Your Favourite Horror Film from 1988

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

1988 was a year for some brilliant horror films, but which one is your favourite? What makes it special to you? When did you first see it? Would you recommend it to the uninitiated?

Sometimes it's a hard decision to just pick one film (even when you're limiting it to a single year!), but my favourite film of 1988 is...

Evil Dead Trap - Toshiharu Ikeda

Probably an unconventional choice, especially when considering the many other great films produced in 1988, but I simply love Evil Dead Trap.

It's mix of vicious killings, some of which are almost gialli style, and rough around the edges camerawork interspersed with black and white fractured visuals, accompanied by a varied score keeps you completely glued to the screen as the story unfolds.

The dirty locations and darkly lit corridors add menace and grime to the film and enhances the viewing pleasure greatly. The ending is fantastically mad, and in my opinion Evil Dead Trap is a definitive Japanese indy-horror, and very highly recommended.

Trailer:

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Runners Up:
American Gothic
Amsterdamned
The Blob
Brain Damage
Hellraiser II: Hellbound
The Lair of the White Worm
Maniac Cop
Men Behind the Sun
Night of the Demons
Scarecrows
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Slugs
They Live

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Lair of the White Worm is my choice. Totally bonkers, surreal and erotic.

[Vampix]

It's got be John Carpenter's highly entertaining They Live for me.I'd also give a mention to Stan Winston's atmospheric directorial debut, Pumpkinhead.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

I've got a soft spot for "American Gothic". It's sort of charming in it's own way.
"Amsterdamned" is a great film and one of my favourite, then chic, serial killer films.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Vampix

It's got be John Carpenter's highly entertaining They Live for me.I'd also give a mention to Stan Winston's atmospheric directorial debut, Pumpkinhead.

Damn forgot Pumpkinhead.

Don't know why i have four in the series.

[dream demon]

Well right away I have to say Night of the Demons - one of my favourite films of all time - and Dream Demon (well, duh ). Having read this thread though I would also have to add Lair Of The White Worm and The Blob - two films I MUST get on DVD.

I really want to see Evil Dead Trap; I watched that trailer a couple of months ago on YouTube, and it looks amazing!

And what about Paper House?

I turned 11 in 1988, and that year was a real watershed for me and I will always have a big soft spot for that whole late-80s period .

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

To be honest, I'm not enamoured with most of the films released in that year apart from They Live which is a brilliantly written and directed dystopian film with a surprisingly good turn by Roddy Piper in the lead.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Good choice with Lair of the White Worm, Demdike. Superb film from Russell - easily as good as The Devils, in my opinion, and my runner-up for '88.

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

To be honest, I'm not enamoured with most of the films released in that year apart from They Live which is a brilliantly written and directed dystopian film with a surprisingly good turn by Roddy Piper in the lead.

Roddy Piper is surprisingly good in this: "I've come here to chew bubble-gum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubble-gum!"

It's such a daft premise, but it really works, and the result is a fun and engrossing film.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

I've got a soft spot for "American Gothic". It's sort of charming in it's own way.

American Gothic is a fantastic little film, and I'd certainly urge anyone who hasn't checked it out yet to do so.

[Pete]

THE BLOB is my fave.