Beach Ball with Claws

First appearance: Dark Star (1974)

Follow the mission of the crew of the planetary demolition space ship Dark Star.
John Carpenter's first feature film written by Dan O'Bannon (who also stars).
If it wasn't for this movie we wouldn't have Alien, Red Dwarf, or that cool stretchy star field thing we see in Star Wars when they activate their Hyper Drives.

Billy

First appearance: Black Christmas (1974)

Something not nice is happening at a small sorority house near the campus of a Canadian college just before Christmas holidays ...

 One of the first major Slasher movies and the inspiration for the film Halloween!

Nola Carveth's Pyschoplasmic kid

First appearance: The Brood (1979)

Frank Carveth is convinced there's something weird going on at the Somafree Institute. His wife's been there for a while getting treatment for her psychological problems and when his 5 year old daughter came home from her visit she's covered in strange scratches and bruises! What is Hal Raglan's Pyschoplasmic therapy doing to Frank Carveth's wife? Can psychotherapy cause cancer?

One of the early weird David Cronenberg body horror flicks.

Mike Pearson

First appearance: Phantasm (1979)


A troubled orphan witnesses something strange at the funeral of his older brother's best friend. Further investigation reveals a terrifying secret: the owner of the funeral home is a monster from another dimension (or something.) With the help of his older brother and their best friend, local ice cream vendor Reggie, the boy attempts to destroy this fiend from another plane. Or is it all just the nightmare of a recently orphaned young man? Three more sequels indicate it's not just a dream or is it!?

 I love Phantasm. All four of them. Can't wait for Ravager!

This is the third time I've visited Phantasm for a Monstar. Dig Reggie and The Tall Man:

Herschell (BLOOD FREAK)

First appearance: Blood Freak (1972)

Poor Herschell, he just got back from serving in Vietnam when he hooks up with the wrong crowd, gets pressured into smoking a joint and is immediately hooked! This leads him into being duped into eating experimental turkey meat by two scientists who offer to pay him in Marijuana. Unfortunately one of the side effects from eating the turkey is Herschell becomes a terrifying half man half turkey chimera with an insatiable hunger for the blood of marijuana addicts!

So remember kids, just say no to turkey or something....

Stephen "Flyboy" Andrews

First appearance: Dawn of the Dead (1978)
A group of people flee the city during the early days of the zombie apocalypse. They find themselves at an abandoned mall and decide to make that their home. Eventually they find that sometimes the worst thing about being a survivor or the zombie apocalypse is being a survivor of the zombie apocalypse. Fortunately they're reminded that there are worse things. Namely motorcycle gangs.

One of the best zombie movies ever made (second only to Day of the Dead and Return of the Living Dead) and the movie that really hammered home the "people are worse than the monster" aspect of the how zombie thing.

Tusken Raider

First appearance: Star Wars (1977)

Along time ago in a galaxy far far away...

A weird mix of Sword and sorcery fantasy and  sci-fi tropes delivers the story of a old religious man convincing a naive farm boy to join a terrorist organization to help destroy a government facility.

The first movie I actually remember seeing in theatres. before all this "Episode 4" and "New Hope" nonsense was attached to it.

Worm eye Zombi

First appearance: Zombi 2 aka Zombie aka Zombie Flesh Eaters aka Woodoo (1979)

A seemingly abandoned boat drifts drifts New York harbor. When the police investigate they find a large rotting man who suddenly attacks them. Meanwhile on an island somewhere some over worked doctors are having to deal with zombies. The daughter of one of the doctors wants to go to the island to find out what happened to her dad. This is the movie with the infamous eyeball impaling and the incredible scene where a zombie fights a shark.
Also, according to his introduction on the blu-ray, this is Guillermo Del Toro's favorite movie.

Fung Weng Wu Chi

 

First appearance: Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)

Sequel to One-Armed Boxer. In this one the master of the two Tibetan Lamas killed by the One–armed Boxer in the previous movie stalks OAB to a tournament. He kills a bunch of guys with is flying guillotine. Lots of Kung-Fu shenanigans ensue. Also features an Indian Yogi with extendable arms!

Leatherface

First appearance: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

A group of annoying kids run afoul of a Texas family with a strange BBQ recipe. Screaming ensues. There's really not much more to the plot than that.

Some folk consider it a classic of the genre, sadly I'm not one of those people. I prefer the later entries in the series. Although I don't think you are supposed to Enjoy Texas Chainsaw Massacre so in that case it might be the most effective of the Chainsaw flicks.
The franchise has become one of the most convoluted of the Classic Slasher Franchises (Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play) with numerous restarts prequels and remakes. This is how the franchise looks as of August 22, 2014:

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
• Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), considering the end of Chainsaw 2 this could be a reboot although it does have a 3 in the title...
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994) Probably a reboot, the only character from the first one in this is Leatherface although he behaves a little differently than in the previous movies and there doesn't seem to be any cannibalism.  It stars Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger. It's got a weird Illuminati storyline explaining that maybe the Sawyers are controlled by some kind of shadowy organization. I like to pretend that McConaughey's character in True Detective is the same guy he plays in this movie only here he's in deep cover and that's why Rust Cole so conspiracy minded in TD. But I digress...
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) The first "for sure" remake. They change the name of the family for some reason.
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) The Prequel to the remake
• Texas Chainsaw 3-D (2013) Claims to be a direct sequel to the original 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre which I guess ignores the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2?
• Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Prequel (201X) just announced prequel to the 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, not to be confused with Letherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.

They've recently released a cleaned up version of the film in theatres. I've seen it and although I'm not a fan of the film, it is the best looking and sounding the movie has ever been.

Michael Myers

Fist Appearance: Halloween (1978)

One Halloween, Little Mikey Myers dresses as a clown and kills his older sister. he spends the next 15 years in a mental institution staring at a wall waiting for October 30, 1978 to take a drive to his home town of Haddonfield, Illinois and teach some babysitters to do a better job of baby sitting. His Psychiatrist knew this was going to happen but still couldn't stop him.
I like to revisit this series every Halloween. Once every couple of Halloweens, I'll watch the entire franchise in one sitting, it pretty much takes all day.
Rob Zombie eventually tried his hand at remaking Halloween. It wasn't terrible but he decided to focus on what makes Michael tick. This had the unfortunate side effect of making him a little less scary.
This is the second time I've tackled Mr. Myers for this series. Since he's probably my favorite of the classic slashers, it probably won't be the last time.

Texarcana Phantom

First appearance: The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976)

In 1946 a series of murders which became known as "The Phantom Killings" took place in or near the town of Texarcana. This movie is based on those crimes. The killer was never caught. also there is no proof he killed anyone with a knife attached to a trombone as seen in one of the stranger moments in this movie. Creepy atmosphere accentuates the strangeness of this true story. Made even more terrifying since the killer was never caught.

Winslow Leach

First appearance: The Phantom of the Paradise (1975)

Weird combination of Phantom of the Opera and Faust with a rock n roll beat. The most popular movie in Winnipeg when it was originally released.

There's been rumors of a stage version being produced for Broadway. I would love to see that.

The Amityville House

First appearance: The Amityville Horror (1979)

Always make sure you do a bit of research when buying a house, especially one that looks like it's got a face. This is the true story of a family who didn't.

Regan McNeil / Captain Howdy / Pazuzu

First appearance: The Exorcist (1973)

A young girl gets a little to close to her imaginary friend making her actress mom's life miserable. Fortunately there's an old priest and a young priest that know what to do about it. 

The Tall Man

First appearance: Phantasm (1979)

A troubled orphan witnesses something strange at the funeral of his older brother's best friend. Further investigation reveals a terrifying secret: the owner of the funeral home is a monster from another dimension (or something.) With the help of his older brother and their best friend, local ice cream vendor Reggie, the boy attempts to destroy this fiend from another plane.

Or is it all just the nightmare of a recently orphaned young man? Three more sequels indicate it's not just a dream or is it!?


I love Phantasm. All four of them.

The Death Corps

First appearance: Shockwaves (1977)

Some folks end up on a tropical island that houses a horrible secret. Underwater Nazi Zombies. It doesn't end well for anybody.
Stars Peter Cushing as an Nazi scientist who created the creeps. You'd think people would know better than to hang around any place where Peter Cushing is, especially if he's got a German accent.

The Davies' Baby

First appearance: It's Alive (1974)

The heartwarming tale of a hideously deformed, murderous baby and the family who loves him.

Frankenstein (Death Race 2000)

First appearance: Death Race 2000 (1975)

I've always found this movie entertaining. Its like the 70s version of Arnold Schwartzenegger classic The Running Man only slightly less silly. Even though Frankenstein is the coolest looking racer, I think Joe Viturbo (Sylvester Stallone) is more fun. Why they haven't made a videogame that follows the rules of this movie is beyond me. Also why did they decide to make the remake less awesome?

Greedo

First appearance: Star Wars (1977)

At least that's what it shows in the movie. If you are remembering something different happening it might be a problem with your brain or something.