Doc Rotten's 666 Revelations: Movie Monsters of 1975

The tag line from the trailer for the highest grossing horror film of 1975 sums it up “It’s as if God created the Devil and gave him … Jaws!” Stephen Spielberg’s masterpiece based on Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel dominates the horror industry for 1975. Not many can compare to the fear the great white shark brought to the big screen, but many have tried. Robert Fuest releases the devil himself, in the form of Jonathan Corbis, to the southwest in The Devil’s Rain. William Castle and Jeannot Szwarc bring smaller terror to Southern California with Bug. Bill Rebane unleashes a Giant Spider Invasion upon Northern Wisconsin. David Cronenberg infests a Canadian apartment complex with They Came from Within. In Italy, Dario Argento follows the exploits of a troubled murderer in Deep Red. Kevin Conner takes a group of survivors to the uncharted land of Caprona to encounter The Land that Time Forgot. Richard O’Brien and Jim Sharman bedazzle audiences with Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the horror-sci-fi-musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And a small town called Amity deals with Bruce, hungry great white shark, in Jaws. Here are a few of the Movie Monsters of 1975.

MUTANT COCKROACHES in BUG

Cinematic legend William Castle filmed some of the most enjoyable scary movies of the Fifties and Sixties – The House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1959) and 13 Ghosts (1960) to name only a few. As writer and producer, Bug is his final film in which he adapted Thomas Page’s 1973 novel The Hephaestus Plague. In the story, an earthquake rocks a small southwest town and opens a giant fissure. A swarm of giant, intelligent cockroaches escape from the newly formed crevasse and begin to set fire – by rubbing together their cerci – to plant-life, houses and cars in order to produce ash which they devour. Professor James Parmiter decides to experiment on them and creates a mutated version of the insect which is highly intelligent and flies.

JONATHAN CORBIS in THE DEVIL’S RAIN

The Abominable Dr. Phibes director, Robert Fuest, helmes the low-budget Satan shocker, The Devil’s Rain which features Anton LaVey as technical advisor. Ernest Borgnine stars as films antagonist, Jonathan Corbis, the head priest of a Satanic cult terrorizing the Preston family who are guardians of a powerful demonic tome that could grant him great power. William Shatner, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, Joan Prather and Tom Skerrit make up the Preston family. Borgnine is menacing and evil as Jonathan Corbis when in civilian close and later in his red-robed devil-worshipping attire. Later, he becomes a true monster as he takes the form of a goat-headed devil. During the climax, Devil-Corbis, along with dozens of his followers including John Travolta in an early role, begin to melt down to a pile of goo as the Devil’s Rain washes over them.

GIANT SPIDERS in GIANT SPIDER INVASION

One of the schlockiest movies of the decade, Giant Spider Invasion has one of the most preposterous giant monsters ever put onto film. While the films does offer up some regular sized spider goodness, including a man-sized version that is thrown onto one character who then has to make the over-sized puppet act. The title monster, revealed toward the the end, is a rather fake looking furry creation mounted on top of a Volkswagen Bug with its red tail lights serving at the monster’s glowing red eyes. It’s silly, ridiculous and outright goofy - and that’s why it gets remembered.  Bill Rebane directs the picture are a throwback to the giant monster movies from the Fifties. The film stars a gallery of has-been actors at that time: Steve Brodie, Robert Easton, Barbara Hale, Alan Hale Jr. and Christiane Schmidtmer. Famous for being part of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the Giant Spider of Giant Spider Invasion is a difficult visual to forget.

BRUCE, THE SHARK in JAWS
“That’s a twenty footer.” - Hooper “Twenty-five. Two tons of him.” - Quint

One creature in 1975 changed the face of horror and summer movies in 1975, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. The film frightens audiences, creates a world-wide fascinations with great white sharks and makes going to the beach seem like the most dangerous activity man could even endure. Based on Peter Benchley’s novel, the story features a small town, Amity, on an island off the north east coast that finds is water’s have become the feeding ground for a very large great white shark. The shark’s special effects were created by Bob Mattey famously worked only sporadically which Spielberg somehow manages to make work to his advantage. Not seeing the shark for most of the picture, but knowing the creature is there - just below the surface, only adds to the terror and suspense. When the shark finally appears in all it’s glory during the final real, it’s horror cinema in full force - the creature is frightening, huge and full of teeth - lots of large sharp teeth. Scary! When he roars up out of the ocean in full view of Sheriff Brody, he exclaims to Quint “You’re going to need a bigger boat” and a legend is born. For years after the success of Jaws, imitators galore flooded the theaters bringing all kinds of giant fish, animals and assorted creatures to feast upon man, women and children alike: Grizzly, Orca, Piranha, Day of the Animals, Prophecy and many more. The film is only marred by a series of sub-par sequels: Jaws 2, Jaw 3D and (the worse of the bunch) Jaws the Revenge.

DR. FRANK-N-FURTER in ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

A cult phenomenon that knows no equal, The Rocky Horror Picture Show - a sci-fi horror musical comedy cult classic - introduced the world to Tim Currey as Dr. Frank-N-Furter. A horror movie in only the slightest of its themes, it still contains a mix of aliens invading Earth and a mad scientist stitching together his own creation. In this case, the monster is Rocky and the mad scientist is Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the most outrageous, entertaining and fashionable incarnate of a Frankenstein myth. Supported by an equally zany cast, Curry and crew failed to reach an audience at the box office; however, they climbed to the top of the midnight showing cult phenomenon of the late Seventies. Dr. Frank-N-Furter has been delighting fans of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight showings since then, every weekend, somewhere in the United States.

ZUNI, THE DEVIL DOLL in TRILOGY OF TERROR

In March of 1975, Dan (Dark Shadows, Kolchak: The Night Stalker) Curtis directed the TV Movie of the Week horror anthology, Trilogy of Terror. Each episode starred Karen Black with the final episode, Amelia, containing a vicious little devil doll, a Zuni fetish doll. Amelia purchases a fetish doll as a present for her professor boy friend who teaches Anthropology. The doll is believed to house a Zuni hunter’s spirit inside it contained by a gold chain around its neck. When the gold chain falls off, the doll comes to life and begins chasing poor Amelia around the house. Zuni would go on to inspire other evil dolls that come to life such as Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984) and Chucky from the Child’s Play (1988) franchise. The Zuni doll has gone on to make brief appearances in an episode of The Venture Bros. (Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean) and an episode of Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes (Battleground).