70s eco horror fashion

If you're going to battle the terrors of mother nature, you might as well look good doing it.  Here are some fun fashions from 1970s eco horror pictures.


Judy Pace looking fly in Frogs (1972)

Cool denim shirt, cool headscarf & shades & yellow terrycloth: Sam Elliott and Joan Van Ark in Frogs.

Joan Collins in Empire of the Ants (1977) - I love how her giant shirt collar matches her head wrap.

Tiffany Bolling's super cool shades and neckscarf from Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)!

In Piranha (1978) Heather Menzies shows how wavy hair and a tied shirt are done.  And Bradford Dillman's Texas belt buckle, plaid shirt, and fisherman's vest are choice.

Looking Amity chic in Jaws (1975).

Denim coat & fisherman's hat.

Night of the Lepus (1972) 

Tartan plaid in Grizzly (1976).

Charlotte Rampling's wetsuit and Richard Harris's cableknit cardigan and newsboy cap in Orca (1977).  Love.

Elsa Lanchaster's pretty floral blouse in Willard (1971).

Roughing it in the rural south in Squirm (1976).

I like Michael Caine's jackets in The Swarm (1978).

More big collars & denim in Day of the Animals (1977).

Shelly Winters in Tentacles (1977).

i gotta keep dancing & smiling

Heard this optimistic disco number by Carrie Lucas on this rainy night tonight and it lifted my spirits.

feeling scentimental - a guest post by karen g.

Even though her ears were pierced, I especially loved when my mother reached for her big, clip-on earrings when dressing up for a night out. She had them in a pretty jewelry box that my father had made for her out of wood.  It was lined with green velvet.  She’d reach in and pull out something beautiful, a finishing touch to an always exquisitely chic outfit.  Then, just before grabbing her purse, she’d spray some You’re the Fire by Yardley into the air, and step into the mist.  It was a ritual I’d seen for years as a little girl and this is where my passion for shoes, fashion, make-up and everything PERFUMY began. 

As I grew older and the parties my parents threw and attended became a little more reserved, so came a change in the perfumes she wore.  Depending on the occasion, she’d wear something different every time.  A fragrance for every season. 

I remember looking in the closet where she kept all her perfume bottles, neatly lined up.  Panache by Lentheric was my favorite, and is still one of those smells that can transport me back to my childhood in an instant.  She had the basics like Chanel No. 5, but truly enjoyed an array of different fragrances to suit her every mood. 

Looking back, I remember the commercials for some of these perfumes, and wonder if the empowering message behind them had most to do with the ones my mother chose to wear.  By day, a humble housewife and mother, by night, with a spray of perfume in the air, socialite and belle of the ball.

Here are some of those beautiful old commercials, the ones that made life seem just a little more interesting!

You're the Fire by Yardley

Panache by Lentheric

Tramp by Lentheric

Impulse Body Spray

And one for the guys: Jovan Musk for Men

trilogy of terrors: 3 films by dan curtis

Karen Black strikes the right tone in 1975's TV movie Trilogy of Terror, directed by campy, goth horror trailblazer Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows).  "Amelia" is the best known of the three, based upon a Richard Matheson story "Prey" (originally published in Playboy), the title character buys a Zuni fetish doll with hopes of impressing her anthropologist boyfriend.  Soon enough she is viciously attacked by the unrelenting doll in her  apartment in a gleefully wicked sequence.  The ending is fun as well.  

It's easy to see how "Amelia" was seared in childhood memories of anyone watching in '75.  The other stories are much more mild, hokey affairs with predictable twists but worth a watch for Karen Black's impressive range: she plays a geeky, tightly-wound teacher in "Julie" and dueling twins in "Millicent and Therese."  With her strange, compelling eyes, and ability to change the register in her voice on a whim, only Black seems suited for all these parts.  She has said that the film's subsequent notoriety and cult status typecast-ed her for horror: "I think this little movie took my life and put it on a path that it didn't even belong in."

The directorial work of Curtis is much more hackneyed in his 1996 sequel.  Lysette Anthony, not as beguiling as Karen Black, takes on three of the main roles.  In "The Graveyard Rats," she plays a cold wife, who, along with her lover (Geraint Wyn Davies), plots her husband's death.  It's a slow build-up (with a references to noir like Kiss of Death) and it takes too long for the giant, animatronic rats to make their entrance. 

For those looking for a good laugh, the last entry, a sub-par sequel to "Amelia," "He Who Kills" features the Zuni doll on-the-loose in a museum after-hours, assaulting a scientist (Anthony). 

Curtis' '96 version of "Bobby" (also based upon a Matheson story) features a way too over-the-top Anthony mourning her dead son and bringing him back from the sea.  The theatrics, ridiculous mansion setting, makes it feel soap opera glossy instead of scary.

A far better version of "Bobby" figures in Curtis' 1977 anthology Dead of Night (not to be confused with the brilliant 1945 film with the same title).  Joan Hackett stars as the grieving mother, who uses black candles and a spell to bring her son (Lee Montgomery) back. Her '70s split level is creepy enough, with its potted plants, orange shag carpets, and pea-green tinted lighting.  With such an eerie atmosphere and complex menace (stalking about in his blue pajamas and bedroom slippers), it might be my favorite Curtis film of the pack and it's pretty stunning, especially in comparison to his '96 rehash.  

The other two films in Dead of Night aren't as frightening. There's a predictable, pre-Back to the Future, pre-Midnight in Paris ditty about a 1920s car that transports Ed Begley, Jr. back in time and a plodding vampire tale, so over-the-top with its goth, I quickly lost interest. Overall it's worth a look... but mostly for "Bobby."

Other reviews of these films by Dan Curtis:

The Bloody Pit of Horror

Kindertrauma

The Terror Trap

The Video Graveyard

and a cute little write-up on Karen Black's style in Trilogy of Terror on White Lightning

fashion in 'day for night'

François Truffaut's film Day for Night boasts plenty of fabulous early 70s fashion choices.  Jacqueline Bisset has said she bought her wardrobe from Missoni. Check out some stills below & also Refinery29.

ruby flipper

1970s Top of the Pops dance group Ruby Flipper is providing fun and inspiration lately.