Cast:
Roy Scheider - Police Chief Martin Brody
Robert Shaw - Quint
Richard Dreyfuss - Matt Hooper
Lorraine Gary   - Ellen Brody
Murray Hamilton - Mayor Larry Vaughn
Carl Gottlieb - Ben Meadows

Jaws (1975) is a masterful, visceral and realistic science-fiction suspense/horror-disaster film that taps into the most primal of human fears - what unseen creature lurks below the dark surface of the water beyond the beach? The tagline for the tensely-paced film, “Don’t go in the water,” kept a lot of shark-hysterical ocean-swimmers and 1975 summer beachgoers wary (similar to the effect that Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) had on shower-taking).

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Cast:
Jason Miller - Father Damien Karras
Ellen Burstyn - Chris MacNeil
Max von Sydow - Father Lankester Merrin
Lee J. Cobb - Det. Lt. William F. Kinderman
Kitty Winn - Sharon Spencer
Jack MacGowran - Burke Dennings
Linda Blair - Regan Teresa MacNeil

The Exorcist (1973) is the sensational, shocking horror story about devil possession and the subsequent exorcism of the demonic spirits from a young, innocent girl (of a divorced family). The Exorcist was notable for being one of the biggest box-office successes (and one of the first ‘blockbusters’ in film history, predating Jaws (1975)), and surpassed The Godfather (1972) as the biggest money-maker of its time. And it remains one of the few horror films nominated for Best Picture. However, it was also one of the most opposed films for its controversial content. Roman Polanski’s successful Rosemary’s Baby (1968) played upon similar fears of devil possession.

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Cast:
Simone Signoret - Nicole Horner
Véra Clouzot - Christina Delassalle (as Vera Clouzot)
Paul Meurisse   - Michel Delassalle
Charles Vanel - Alfred Fichet, le commissaire
Jean Brochard  - Plantiveau, le concierge
Pierre Larquey - M.Drain, professeur

“Les Diaboliques” has one of the best plots you will ever find in any mystery or suspense thriller. The excellent directing, acting, and writing combine with the story itself to make it a memorable experience. If you enjoy quality mysteries or thrillers, you will almost certainly enjoy this one - and if you have not seen it yet, you might just want to buy or rent it now, before you read any more reviews. This comment will avoid any discussion at all of the actual plot itself, because the less you know in advance, the more you will enjoy it. The few implausible elements in the story do not detract at all from the enjoyment.

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Cast:
Max Schreck - Graf Orlok
Gustav von Wangenheim - Hutter (as Gustav v. Wangenheim)
Greta Schröder - Ellen Hutter, seine Frau (as Greta Schroeder)
Alexander Granach - Knock, ein Häusermakler
Georg H. Schnell - Westenra, Harkers Freund (as G.H. Schnell)
Ruth Landshoff - Lucy, Westenras Frau
John Gottowt - Professor Bulwer, ein Paracelsianer

In 1921, director F.W. Murnau set out to make a horror film based on Bram Stoker’s novel, `Dracula,’ but was denied the rights to the property by Stoker’s estate. Undeterred, however, Murnau merely changed the title to `Nosferatu,’ the name of the title character to `Count Orlok,’ then proceeded to make what has come to be considered nothing less than a classic of the silent film era.

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Cast:
Fay Wray - Ann Darrow
Robert Armstrong - Carl Denham
Bruce Cabot - John ‘Jack’ Driscoll
Frank Reicher - Capt. Englehorn
Sam Hardy - Charles Weston
Noble Johnson - Skull Island nation leader
Steve Clemente - Witch King (as Steve Clemento)

The greatest and most famous classic adventure-fantasy (and part-horror) film of all time is King Kong (1933). Co-producers and directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (both real-life adventurers and film documentarians) conceived of the low-budget story of a beautiful, plucky blonde woman (Fay Wray) and a frightening, gigantic, 50 foot ape-monster as a metaphoric re-telling of the archetypal Beauty and the Beast fable. [Fay Wray mistakenly believed that her RKO film co-star, ‘the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood,’ would be Cary Grant rather than the beast. Later in her life, she titled her autobiography “On the Other Hand” in memory of her squirming in Kong’s grip.]

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