Summer of horror, 40 years ago: part 2

Four more horror movies which were playing in Columbus and around the country in the summer of 1979. Alien was the granddaddy of big-budget sci-fi horror, though there were certainly lower-budget precedents in the B-movie realm including It: The Terror from Beyond Space in 1958, The Thing from 1951, and even as far back as The Invisible Ray in the 30s. I suppose even 2001: A Space Odyssey could count as one. I saw Alien at Cinema East, one of the last of the single-screen movie houses in the city. We knew the manager and he let us sit all by ourselves in the balcony which was typically closed off. I didn't think much of it at the time, dismissing it as just a haunted house movie in space, but now, compared to some of the junk that has come later, it looks like Oscar material.

Dawn of the Dead was the first sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Gory and funny and creepy, with the scenes of zombies at the mall making a particular impact.

Frank Langella as Dracula, one of the first sexy vampires--though I would argue that David Peel in Brides of Dracula (1960) was kinda hot, and apparently Bela Lugosi was considered to have some heat by 1930s standards.

The Wicker Man, the best pagan horror film ever. It was first released in England in 1973 but didn't get a major American release until 1979. If you haven't seen the remake, DO NOT!