Vintage Tip Tuesday XIV

I’ve never been drawn to horror films. Slasher flicks always seem unnecessarily gory without the payback of actually being scary. More frightening to me are psychological thrillers. Freddy Kruger could not realistically terrorize me with his bloody face and long fingernails, but a mentally unstable motel manager like Norman Bates could. If you’re looking for a little heart-pumping fright while emptying the guts out of your pumpkin one night this month, watch some of my favorite vintage suspense movies from before 1980. They each depend upon the anticipation of plotting a murder or the tense expectancy of capture rather than the actual gore it could produce. One viewing of one of these films will automatically make Halloween a little more terrifying. If you’re afraid of the nightmares these films could induce (like I often am), go for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Always a sweet and nostalgic treat while pumpkin carving.

Touch of Evil 1958

Deliverance 1972

Double Indemnity 1944

Charade 1963

Strangers on a Train 1951

Wait Until Dark 1967

Chinatown 1974

Jaws 1975

North by Northwest 1959

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown 1966