The Top 20 MERICAN 80s Horror Movies

[Dukefrukem]

Good stuff so far. I think a few of my guesses are actually on the list.

A lot of your guesses were on there. I was surprised how high you had Gremlins.

[Dukefrukem]

#7: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Director : Wes Craven
Threat(s) Freddy Krueger

Threat Premise : The monstrous spirit of Freddy Krueger seeks revenge by invading the dreams of teenagers whose parents were responsible for his untimely death.

Why It Made the List : The thing that makes Nightmare such a good 80s slasher is the personality they gave Freddy. Most slashers in the 80s are either faceless, brute force killers, lacking the personality and style that makes this movie so fun. Even for such a low body count that the first movie delivers, as the originality of the deaths are excellent.

There are some classically great scenes such as the stretchy arm Freddy, Freddy cuts his own finger off to reveal green blood, the bathtub claw between crotch scene and my favorite scene that has haunted me since childhood, Nancy sleeps during class and sees her friend being dragged down to the boiler-room leaving a blood trail in the hallway.

The only thing that really lacks about this movie is the finale- which ends abruptly and ambiguously.

Shout out to Evil Dead playing on Nancy's TV and Lin Shaye (the Conjuring) as the teacher.

Best Death: Johnny Depp being sucked into a bed and spit out to the ceiling
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[Dukefrukem]

#6: Evil Dead II (1987)
Director : Sam Raimi
Threat(s) The Book of the Dead


Threat Premise : Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda find a log cabin in the woods with a voice recording from an archaeologist who had recorded himself reciting ancient chants from “The Book of the Dead.” As they play the recording an evil power is unleashed taking over Linda’s body.

Why It Made the List : This movie defines me. Ash chasing around his hand (that he cut off himself), laughing with the furniture, getting thrown through the woods by a mystery force… I could watch this movie every day for the rest of my life and love every second of it.

Best Scare: Ash’s girlfriend dancing to jump scare LOLz
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[Dukefrukem]

#5: The Fly (1988)
Director : David Cronenberg
Threat(s) Jeff Goldblum as the Fly

Threat Premise : Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.

Why It Made the List : It's so clear to see the production value of films in the 80s range when you watch several in a row. Coming off of Sleepaway Camp, and Children of the Corn, going directly into this movie, the Fly might as well have been made in 2018. The lighting and color pallet is so far superior than most films in the early 90s. The Thing and Poltergeist are two rare exceptions.

Cronenberg takes no time setting up the premise (which takes other films what feels like a lifetime to get going) and just like that, 3 minutes in, we already know who our main players are, and Jeff Goldblum's angle. Geena Davis does fine keeping up with Goldblum and the rich atmosphere and set design early, really adds to the terror, and sets up some wonderful payoff. E.g. the arm wrestle scene and the "how a fly eats" scene. Rick and Morty were right to turn Cronenberg's name into an adjective.

Best Scare: Vomit acid
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[Dukefrukem]

I just realized, over the weeks of looking at this list over and over that I have two #5s...

[Dukefrukem]

#4: The Blob (1988) Gizmo Guessed this spot correctly
Director : Chuck Russell
Threat(s) A giant blob

Threat Premise : Deadly blob from another planet which consumes everything in its path.
Why It Made the List : Aside from having one of the best death scenes in all of horror, it’s a classic ‘the kids know everything but no one believes them until it’s too late’ story. Definitely one of the best remakes out there, combined with excellent VFX for 1988 and believable acting, this is one of my favorite 80s romps.
Best Death: Sucked through drain
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[Morris Schæffer]

The Blob has some memorably icky kills.

[Dukefrukem]

#3: Poltergeist (1982) Gizmo had this at #8
Director : Tobe Hooper jk Steven Spielberg
Threat(s) The Poltergeist

Threat Premise : Broken dishes and furniture moving around by itself. Things get progressively worse … because the script says so.
Why It Made the List : It wasn’t the clown, the skeletons in the pool, the man ripping his own face off (though that was scary), the Poltergeist monster thing… it was the fact that a tree came into a bedroom, picked up a kid, and started to eat him that scared the crap out of me as a kid.

Best Scare: Tree eats Boy :
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[Dukefrukem]

#2: The Evil Dead (1981) Gizmo had this at #1
Director : Sam Raimi
Threat(s) The Book of the Dead

Threat Premise : When a group of college students finds a mysterious book and recording in the old wilderness cabin they’ve rented for the weekend, they unwittingly unleash a demonic force from the surrounding forest.
Why It Made the List : I watched this franchise backwards, and I don’t think what I saw in Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness could have prepared me for this. I remember it clearly, renting this from blockbuster video- I think I was in middle school, I couldn’t watch this movie during the daytime. Cabin in the Woods forever was associated with the Book of the Dead.
Best Death: Tree rape: Controversial I know, but again, this movie had such a huge impact on me, this scene was burned into my mind forever.
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[Dukefrukem]

#1: John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) Gizmo had this at #3
Director : John Carpenter
Threat(s): The Thing

Threat Premise : Scientists in the artic find themselves at odds with a mystery organism that can take the form of any person it kills.

Why It Made the List : It has everything. Mystery. Terror. Gore. Isolated victims. Excellent practical effects. I’m not sure I need to explain this one too much but it’s my absolute favorite horror film of all time. Perfect from beginning to end. Actually, I take that back. The one thing Carpenter should have done was remove the shot of the spaceship crashing into Earth in the introduction. It’s easily explained later in the film when they visit the Norwegian camp.

Best Death: Palmer head eats Windows head- Most people might say chest mouth is the best, and it probably is, but this head scene is so scary and so funny at the same time.
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[Dukefrukem]

And that does it. Gizmo you had all the right movies in the top 5 but just couldn't get them 100%. Thanks for playing. Hoping to do this again with maybe a category that people would be more interested in.

[Skitch]

Well done.