Along with an almighty comedown from the loved-up sixties, cinema was reflecting turbulent times in the world. The symptoms were increasingly bleak narratives and generally negative outlook on mankind. Many of 1972's cinema shone a dark light upon ourselves as a destructive force; whether they were critically acclaimed films like The Godfather and Deliverance, to nasties like Cut-Throats Nine and The Last House on the Left, mankind was depicted as a malevolent and exploitative entity. On the bright side, at least we got some amazing films.
Giallo had perhaps its greatest year, in my opinion. Is it any surprise that a couple featured weird cults in the wake of the Tate-LaBianca murders? How about going really controversial? Three gialli from this year featured killer priests.
Film historians can point at Psycho (1960) and Peeping Tom (1960) as the proto-slashers that paved the way to the modern day equivalent; however, based upon my own personal discovery, 1972 was the year where the first contemporary slasher blueprint came into existance with the criminally overlooked Tower of Evil. Way before all the up-their-own-arses film heads incessantly claimed it was Black Christmas (1974).
Here are my film picks for 1972:
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
All the Colours of the Dark (Sergio Martino)
The Asphyx (Peter Newbrook)
Asylum (Roy Ward Baker)
The Big Bird Cage (Jack Hill)
Blacula (William Crane)
Bonnie’s Kids (Arthur Marks)
Carry On Abroad (Gerald Thomas)
The Case of the Bloody Iris (Giuliano Carnimeo)
Cut-Throats Nine (Joaquin Louis Romero Marchent)
Death Walks at Midnight (Luciano Ercoli)
Deliverance (John Boorman)
Don't Torture a Duckling (Lucio Fulci)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (Alan Gibson)
Fear in the Night (Jimmy Sangster)
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (Shunya Itō)
The Flesh and Blood Show (Pete Walker)
Frenzy (Alfred Hitchcock)
The Getaway (Sam Peckinpah)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
Horror Express (Eugenio Martin)
Hunchback of the Morgue (Javier Aguirre)
The Last House on the Left (Wes Craven)
The Legend of Boggy Creek (Charles B. Pierce)
The Mechanic (Michael Winner)
The Night Stalker (John Llewellyn Moxey)
The Poseidon Adventure (Irwin Allen)
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (Emilio Miraglia)
Silent Running (Douglas Trumbull)
Straight on Till Morning (Peter Collinson)
Sweet Sugar (Michael Levesque)
Tales from the Crypt (Freddie Francis)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (Amando de Ossorio)
Tower of Evil (Jim O'Connolly)
Vampire Circus (Robert Young)
Un Flic (Jean-Pierre Melville)
What Have You Done to Solange? (Massimo Dallamano)
A White Dress for Marialé (Romano Scavolini)
Who Saw Her Die? (Aldo Lado)
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Sergio Martino)
Ought to add that 1972 was a killer year for classic film songs and soundtracks; some of which I embarassingly still haven't seen yet. Here are a few personal favourites:
Dada Debaser Bonus:
You can find a whole bunch of other tracks from 1972 in the following lists: Greatest Blaxploitation Soundtrack songs, Fakin' the Funk: Non US Funk Soundtrack songs and Dada Debaser's G.O.A.T Giallo Cuts.
Silent Running is probably the best movie I discovered via Kermode.
ReplyDeleteMight have been Assault on Precinct 13 for me.
ReplyDeleteUnrelated, has Google recommended you this today too?
ReplyDeleteNope, not yet. Shudder mentioned the Danny Glick window scene in its 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time quite recently, though.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Kermode's review of Terrifier 2 on YouTube? Knew he would mention that epic running time. Some idiot in the comments section telling people to watch Argento films to understand Leone's film, is really taking the biscuit.
Hah. Just listened to it now. I think I'd rather just watch a best of scenes compilation than sit through 2 and a half hours.
ReplyDeleteIt's a valid concern. I still really like Terrifier 2, but it's definitely too long.
ReplyDeleteCracks me up Bloody Disgusting submitted it for an Oscar recognition.