Top 30 "Must See" 80's Horror Movies
(1980-1989)
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TOO SCARY 2 WATCH now presents a list of what we believe are the top 30 "must see" horror movies of the 80's (arranged by year), which may be worth checking out, if you're a lover of 80's scary movies like we are. The list may continue to change and be updated over the next few months or so, as we find movie's that may have been overlooked.
Some of the movies on the list, in our opinion, aren't necessarily good movies, but were added because they either, have such huge cult followings, were a big deal at the time of their release, spawned a few sequels, or had some success in the box office.
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While an old, weather-beaten fisherman tells a ghost story to fascinated children huddled by a campfire, a piece of driftwood in a child's hands begins to glow, and an eerie fog envelops the seaside community of Antonio Bay. From its midst emerges demonic victims of a century-old shipwreck seeking revenge on the small town. Director John Carpenter's follow-up to his breakout film, Halloween, stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh.
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Twenty years after several mysterious deaths shut it down, Camp Crystal Lake reopens -- but the place clearly hasn't shaken its "death curse," as a deranged killer terrorizes the teen counselors in this original version of the classic slasher flick. Gruesome makeup and effects, a nubile cast (including a young Kevin Bacon) and an iconic villain make this horror film a genre-defining classic for the ages.
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On the wagon and out of lucrative work thanks to his alcoholism and family troubles, aspiring novelist Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) accepts a position as the off-season custodian at an elegant but eerie hotel so he can write undisturbed. But shortly after Jack, his wife (Shelley Duvall) and his young son (Danny Lloyd) settle in, the ominous hotel begins to wield its sinister power in this chilling horror classic helmed by Stanley Kubrick.
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John Landis writes and directs this bloody yet black humor-injected thriller that tells the story of American backpacker David (David Naughton), who, after surviving a vicious werewolf attack that left his friend, Jack (Griffin Dunne), dead, becomes a murderous werewolf himself. Prowling the streets of London, David learns that his living-dead victims will wander in limbo until he is dead. This film garnered an Oscar for Best Makeup.
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During an unplanned stop at a remote cabin deep within the woods, a group of teens falls prey to a mysterious supernatural force. As his pals become possessed and turn into flesh-eating zombies, Ash (Bruce Campbell) struggles to keep his cool and save his own skin. Written and directed by Sam Raimi, this special effects-laden, low-budget cult classic co-stars Theresa Tilly, Betsy Baker and Ellen Sandweiss.
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This bloodier sequel picks up where the original ended, with an injured Jamie Lee Curtis recuperating in the hospital from her showdown with murderous psycho Michael Myers. What she doesn't know is that Michael is licking his wounds in a nearby room. After Michael busts loose, he embarks on a new killing spree while Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) tries to track him down. First-timer Rick Rosenthal directs John Carpenter's script.
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After a traumatic experience at work, TV reporter Karen White (Dee Wallace) checks into a plush California resort called The Colony to rest. Yet, on her first night there, the howling outside her window leads her to discover that she's in a colony of werewolves. Now she must expose the secret -- if she can survive! Rife with in-jokes, horror film references and genuine scares, this John Sayles-penned howl fest is a werewolf classic.
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Life is pleasant for the close-knit Freeling family (headed by Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams) until a host of otherworldy forces invades their peaceful suburban home, transforming their house into a swirling supernatural sideshow that's centered around their angelic young daughter (Heather O'Rourke). This must-see horror classic earned two Oscar nods for its special effects and another for its haunting score.
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Scientists working in Antarctica are forced to abandon their research after a helicopter crashes near their camp, bringing a lone dog into their midst. But the plot thickens when the otherworldly canine changes form in the middle of the night. As it turns out, the dog is a shape-shifting alien that can attack animals -- and unsuspecting humans. Kurt Russell stars in this creepy John Carpenter-directed remake of the 1950s classic.
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Geeky student Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) falls for Christine, a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury, and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile to her former glory. As the car changes, so does Arnie, whose newfound confidence turns to arrogance behind the wheel of his exotic beauty. Arnie's girlfriend Leigh and best friend Dennis reach out to him, only to be met by a Fury like no other. Based on Stephen King's chilling novel.
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Based on horrormeister Stephen King's best-selling novel, Cujo chronicles a tale of man's best friend turned satanic killer. Slobbery St. Bernard Cujo is much loved by owners Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace) and her son, Tad (Danny Pintauro), but when a rabid bat bites Cujo, he morphs from happy pup into crazed canine. In the nail-biting climax, Donna and Tad barricade themselves in their car, with 200-pound Cujo skulking nearby.
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A young couple (Linda Hamilton and Peter Horton) find themselves stranded in the rural town of Gatlin, Neb., and fall into the sinister hands of a mysterious religious sect of children who murder all of the town's adults at the command of their leader. The children perform bloody sacrifices to their cornfield-dwelling deity (known only as "He Who Walks Behind the Rows"). Their two new visitors are next in line for crucifixion!
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Hockey-masked psychopath Jason Vorhees is back in business at Camp Crystal Lake in the fourth (but far from final) installment of the popular horror franchise. As randy teens are slain one by one, Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) concocts a plan to distract the killer. Makeup master Tom Savini provides much of the wince-inducing gore, and actor Crispin Glover turns in an atypical performance as a stud in training.
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Years after being burned alive by a mob of angry parents, child murderer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) returns to haunt the dreams -- and reality -- of local teenagers in Wes Craven's spine-chilling slasher classic. As the town's teens begin dropping like flies, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and her boyfriend, Glen (Johnny Depp, in his big-screen debut), devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world.
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The third chapter in writer-director George Romero's classic zombie film saga finds a group of scientists and soldiers hiding in an underground bunker to escape a world overrun by the flesh-eating undead. The scientists desperately seek a way to control the zombies, while the military just wants to kill as many of them as possible. But infighting between the two groups takes a backseat when the zombies invade the subterranean facility.
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Nobody believes teenager Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) when he discovers that his suave new neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), is a vampire. So when the bloodsucker starts stalking Charley, he turns to has-been actor Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), famed for portraying a ghoul hunter. Unfortunately for the would-be vampire slayers, Dandridge has set his sights on Charlie's girlfriend in this clever spoof of the horror genre.
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Based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, this campy send-up that spawned a similarly outlandish sequel follows an egotistical medical student named Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), who develops a serum that miraculously revives the dead. Together with his obdurate roommate, Dan (Bruce Abbott), and his girlfriend, Megan (Barbara Crampton), West reanimates a corpse -- but he doesn't factor in certain complications.
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The freshly risen undead are ready to party in this horror-comedy that finds two employees of a medical supply company unwittingly releasing several zombies from cylinders in which they've been trapped for years. Soon, the local citizenry is forced to deal with a large-scale zombie epidemic as the nasty, brain-eating creatures go on a rampage -- hungry as ever and eager to make up for lost time! Dan O'Bannon (creator of the Alien franchise) directs.
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While testing his teleportation device, scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) accidentally merges his cells with those of a housefly. As his reporter girlfriend (Geena Davis) bears witness, Seth slowly -- and quite disgustingly -- morphs into an insect. David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of the Vincent Price original achieves an unlikely concoction of horror, romance and pathos, thanks largely to Goldblum's strangely touching performance.
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One of the most notorious films of the 1980s still terrifies. Serial killer Henry serves as mentor to dim-witted fellow killer Otis and as the object of his sister's affections. Trouble is, Henry's heart is too hard for friendship to penetrate. Disturbing, chilling and full of knockout power, this cult classic includes a half-hour interview with writer-director John McNaughton.
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Never pick up strangers: That's a lesson Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) will wish he'd learned. While driving from Chicago to San Diego, he picks up hitchhiker John Ryder (Rutger Hauer) but regrets it when he begins to suspect Ryder may be a serial killer. Before Halsey can say, "Get out of my car," Ryder kills again -- and frames him for the murders. With the odds against him, Jim's only ally is truck-stop waitress Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh).
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Stranded in a cabin in the woods, Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his girlfriend accidentally invoke a spell that causes the Evil Dead to rise and kill! As a lone man pitted against hordes of walking corpses, can Ash survive until the safety of sunrise? Thanks to director Sam Raimi's whip-crack direction and Campbell's comedic skills, this cult horror classic produces an improbable blend of hair-raising fear and gales of laughter.
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Clive Barker's directing debut follows the tale of a couple (Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins) who move into an old house and discovers a hideous creature (Oliver Smith) -- the man's half-brother (and his wife's former lover) -- hiding upstairs. Having lost his earthly body to three demons, the man's been brought back to life by a drop of blood on the floor. Soon, he's forcing his former mistress to bring him human sacrifices to complete his body.
R-Rated
93 mins
After his brother, Michael (Jason Patric), drinks blood and gets mixed up with a rough biker gang rumored to be a coven of vampires, Sam (Corey Haim) and his two vampire-hunter friends -- armed with garlic and water pistols full of holy water -- try to rid the town of evil. Joel Schumacher directs this cult 1980s classic thriller, which co-stars Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Dianne Wiest, Corey Feldman and Edward Herrmann.
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It's been many years since Freddy Krueger's (Robert Englund) first victim, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), came face-to-face with Freddy and his sadistic, evil ways. Now, Nancy's all grown up; she's put her frightening nightmares behind her and is helping teens cope with their dreams. Too bad Freddy's decided to herald his return by invading the kids' dreams and scaring them into committing suicide. Patricia Arquette and Laurence Fishburne co-star.
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In this remake of the 1958 horror classic, a gelatinous mass invades Earth and starts devouring people in the rural California town of Arborville. As it feasts, the blob grows bigger and bigger -- and threatens to spin out of control. Leading the charge to contain the oozing killer is young Brian (Kevin Dillon), who seeks to impress the lovely Meg (Shawnee Smith). Meanwhile, a government crew arrives on the scene, but its intentions are unclear.
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A chubby toy doll named Chucky becomes an instrument of terror in director Tom Holland's unnerving tale of horror. Before cops gun down a serial killer (Brad Dourif), he invokes a spell that transfers his soul into the body of Chucky -- who ends up as a birthday present for 6-year-old Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent). When a rash of murders ensues, he knows Chucky is the culprit, but neither Andy's mother (Catherine Hicks) nor the police believe him.
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For Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence), the nightmares never end. Still fresh in her fevered memory are her father's skinned corpse, the evil machinations of her uncle Frank's reanimated body and the unspeakable perversity of the Cenobites. But the worst is yet to come. From beyond the Outer Darkness, from the darkest regions of the imagination comes Hellbound: Hellraiser II.
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Seeking revenge on the city teens who inadvertently killed his only child, small-town shopkeeper Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) enlists a local witch to unleash the titular demon on the adolescents. When Pumpkinhead's otherworldly rage goes too far, Ed has a change of heart and tries to save the youngsters he wanted to punish but he's lost control of the fiend. This 1989 horror film marks the directorial debut of special-effects whiz Stan Winston.
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Dr. Louis Creed's (Dale Midkiff) family moves into the country house of their dreams and discover a pet cemetery at the back of their property. The cursed burial ground deep in the woods brings the dead back to life -- with "minor" problems. At first, only the family's cat makes the return trip, but an accident forces a heartbroken father to contemplate the unthinkable in director Mary Lambert's horror film based on a novel by Stephen King.
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In director David Schmoeller's taut chiller, perverse master puppeteer Andre Toulon (William Hickey) harnesses the power of ancient Egyptian magic to breathe life into his crew of marionettes, who morph into demonic killers. Many years later, a group of modern psychics looking for clues to explain a mutual friend's mysterious suicide end up trapped in a creepy hotel stalked by Toulon's miniature assassins. Paul Le Mat also stars.
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Our Top Ten 80's Horror Films (Arranged by Year)
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The Mothman
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