With Halloween coming shortly, as I’ve done in recent years, I’m recommending two horror movies that can be part of your adult viewing. As always I add the following disclaimer: The movies on this list have very little, if any, blood, but they all work on a primal level with their audience and generate fear and apprehension which is what a good horror movie must do. (Movies I’ve previously recommended are listed at the bottom of this post.)
– The Birds – While Alfred Hitchcock has always been known as the “Master of Suspense,” he was always a creditable master of horror as 
well. Movies like Psycho and The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog cemented his horror credentials, but his 1963 The Birds is his horror masterpiece. Why? Because while most horror movies rely on the darkness of night to increase the terror, The Birds doesn’t. It actually depends on daylight. The Birds is a story of nature run amok or nature seeking revenge depending on your point of view. Once you watch The Birds, you’ll never look at our little chirping friends again the same way.
– The Dunwich Horror – I’ve never intentionally recommended bad movies, but this year, I’m making an exception. This 1970 film gets a mention more because of its brilliant Les Baxter soundtrack than because it’s a good film. To be blunt, I’m not a fan of this adaption of the H. P. Lovecraft short story 
which can be read here. So why is it here? Because Ed Bagley Sr., in the role of Dr. Henry Armitage, makes the movie functional (this was Bagley’s last role, for he died three months after the film’s release). Dean Stockwell as Wilbur Whateley, son of the devil, is completely out of his element in this film and for most of the movie looks more silly than believable in this role. Look for Talia Shire (Adrian from Rocky) in one of her earliest roles.
All of that said, this film relies on all of the cheesy horror film tricks: darkness, a semi-willing victim in virginal coed Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee), an over the top villain who drugs his victims so that they will have Satan’s children and a hypnotic soundtrack. It makes you appreciate how good Rosemary’s Baby was and that’s its undoing because it really can’t compare. Sandra Dee (Nancy) spends a lot of time on screen semi-nude, moaning and writhing suggestively (or at least her body double does); but just as in her prior Tammy movies, she’s all tease and no action. That said, be warned there is substantial nudity in this film.
The Dunwich Horror is a movie to have on while you’re handing out Halloween candy. Don’t pause it – just let it play, you won’t be missing anything. The Dunwich Horror is available on Amazon video or at Dailymotion.