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5 Old School Thrillers That Still Give Us Chills

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Terror Train

I love older horror films, especially from the late 1970’s/early 1980’s. While a lot of them are kitschy, and sometimes cult-y, oftentimes the story-lines manage to hit that sweet spot somewhere between horrific and gleefully garish.

Below are 5 favorite 1970’s/1980’s horror movies guaranteed to make you yearn for the days when less CGI meant more plot and circumstance.

Terror Train [1980]

Those who haven’t seen Terror Train are in for a real treat. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis, who came on board right after filming Prom Night. The film also features Hart Bochner [The Starter Wife], Sandee Currie, Ben Johnson and a very young David Copperfield.

The set-up is simple: College kids decide to throw a costume party on a moving train. They’re drunk, dressed up, and dying… one by one.

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Happy Birthday to Me [1981]

Melissa Sue Anderson departs from her days of life in the Little House on the Prairie to move off to the big city and hang with the popular kids in an exclusive private school. While Happy Birthday to Me doesn’t have any famous co-stars most of us would easily recognise – other than Anderson and actor Glenn Ford – it does offer some familiar faces, such as Lawrence Dane [Bride of Chucky, Scanners], Frances Hyland [The Changeling, Never Talk to Strangers], and Tracey E. Bregman [The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful].

The set-up is sinister: A killer on the loose, and a birthday party where the guests are dying to get an invite. On the bright side, there’s enough cake for everyone!

[youtube id=”OEalmOJsvM0″ align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

When a Stranger Calls [1979]

Starring a young Carol Kane [Gotham, Taxi], and the talented Charles Durning [Rescue Me, Evening Shade], When a Stranger Calls would be considered lame and tame by today’s standards, especially since you wont find any blood splatter or gory guts. It was suspense that kept the audience hooked and reeled them right in. Fourteen years later, Kane and Durning reprised their roles for When Stranger Calls Back, a made for TV continuation of the original, which aired in 1993.

The set-up is sweet pop culture: Urban legend has it that a babysitter is terrorized by phone calls as the children left in her care sleep peacefully upstairs, only to realize later that the children have been savagely murdered – no doubt all while the babysitter had been busy answering the phone all night.

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The Funhouse [1981]

Directed by the iconic master of horror, Tobe Hooper, The Funhouse was one of his earliest movies. It was released about six years after The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and one year before Poltergeist.

The Funhouse stars Elizabeth Berridge [Amadeus], Cooper Huckabee [True Blood, Django Unchanged], and a cast who appears to have completely dropped out of the industry.

The set-up is scary: Four teens decide to go to the local carnival, where they decide to spend the night in the funhouse for kicks and giggles. While exploring the dark corners of the eerie attraction, they stumble upon a monster, a murder-in-progress and maniacal madness.

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The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane [1976]

Not long after filming Freaky Friday, actress Jodie Foster signed on for The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, her first full feature horror movie at age 13. Since Foster was uncomfortable filming sex scenes and appearing nude on camera, her older sister Connie was cast as her stand-in. Look for Martin Sheen, Scott Jacoby and Alexis Smith to round out the main cast.

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is based on the book of the same name, written by Laird Koening.

The set-up is shocking: A precocious teenage girl lives in a house big enough to keep all of her secrets.

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What’s your favorite old school thriller?

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Editorial

Yay or Nay: What’s Good and Bad in Horror This Week

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Horror Movies

Welcome to Yay or Nay a weekly mini post about what I think is good and bad news in the horror community written in bite-sized chunks. 

Yay:

Mike Flanagan talking about directing the next chapter in the Exorcist trilogy. That might mean he saw the last one and realized there were two left and if he does anything well it’s draw out a story. 

Yay:

To the announcement of a new IP-based film Mickey Vs Winnie. It’s fun to read comical hot takes from people who haven’t even seen the movie yet.

Nay:

The new Faces of Death reboot gets an R rating. It’s not really fair — Gen-Z should get an unrated version like past generations so they can question their mortality the same as the rest of us did. 

Yay:

Russell Crowe is doing another possession movie. He’s quickly becoming another Nic Cage by saying yes to every script, bringing the magic back to B-movies, and more money into VOD. 

Nay:

Putting The Crow back in theaters for its 30th anniversary. Re-releasing classic movies at the cinema to celebrate a milestone is perfectly fine, but doing so when the lead actor in that film was killed on set due to neglect is a cash grab of the worst kind. 

The Crow
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The Top-Searched Free Horror/Action Movies on Tubi This Week

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The free streaming service Tubi is a great place to scroll when you’re unsure what to watch. They are not sponsored or affiliated with iHorror. Still, we really appreciate their library because it’s so robust and has many obscure horror movies so rare you can’t find them anywhere in the wild except, if you’re lucky, in a moist cardboard box at a yard sale. Other than Tubi, where else are you going to find Nightwish (1990), Spookies (1986), or The Power (1984)?

We take a look at the most searched horror titles on the platform this week, hopefully, to save you some time in your endeavor to find something free to watch on Tubi.

Interestingly at the top of the list is one of the most polarizing sequels ever made, the female-led Ghostbusters reboot from 2016. Perhaps viewers have seen the latest sequel Frozen Empire and are curious about this franchise anomaly. They will be happy to know it’s not as bad as some think and is genuinely funny in spots.

So take a look at the list below and tell us if you are interested in any of them this weekend.

1. Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.

2. Rampage

When a group of animals becomes vicious after a genetic experiment goes awry, a primatologist must find an antidote to avert a global catastrophe.

3. The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren uncover an occult conspiracy as they help a defendant argue that a demon forced him to commit murder.

4. Terrifier 2

After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County, where his next victims, a teenage girl and her brother, await.

5. Don’t Breathe

A group of teens breaks into a blind man’s home, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime but get more than they bargained for once inside.

6. The Conjuring 2

In one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, Lorraine and Ed Warren help a single mother of four in a house plagued by sinister spirits.

7. Child’s Play (1988)

A dying serial killer uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a Chucky doll which winds up in the hands of a boy who may be the doll’s next victim.

8. Jeepers Creepers 2

When their bus breaks down on a deserted road, a team of high school athletes discovers an opponent they cannot defeat and may not survive.

9. Jeepers Creepers

After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old church, a pair of siblings find themselves the chosen prey of an indestructible force.

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News

Morticia & Wednesday Addams Join Monster High Skullector Series

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Believe it or not, Mattel’s Monster High doll brand has an immense following with both young and not-so-young collectors. 

In that same vein, the fan base for The Addams Family is also very large. Now, the two are collaborating to create a line of collectible dolls that celebrate both worlds and what they have created is a combination of fashion dolls and goth fantasy. Forget Barbie, these ladies know who they are.

The dolls are based on Morticia and Wednesday Addams from the 2019 Addams Family animated movie. 

As with any niche collectibles these aren’t cheap they bring with them a $90 price tag, but it’s an investment as a lot of these toys become more valuable over time. 

“There goes the neighborhood. Meet the Addams Family’s ghoulishly glamorous mother-daughter duo with a Monster High twist. Inspired by the animated movie and clad in spiderweb lace and skull prints, the Morticia and Wednesday Addams Skullector doll two-pack makes for a gift that’s so macabre, it’s downright pathological.”

If you want to pre-purchase this set check out The Monster High website.

Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Footwear for Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams doll shoes
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