this B-movie that came out in Hollywood’s new gimmick–3D. The bodies may not leap out of the screen anymore, but the story is still super creepy.
Wax sculptor Henry is horrified to learn that his business partner, Matthew, plans on torching their wax museum to collect on the insurance policy. Henry miraculously survives a fiery confrontation with Matthew and re-emerges some years hence with a museum of his own. But when the appearance of Henry’s new wax sculptures occurs at the same time that a number of corpses vanish from the city morgue, art student Sue Allen begins suspecting wrongdoing.
THEM! (1954)
Check out one of the better post-atomic bomb movies for horror season. Them! imagines creatures ants into the size of buildings and attacking humanity while making really annoying sounds.
While investigating a series of mysterious deaths, Sergeant Ben Peterson finds a young girl who is unable to speak. As Peterson joins forces with FBI agent Robert Graham and scientist Dr. Harold Medford, he discovers that all the incidents are due to giant ants that have been mutated by atomic radiation. Peterson and Graham, with the aid of the military, attempt to find the queen ants and destroy the nests before the danger spreads.
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The Quartermass Xperiment (1955)
This movie landed Hammer on the global stage and brings sci-fi and horror firmly together. Three astronauts are launched into orbit around the Earth. The craft crash lands with only one survivor–and he’s not alone. A rocket scientist has to hunt the alien fungus that’s enveloped astronauts before the fungus spawns and takes over the earth.
Diabolique (1955)
If you only watch one, make it this Henri-Georges Clouzot-directed psychological horror that inspired so many films that came after.
In this classic of French suspense, the cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, becomes the target of a murder plot hatched by an unlikely duo — his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women, brought together by their mutual hatred for the man, pull off the crime but become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle’s corpse mysteriously disappears.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The original pod people movie made monsters of house plants. The 1978 remake with Donald Sutherland should also be on your list.
In Santa Mira, California, Dr. Miles Bennell is baffled when all his patients come to him with the same complaint: their loved ones seem to have been replaced by emotionless impostors. Despite others’ dismissive denials, Dr. Bennell, his former girlfriend Becky and his friend Jack soon discover that the patients’ suspicions are true: an alien species of human duplicates, grown from plant-like pods, is taking over the small town.
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Godzilla (1954)
Giant lizard awakened by an atomic bomb terrorizes Japan; creating an entire genre of movies, shows, and anime that endures to this day. A perfect giant monster pick for horror season.
Curse of the Demon (1957)
The power of suggestion and the weakness of human minds are tested in this thriller.
American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell. Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science.
The Fly (1958)
The original doesn’t have Cronenberg’s signature body horror or sexuality, but it’s got some fun scares and Patricia Owens is great.
When scientist Andre Delambre tests his matter transporter on himself, an errant housefly makes its way into the transportation chamber, and things go horribly wrong. As a result, Delambre’s head and arm are now that of the insect. Slowly losing himself to the fly, Delambre turns to his wife, Helene, for help. But when tragedy strikes, Delambre’s brother (Vincent Price) and Inspector Charas are forced to pick up the investigation.
Horror of Dracula
The epic Hammer Horror saga starts here. Peter Cushing as Van Helsing vs. Christopher Lee as the blood-sucking count. They made three together, and Lee appeared as Dracula in ten movies.
On a search for his missing friend Jonathan Harker, vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing is led to Count Dracula’s castle. Upon arriving, Van Helsing finds an undead Harker in Dracula’s crypt and discovers that the count’s next target is Harker’s ailing fiancée, Lucy Holmwood. With the help of her brother, Arthur, Van Helsing struggles to protect Lucy and put an end to Count Dracula’s parasitic reign of terror.
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