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As an obsessive list-maker myself, I love these lists of yours, James, and this is another goodie.  But...as I predicted in one of the other threads, we’re gonna have some disagreements here.  

Mostly because, as you wrote, the ‘60s is a really tough decade.  Lotsa good stuff and lotsa variety.  

So I made a list of my own, pre-emptively.  I was unable to make the tough choices, though, and ended up with 25 titles.  I was at least able to divide these into A, B, and C lists.  Top 5, Next 6, Other 14.  

So, I guess I could have stopped at A and B and had a list of eleven...  but I didn’t want to.

Comparing your list with mine, I find a lot of agreement.  Your first two titles would probably be mine as well.  And 4 of my Top 5 appear in your first 9, so that’s pretty good.  

But in the latter part of your list, we got trouble.  I don’t think you listed any bad horror films, but your Top 15 included five titles -- one-third of your total -- that I didn’t include anywhere in my Top 25.    

Anyway, here’s where we agree...

From my Top 5, those you chose... (in parentheses, where it appears on your list)--

PSYCHO    (1)

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD   (2)

THE HAUNTING    (4)

THE INNOCENTS   (9)

From my “next” 6

BLACK SUNDAY --8

ROSEMARY’S BABY   (3)

REPULSION      (13)

And three of your titles were among my “other” 14...

PEEPING TOM   (5)

THE BIRDS     (7)

TARGETS   (14)

All-in-all, we pretty much agree, though maybe not in specific rank, on ten of the choices.  Not bad.  

But here are the five titles you included which didn’t make my 25--

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?

MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

DEVIL RIDES OUT

WITCHFINDER GENERAL

HOUSE OF USHER

MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH and HOUSE OF USHER both juuust miss my list (as does TOMB OF LIGEIA for that matter), so I have no real quibbles there.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? is certainly good and famous and trend-setting, but it’s always been a bit of a disappointment to me, never as good as I want it to be.  

And never scary at all, which is disappointing because, back in the day, all I ever heard from the “mainstream” was that it was the scariest thing ever.

WITCHFINDER GENERAL is also good, but I just don’t think it’s that good.  From the time it was brand-new, I thought it was better than run-of-the-mill, and I thought Price was great.  

But, as its reputation grew, my opinion stayed where it was.  I now think it’s a good, but seriously overrated movie.

And, speaking of overrated, I think DEVIL RIDES OUT is the most over-praised Hammer film ever.  I’ve seen it several times in several settings and I’ve yet to see what’s so darn good about it.  

I find the story just okay, maybe a little tedious, the effects are below-average, and the acting is seriously overstated.  I understand that I’m a rather lonely voice, but I think it’s a pretty standard horror film, 

middle of the Hammer pack at best, and probably wouldn’t make my top Fifty of the decade.

Now, what did you omit?   To me, the 4 major titles missing from your list are:

KILL, BABY, KILL

BLACK SABBATH

BRIDES OF DRACULA

“Toby Dammit”/SPIRITS OF THE DEAD

The first two are Bava’s other masterpieces, along with BLACK SUNDAY.  I think KILL, BABY, KILL is one of the top 5  horrors of the ‘60s, and BLACK SABBATH isn’t far behind.  

BRIDES OF DRACULA just might be Hammer’s alltime best, and to see it left off while DEVIL RIDES OUT is included...well, that just hurts.

SPIRITS OF THE DEAD is a tough one, I’ll admit.  The first two stories are fair-to-good, but Fellini’s “Toby Dammit” is an incredible achievement, one of the great horror stories ever put on film. 

 If you insist on “averaging” the movie it probably doesn’t make the cut.  But I find the Fellini so overpoweringly great that it renders the other two stories negligible.

And here are the others from my top 25 that didn’t make your list:

CARNIVAL OF SOULS

ONIBABA

THE VIY

FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED

HORROR HOTEL

HOUR OF THE WOLF

HUSH, HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE  (I find this followup to BABY JANE to be much the better).

The remaining four I save for last because it’s possible you just didn’t even consider them horror films:

VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH

SECONDS

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

So, we got us some disagreements.  But we also concur on a lot of stuff.  And it’s all just personal opinion anyway.  But this is fun.  Well, I find it fun, anyway.  

Thanks, James, for the list, and for prodding me to think about this.  That’s why I’m here on the Board and I appreciate being nudged to ponder these movies that we all love.