I watched a couple this past month for spooky season, and I think the 80s is probably my favorite decade for horror.
A couple weeks ago I watchedThe Fly, which was just an incredible film. The practical effects still largely hold up, but the acting is what really carried the story. The only thing that kind of bugged (🪰) me about it was that
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her creepo boss became a hero at the end.
I also just saw Hellraiser, which I’d always been curious about since I saw the VHS cover as a kid: the guy with the nails in his face looked terrifying! This is another one where the practical effects hold up, but is really held together by the characters and their relationships. I liked when
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Kirsty was banishing the cenobites at the end, and her boyfriend tried to take the box from her to finish it, but she slapped his hand away to do it herself. It was a really small moment, but told you a lot about her as a character.
My favorite 80s horror though is The Thing. I swear I’m not that into body horror, it’s just that all the best 80s horror movies were pushing the boundaries, and that’s where the line was for a lot of people. Again, this one has amazing practical effects, but the actors and writing carried the movie.
So, what’s your favorite 80s horror?
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The People Under the Stairs
A Wes Craven off-cut that is delightfully bonkers.
From this year’s spooky season movies, Happy Birthday to Me (1981) was a hidden gem. While it seems like a typical slasher, the ending was quite unexpected.
Rotten Tomatoes ratings are really low though, so probably not everyone’s cup of tea.
Aliens
Aliens was really a scifi action movie, not a horror movie. Probably one of the best movies of the time, though…
Yes and no. It was pretty fucking scary in it’s time. We’d all seen Alien and the destruction one caused, now we’re presented with shitloads of them.
People have already mentioned some great ones but no mention of “An American Werewolf In London”?? Such a great film with some fantastic special effects, great acting, a splash of humor and a touching story.
The Shining is just so beautiful, but in this more psychological, spiraling into madness, I really love Possession and Videodrome. Serial-killer horror I like Manhunter, the introduction of Hannibal Lecter to cinema (Red Dragon is a remake of this movie).
Street Trash, Class of Nuke 'em High, Return of the Living Dead are some of my favorite thrashy campy movies. Street Trash is quite disturbing thoughDude I thought I was the only person that remembered Street Trash, what a fever dream that one is
I forget that The Shining was an 80s movie, it feels very 70s in it’s execution. What a picture though.
The only other I’ve seen on your list was Return of the Living Dead. I loved Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, and this one wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Still a fun campy horror movie though.
I’ll look into the rest, thanks for the recs.
Yeah, Carpenter’s The Thing. Great movie.
How about Raimi’s The Evil Dead? We were screaming like little girls during that one!
Or Basket Case?
I just remembered Eating Raoul
Evil Dead Pt 2 is the best remake ever.
The same director, making the same film twice, but with a (moderately) higher budget, a lot of creative problem-solving, a defiant “We can do this” attitude, and Bruce Campbell reaching Buster Keaton-levels of physical comedy genius.
Incredible, all the way, through and through.Don’t tell anybody, but I never saw Evil Dead, only Army of Darkness. I should really fix that! I love Raimi’s style. He’s definitely a b-movie director who knew how to get the most out of his budget.
I’ve never heard of Basket Case, but, like I mentioned, I love b-movies. I’ll check it out!
Anything Cronenberg did in that era… Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, (though my personal faves are his 90s/00s output). Anything Argento did in the 80s (Inferno, Phenomena, Opera), etc. Speaking of Italians, my boy Lucio Fulci made some great ones in that decade too, notably The Beyond, The House By The Cemetery, and The Black Cat. Carpenter’s 80s stuff should go without saying (The Fog, Prince of Darkness, They Live, The Thing). Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street is pretty perfect too.
Maybe I’d vote for Andrej Zulawski’s Possession, which is fucking nuts. Or a personal deep-cut fave like Night of the Comet. Does Blue Velvet count as horror? Does Ken Russell’s Gothic?
Scanners would make a great TV show.
Not today. Would be gender switching or male shaming and a dumbed down script designed for viewers on their phones.
Oh nooooo a show might have female protagonists instead of being a straight adaptation of a movie that already exists
Mentioned some of my favorite directors - not much Fulci and Craven though. I’m not that really into horror per-se, I love Cronenberg and Carpenter’s themes and obviously their crazy practical effects and body horror, Argento always has absolutely beautiful colors and soundtrack, but I like more his murder/mystery movies than the supernatural ones. Zulawski goes crazy with surrealism, Ken Russell with the psychedelia, and Lynch just have it all lol
The Fly was the first Cronenberg movie I’ve seen, and it blew me away. I’m definitely going to look at the rest of his movies. I’ll probably watch The Reanimator next, because Jeffrey Combs is a national treasure.
I’m really intrigued by those Fulci movies, too. International films often have a way different perspective, and that’s always interesting to me.
Reanimator is a lot of fun (though I personally prefer From Beyond if we’re gonna talk Stuart Gordon stuff).
Italian horror is my personal favorite, but don’t go in expecting things to make sense. They tend to operate on dream logic.
