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:
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.