Best Horror Films of the 80s Poll

[Daemonia]

Yeah, I'll jump in.

My favourite from the 80's, in a quick top 10, would be....

1: The Thing
2: Poltergeist
3: My Bloody Valentine
4: Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives
5: Near Dark
6: Day of the Dead
7: Return of the Living Dead
8: Phantasm II
9: Hellraiser
10: Hellbound: Hellraiser II

There's so many great horrors from the 80's - a period I truly consider to be the Golden Age of horror. The 70's were terrific for exploitation, but the 80's ruled for horror IMO.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Some nice '80s gems already being thrown out there.

My list will reflect personal favourites, and not what I feel are 'the most important' to the genre etc.

Speaking of genre, my interpretation of 'horror' is pretty broad; i.e. Spoorloos will most certainly be on the list...

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Daemonia

There's so many great horrors from the 80's - a period I truly consider to be the Golden Age of horror. The 70's were terrific for exploitation, but the 80's ruled for horror IMO.

The '70s and '80s are interchangeable for me, although as for pure horror the '80s is hard to beat.

[Boo Radley]

The '80's were an odd decade for horror films. It started off well but went downhill after that. The later '80's showed some promise but then the '90's crushed any hope! A few directors here and there tried to push the boundries but they were 10 years too late.
I think anyone would struggle to find 100 "good" horror movies from the '80's...it really was dire.. and Ferman didn't help much either!
Here's my list of best horror in the '80's, at the end I'll list my top 10.

1980;
A stonking year! Probably the best! Most of these films were conceived in the late '70's but this was their debut.
Anthropophagus; The Beast.
Cannibal Apocalypse,
The Boogy Man - Ahh, a special place in my heart!!
The Burning,
Friday the 13th,
The Howling,
Inferno,
Nightmare City,
Just Before Dawn,
Eaten Alive, Mangiati Vivi - not Hooper's effort.
Maniac,
Mother's Day,
Ms. 45,
City of the Living Dead,
The Shining.

1981;
Another great year but the last one the '80's would see...!
Absurd,
Basket Case,
Cannibal Ferox,
The Beyond,
Friday the 13th part 2. The last decent Fri 13.
Halloween 2,
Zombie Creeping Flesh,
My Bloody Valentine,
Nightmare, ('s in a Damaged Brain)
House by the Cemetery,

1982;
It tried, it really did, but this was the beginning of the end..
Amityville 2,
Christine,
The Evil Dead,
Evilspeak,
Friday the 13th 3, The first hockey mask and crapola was to follow.
The New York Ripper,
Tenebrae,
Xtro.

1983;
One of the worst. Nada! Zip! Nothing of note happened in the horror genre. That is unless you count,
Cujo,
Psycho 2.

1984;
Really wasn't much better that '83 and now the Video Nasty debate severly curtailed anything you wanted to watch to give you that double whammy feeling.The especially kind might mention;
CHUD,
Friday the 13 part 4,
Ghoulies,
Silent Night, Deadly Night..... but why would you, really?

1985;
A glimmer of hope mid term...
Day of the Dead,
Demons,
Fright Night,
A Nightmare on Elm Street,
Re-Animator,
Return of the Living Dead,
The Toxic Avenger.

1986;
It looked promising, what with,
Blue Velvet,
From Beyond,
The Hitcher,
Howling 2, Stirba, Were Wolf Bitch. Shaddup! This is awesome!! Bow your head, dog!
Manhunter,
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2. Annnnnnd then, Freddy wasn't scarey any more!
Rawhead Rex,
Street Trash,
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2.

1987;
The brief respite of '85 and '86 was coming to an end but they tried with,
Angel Heart,
Brain Damage,
Combat Shock,
The Evil Dead 2,
Henry; Portrait of a Serial Killer,
Hellraiser,
Elm St 3 - Freddy was now a joke.

1988;
Decent horror was now in full decline once more heading into the '90's.
Deadbeat at Dawn,
Hellbound; Hellraiser 2,
Intruder,
Nekromantik,
Opera.

1989;
The 3rd worst year.
Heathers,
Society,
Urutsukidoji; Legend of the Overfiend.

That's it for me. If I had to choose a top 10 then these would be them but in no particular order. These are the films which either shocked me as I had never seen anything like them at the time or just hit a chord with me and stuck.

10 The Shining.
9 Maniac.
8 Blue Velvet.
7 The Evil Dead.
6 Tenebrae.
5 Combat Shock.
4 Henry; PoaSK.
3 Day of the Dead.
2 Nekromantik
1 Urutsukidoji.

Aww!! How did I miss The Thing?? Okay, top 11.

[demonknight]

Here goes, my top ten horror movies of the 80's
in no particular order

1.Creepshow
2.The Blob
3.Return of the living dead
4.Day of the dead
5.Intruder
6.Evil dead 2
7.Aliens
8.Re-animator
9.City of the living dead
10.Effects

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by demonknight

10.Effects

It's nice to see Effects get some love. It's pretty silly, but highly enjoyable.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Here's a taster of my list so far... my top 5:

1. Videodrome (1983)
2. Santa Sangre (1989)
3. The Vanishing (Spoorloos) (1988)
4. The Evil Dead (1981)
5. Possession (1981)

[Nordicdusk]

Not in any order just some of my favourites

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Demons

Street Trash

Prince of Darkness

Videodrome

Fright Night

The Burning

The Beyond

Day of the Dead

Friday the 13th Jason Lives

April Fools Day

New York Ripper

Nightmare City

Basket Case

Sleepaway Camp

Children of the Corn

Burial Ground

Fog

The Hitcher

Maniac Cop

Pieces

Vampire Hunter D

[Buboven]

Originally Posted by jiraffejustin

Some obvious movies I'm going to probably vote for:

The Shining - This is probably going to be my #1. It's my second favorite horror film of all-time, so it's going to take a bonafide masterpiece that I've slept on to knock it off its perch.

The Fly - I watched this not too long ago for about the 4th time, and it's gotten even better each time. Jeff Goldblum gave his best performance here.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer - I'm interested to see where the others will vote for this at. It's one of the films that has caused me to feel genuinely uneasy while watching. The home invasion scene is maybe the scariest film scene of all-time.

Re-Animator - Horror films don't have to be serious to be thrilling.

The Thing - duh.

Day of the Dead - I'm in the minority here, but I like this more than Dawn.

Hellraiser - I finally saw this last October, and even though the first half did seem to drag, it was all made up for with a brilliant second half.

Possession - Maybe the most bizarre of all my choices thus far. Andrzej Zulawski isn't the director with the most name recognition, but more people should know about him if only for this gem.

Gremlins/The 'Burbs - Two Joe Dante films that should be somewhere in the middle of the final list hopefully.

The Fog - When you are in between Halloween and The Thing, it might be hard to be recognized. But y'all need to recognize. The Fog is a fun movie.

My Bloody Valentine - Not the perfect movie, but it fits right in with the 80s slasher phenomenon. I had a lot of fun watching it too, so that helps it out.

I like Day WAY more aswell.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Buboven

I like Day WAY more aswell.

Me too. Night has always been my favourite, though.