Favorite 80's Horror Movies
by garephj | created - 08 Jul 2011 | updated - 05 Aug 2015 | PublicThis is a list of my favorite horror and slasher flicks from the 1980's. BE AFRAID !
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1. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
R | 91 min | Horror
Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon
Votes: 262,349 | Gross: $25.50M
2. The Prowler (1981)
R | 89 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An unknown killer, clad in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small California town, bent on reliving a 35 year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual graduation dance.
Director: Joseph Zito | Stars: Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney, Farley Granger
Votes: 12,996
Some of the most innovative special effects with the most graphic and realistic kills in a slasher movie. Somewhat ahead of it's time with special effects.
3. Poltergeist (1982)
PG | 114 min | Horror, Thriller
A family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight
Votes: 179,490 | Gross: $76.61M
4. Fatal Games (1984)
88 min | Horror, Sport
A mad javelin thrower kills teenagers in the school. All promising athletes are executed in the most brutal way. Especially naked girls in dressing-rooms or saunas.
Director: Michael Elliot | Stars: Sally Kirkland, Lynn Banashek, Sean Masterson, Michael O'Leary
Votes: 1,181
A personal favorite of mine! Students, at a prestigious school for gifted athletes,who qualified for nationals, are being killed off by a mysterious killer with a javelin.
5. Bloody Birthday (1981)
R | 85 min | Horror, Thriller
Three children are born at the height of an eclipse of the sun. Ten years later, they begin to murder the people around them - even their family members.
Director: Ed Hunt | Stars: Lori Lethin, Melinda Cordell, Julie Brown, Joe Penny
Votes: 5,661
6. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,316 | Gross: $2.40M
7. Friday the 13th (1980)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of teenage camp counselors attempt to re-open an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past, but they are stalked by a mysterious, relentless killer.
Director: Sean S. Cunningham | Stars: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan
Votes: 157,372 | Gross: $39.75M
8. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,106,006 | Gross: $44.02M
9. The Howling (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
After a bizarre and near deadly encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone
Votes: 40,171 | Gross: $17.99M
10. The Lair of the White Worm (1988)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Horror
When an archaeologist uncovers a strange skull in a foreign land, the residents of a nearby town begin to disappear, leading to further inexplicable occurrences.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, Peter Capaldi
Votes: 15,082 | Gross: $1.19M
11. Children of the Corn (1984)
R | 92 min | Horror, Thriller
A young couple is trapped in a remote town where a dangerous religious cult of children believes that everyone over age 18 must be killed.
Director: Fritz Kiersch | Stars: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R.G. Armstrong, John Franklin
Votes: 57,310 | Gross: $14.57M
12. Halloween II (1981)
R | 92 min | Horror
While Dr. Loomis hunts for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, and The Shape is not far behind her.
Director: Rick Rosenthal | Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer
Votes: 101,671 | Gross: $25.53M
13. Hellraiser (1987)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller
A woman discovers the newly resurrected, partially formed, body of her brother-in-law and lover. She starts killing for him to revitalize his body and escape the demonic beings that are pursuing him after he escaped their underworld.
Director: Clive Barker | Stars: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Sean Chapman
Votes: 140,443 | Gross: $14.56M
14. Aliens (1986)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser
Votes: 762,681 | Gross: $85.16M
15. Prom Night (1980)
R | 92 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
At a high-school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years previously.
Director: Paul Lynch | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens, Anne-Marie Martin
Votes: 20,910 | Gross: $14.80M
16. Child's Play (1988)
R | 87 min | Horror, Thriller
A struggling single mother unknowingly gifts her son a doll imbued with a serial killer's consciousness.
Director: Tom Holland | Stars: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif
Votes: 116,672 | Gross: $33.24M
17. Pet Sematary (1989)
R | 103 min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.
Director: Mary Lambert | Stars: Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne, Brad Greenquist
Votes: 114,979 | Gross: $57.47M
18. Predator (1987)
R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall, Elpidia Carrillo
Votes: 454,575 | Gross: $59.74M
19. Blood Harvest (1987)
Not Rated | 88 min | Horror
Jill, visiting home from college, arrives to find her parents missing, and their home vandalized. Soon, matters take a turn for the worse, when she finds herself stalked, and her friends disappearing one by one.
Director: Bill Rebane | Stars: Tiny Tim, Itonia Salchek, Dean West, Lori Minnetti
Votes: 1,746
20. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
R | 98 min | Fantasy, Horror
An anthropologist goes to Haiti after hearing rumors about a drug used by black magic practitioners to turn people into zombies.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield
Votes: 27,641 | Gross: $19.60M
21. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
R | 86 min | Horror, Thriller
Tommy Jarvis exhumes Jason Voorhees to cremate his corpse, but inadvertently brings him back to life instead. The newly revived killer seeks revenge, and Tommy may be the only one who can stop him.
Director: Tom McLoughlin | Stars: Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, Kerry Noonan
Votes: 51,202 | Gross: $19.47M
22. Alligator (1980)
R | 91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.
Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger
Votes: 15,853
23. My Bloody Valentine (1981)
R | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A decades-old folk tale surrounding a deranged murderer killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day turns out to be true to legend when a group defies the killer's order and people start turning up dead.
Director: George Mihalka | Stars: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, Keith Knight
Votes: 25,088 | Gross: $5.67M
24. Sleepaway Camp (1983)
R | 84 min | Horror
Bunks and showers are a mad stabber's beat at a summer camp strictly for teens.
Director: Robert Hiltzik | Stars: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Christopher Collet
Votes: 38,026 | Gross: $11.00M
One of the most disturbing endings,EVER !
25. Wolfen (1981)
R | 115 min | Horror, Thriller
A New York cop investigates a series of brutal deaths that resemble animal attacks.
Director: Michael Wadleigh | Stars: Albert Finney, Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines
Votes: 11,466 | Gross: $10.63M
26. Blood Diner (1987)
Unrated | 88 min | Comedy, Horror
Two brothers are entrusted by their uncle to uphold the ritualistic cannibalism of the ancient cult of Sheetar. In order to do so, they have to prepare a feast of sacrifice for the resurrection of their goddess.
Director: Jackie Kong | Stars: Rick Burks, Carl Crew, Roger Dauer, LaNette La France
Votes: 5,372
27. Motel Hell (1980)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller
A seemingly friendly farmer and his sister kidnap unsuspecting travelers and bury them alive, using them to create the "special meat" they are famous for.
Director: Kevin Connor | Stars: Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod
Votes: 13,607 | Gross: $6.34M
28. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
R | 77 min | Horror
A female high school student's slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls her neighborhood.
Director: Amy Holden Jones | Stars: Michele Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Debra De Liso
Votes: 17,887
29. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,368 | Gross: $13.78M
30. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
After being announced dead and taken to a morgue, Jason Voorhees spontaneously revives, escapes from the hospital, and stalks a group of friends renting a house in the countryside near Crystal Lake.
Director: Joseph Zito | Stars: Erich Anderson, Judie Aronson, Peter Barton, Kimberly Beck
Votes: 59,129 | Gross: $32.98M
31. The Funhouse (1981)
R | 96 min | Horror
Four teenagers visit a local carnival for a night of innocent amusement, but soon discover that nothing there is innocent or amusing.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson, Jeanne Austin, Jack McDermott
Votes: 16,273 | Gross: $7.89M
32. Terror Train (1980)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Three years after a prank went terribly awry, the six college students responsible are targeted by a masked killer at a New Year's Eve party aboard a moving train.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner, David Copperfield
Votes: 13,840
33. Mortuary (1982)
R | 93 min | Horror
Convinced that her father's death was not accidental, a beautiful girl decides to investigate to find out the truth, aided by her boyfriend. Her sleuthing draws her to a local mortuary, where many secrets will be revealed.
Director: Howard Avedis | Stars: Mary Beth McDonough, David Wysocki, Bill Paxton, Lynda Day George
Votes: 2,851 | Gross: $4.32M
34. The Burning (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.
Director: Tony Maylam | Stars: Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua
Votes: 22,267
35. Piranha II: The Spawning (1982)
R | 94 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A scuba diving instructor, her biochemist boyfriend, and her police chief ex-husband try to link a series of bizarre deaths to a mutant strain of piranha fish whose lair is a sunken freighter ship off a Caribbean island resort.
Directors: James Cameron, Ovidio G. Assonitis, Miller Drake | Stars: Tricia O'Neil, Steve Marachuk, Lance Henriksen, Ricky Paull Goldin
Votes: 9,909
36. Don't Answer the Phone! (1980)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller
A deeply disturbed Vietnam veteran terrorizes the young women of Los Angeles and taunts a radio psychologist with descriptions of his grisly crimes.
Director: Robert Hammer | Stars: James Westmoreland, Ben Frank, Flo Lawrence, Nicholas Worth
Votes: 2,159
37. The Beast Within (1982)
R | 98 min | Horror
A young woman gets raped by a mysterious man-creature, and years later her son begins a horrific transformation into a similar beast.
Director: Philippe Mora | Stars: Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, Paul Clemens, Don Gordon
Votes: 4,546 | Gross: $7.74M
38. Don't Go in the House (1979)
R | 82 min | Horror
A disturbed young man who was burned as a child by his sadistic mother stalks women with a flamethrower.
Director: Joseph Ellison | Stars: Dan Grimaldi, Charles Bonet, Bill Ricci, Robert Carnegie
Votes: 5,236
This movie was released in Mar 1980 but filmed in 1979.
39. Devil Fish (1984)
Not Rated | 94 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A marine biologist, a dolphin trainer, a research scientist, and a local sheriff try to hunt down a large sea monster, a shark/octopus hybrid, that is devouring swimmers and fishermen off a south Florida coast.
Director: Lamberto Bava | Stars: Michael Sopkiw, Valentine Monnier, Gianni Garko, William Berger
Votes: 3,751
40. Open House (1987)
R | 95 min | Horror, Thriller
Someone is killing off nubile real estate agents. A psychologist doing a therapy talk show begins getting calls from the perpetrator, and cooperates with the police to try and stop him. ... See full summary »
Director: Jag Mundhra | Stars: Joseph Bottoms, Adrienne Barbeau, Rudy Ramos, Mary Stavin
Votes: 723
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