Hastened by the success of Hitchcock’s back-to-basics thriller, Psycho, in 1960, the latter part of the decade saw an explosive rebirth of the horror genre, thanks in large part to the low budget, groundbreaking Night Of The Living Dead. As before, the BBC’s corporation clout allows Gatiss to stalk around the sets of Psycho, and interview such horror luminaries as Tobe Hooper, George A Romero and actor David Warner, the latter providing the documentary’s biggest laugh. When asked if he still owns the rubber head that comes spiralling off his shoulders in The Omen‘s most spectacular death sequence, he quietly replies, “I lost it in the divorce.” Most horror buffs will find few surprises in Gatiss’ voyage through 70s horror. Few will be surprised at most of the movies Gatiss chooses to cover, though his inclusion of the oft-neglected Martin, Romero’s contemporary, creepily perverted vampire movie, is a welcome one. Nevertheless, it’s been an entertaining series, and it’s hard not to agree with most of Gatiss’ opinions on the horror genre’s current trajectory (while he singles out John Carpenter’s Halloween for praise, he later laments that the slasher subgenre has spread “like Dutch elm disease”). It’s troubling to think that, as the 70s era’s intelligent, talented directors such as Carpenter, Romero and Cronenberg reach old age, they’ve yet to be replaced by talent of equal calibre. But as western horror has become increasingly self-referential and predictable once again, the rest of the world has produced genre movies of startling verve and originality. Barely touched upon in this series, it would be fascinating to see Gatiss return with a more detailed appreciation of horror films from Italy, Spain, Korea and Japan.
