Popular Horror 1980s, a list by Craig Midwinter

8.4

/1208770/

81

/29593/

82

/18472/

4.2

/2841750/

84

/111/

93

/28528/

68

/26/

4.0

age 15+

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

85

8.4

/832553/

82

/24827/

80

/10519/

4.1

/835346/

94

/143/

94

/22899/

84

/23/

3.5

age 15+

Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.

78

8.2

/517976/

81

/15609/

80

/7621/

4.3

/1151259/

85

/92/

92

/9671/

57

/13/

2.5

age 17+

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

72

7.2

/175381/

75

/6063/

71

/2213/

3.7

/324018/

75

/79/

85

/14260/

63

/16/

2.5

age 16+

When an unsuspecting town newcomer is drawn to local blood fiends, the Frog brothers and other unlikely heroes gear up to rescue him.

72

7.8

/493871/

77

/16952/

75

/8747/

3.8

/539627/

64

/114/

87

/17050/

47

/17/

3.0

age 16+

A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.

73

7.2

/161233/

73

/6275/

72

/3313/

3.8

/305531/

86

/76/

80

/3245/

55

/22/

age 16+

A lone drifter stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission.

75

7.3

/271647/

75

/14052/

71

/6800/

3.6

/603826/

86

/85/

78

/12706/

70

/13/

3.0

age 12+

After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.

78

7.4

/287692/

74

/10216/

73

/5547/

3.7

/726673/

94

/70/

84

/16347/

76

/12/

age 17+

Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...

75

7.3

/248702/

72

/8522/

72

/4323/

3.6

/529046/

85

/86/

84

/9049/

71

/11/

age 16+

In 1979, a group of college students find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented for a weekend getaway.

76

7.3

/193098/

73

/6900/

71

/3226/

3.5

/349863/

88

/80/

79

/5536/

79

/16/

3.0

age 13+

The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.

80

7.6

/221358/

75

/7530/

74

/4785/

4.0

/494038/

94

/78/

83

/3631/

81

/12/

age 16+

When 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.

75

7.2

/102650/

72

/2590/

71

/1660/

3.7

/79805/

82

/34/

81

/1421/

61

/14/

3.5

A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.

62

6.8

/89656/

71

/3469/

67

/1320/

3.5

/96213/

56

/43/

71

/2606/

45

/20/

2.0

age 13+

When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it's hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.

72

7.5

/132747/

74

/4376/

73

/2616/

3.8

/281934/

89

/65/

85

/4212/

55

/15/

2.0

age 16+

American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.

57

6.4

/173050/

66

/6420/

64

/3211/

3.0

/481442/

68

/63/

60

/6603/

22

/11/

age 16+

Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.

73

7.0

/55377/

69

/1412/

69

/1072/

3.6

/112995/

83

/60/

74

/578/

74

/16/

3.0

After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.

59

6.5

/122807/

67

/4114/

66

/2316/

3.2

/164803/

58

/40/

60

/3512/

38

/12/

age 15+

After the Creed family's cat is accidentally killed, a friendly neighbor advises its burial in a mysterious nearby cemetery.

66

6.7

/130100/

68

/5637/

67

/3231/

3.3

/380213/

64

/95/

65

/6661/

58

/18/

3.0

age 14+

After being shot in a toy store, a serial killer transfers his soul into a Good Guy doll. A mother then gifts it to her 6-year old son Andy, which unleashes terror upon the city.

78

7.7

/194225/

75

/6539/

75

/3370/

4.0

/409297/

88

/84/

89

/8053/

72

/18/

3.0

Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda find a log cabin in the woods with a voice recording from an archeologist 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.

75

7.2

/83593/

71

/2614/

70

/1763/

3.5

/102014/

89

/54/

77

/1349/

69

/8/

3.5

Johnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee's home one night, is involved in a car crash which leaves him in a coma for 5 years. When he wakes, he discovers he has an ability to see into the past, present and future life of anyone with whom he comes into physical contact.

72

6.9

/41845/

68

/1310/

67

/724/

3.7

/68572/

86

/51/

71

/883/

58

/13/

3.5

A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from native American shamans, he explores these altered states of consciousness and finds that memory, time, and perhaps reality itself are states of mind.

50

5.3

/954/

52

/24/

48

/19/

3.1

/554/

29

/7/

57

/8/

2.0

Karl Kinsky, an unbalanced tattoo artist, becomes obsessed with Maddy, a model he meets when he is hired to body-paint several women for a photo shoot, making the women look like they have large tattoos. As Kinsky grows more obsessed with Maddy, he becomes increasingly determined that Maddy should bear his "mark" -- forever.

55

5.3

/18390/

59

/765/

53

/444/

2.6

/24496/

62

/42/

40

/527/

50

/10/

3.0

Mutated by his own secret formula, Dr. Alec Holland becomes Swamp Thing; a half-human, half-plant superhero who will stop at nothing to rescue government agent Alice Cable and defeat his evil arch nemesis...Even if it costs him his life.

43

34

4.9

/2964/

55

/99/

47

/70/

2.8

/1771/

33

/6/

22

/31/

An alien arrives on Earth looking to take human blood in an attempt to preserve his dying planet.

53

37

5.9

/2038/

64

/53/

52

/35/

3.1

/1772/

50

/6/

33

/28/

Two Los Angeles police detectives hunt for a serial killer who randomly chooses his victims from a phone directory.

44

5.2

/5986/

52

/181/

48

/124/

2.4

/7503/

36

/14/

37

/66/

1.5

One night, in a Los Angeles hospital, Dr. Flax attends to a seriously injured man who, apparently crazed, whispers mysterious and disconcerting words in French into her ear.

53

45

6.0

/3566/

60

/98/

59

/77/

3.1

/3664/

43

/7/

38

/38/

A TV newswoman catches a pervert watching her sister who cannot see, hear or speak.

68

6.7

/28421/

68

/989/

67

/549/

3.5

/39660/

74

/23/

70

/800/

62

/8/

In 1959, an alien experiment crashes to earth and infects a fraternity member. They freeze the body, but in the modern day, two geeks pledging a fraternity accidentally thaw the corpse, which proceeds to infect the campus with parasites that transform their hosts into killer zombies.

47

5.2

/67119/

54

/2747/

52

/1503/

2.8

/162403/

48

/40/

31

/2711/

50

/11/

1.5

After a terrified toy salesman is mysteriously attacked and brought to the hospital, clutching the year's most popular Halloween mask, Dr. Daniel Challis sets out to investigate the strange events and finds himself thrust into a nightmarish conspiracy.

65

6.5

/51027/

66

/1156/

63

/885/

3.3

/42932/

73

/22/

75

/1992/

52

/4/

A team from the intergalactic fast food chain Crumb's Crunchy Delights descends on Earth, planning to make human flesh the newest taste sensation. After they wipe out the New Zealand town Kaihoro, the country’s Astro-Investigation and Defense Service (AIaDS) is called in to deal with the problem. Things are complicated due to Giles, an aid worker who comes to Kaihoro the same day to collect change from the residents. He is captured by the aliens, and AIaDS stages a rescue mission that quickly becomes an all-out assault on the aliens’ headquarters.

51

47

5.5

/7282/

53

/195/

55

/156/

2.8

/11692/

57

/7/

47

/154/

34

/4/

Fed up of his business partner, Ernest Trend hires the services of two exterminators. When things go drastically wrong and they murder the wrong man, the race is on to frame an innocent video surveillance man.

45

40

5.2

/4536/

57

/159/

50

/92/

2.8

/6850/

33

/9/

26

/43/

A group of friends head out for what is expected to be a vacation of hiking, camping and a good time, but when a backwoods mama finds them on her turf, it becomes anything but a vacation.

40

24

4.5

/1052/

47

/25/

47

/23/

2.6

/2446/

20

/5/

34

/28/

A high-school student and a drug pusher land in a nuclear-wasted river and come out zombies.

46

34

5.4

/2030/

53

/41/

53

/63/

2.9

/2037/

33

/6/

30

/35/

When his experiments into a powerful new anesthetic go hideously awry, respected physician Dr. Jekyll transforms into the hideous Jack Hyde. As his wife Elisabeth passes her time in charitable work, rehabilitating the district's fallen women, Hyde is drawn into an escalating cycle of lust and murder that seems to know no bounds.

38

37

3.9

/10377/

46

/353/

44

/185/

2.3

/22842/

30

/10/

27

/310/

Ricky is released from a mental hospital, taking with him the memory of his brother Billy's death and embarking on a journey of relentless revenge.

69

66

6.3

/6356/

62

/265/

65

/160/

3.3

/19940/

93

/14/

64

/46/

71

/4/

Rejected by her lover, the only man left in Cheryl's life is the orphaned nephew she has raised as her own son. She'll stop at nothing to keep Billy with her. When her plans misfire, she is swept up into an insane frenzy that means death to anyone who comes between her and her obsession. But the investigating detective is convinced that Billy is the real killer - and determined to prove it. Madness and fanaticism work together to drag all concerned into a terrifying vortex of blood-letting that adds a nightmarish twist to the classic Oedipus story.

56

5.5

/18125/

59

/707/

56

/411/

2.8

/22558/

60

/35/

34

/391/

58

/13/

3.0

When Maureen Coyle, a suicidal nun who resembles Norman's former victim, Marion Crane, arrives at the motel, all bets are off and "Mother" is less than happy.

64

6.5

/44038/

66

/1261/

65

/854/

3.3

/55005/

76

/46/

61

/1161/

68

/11/

2.0

After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem.

55

52

5.3

/5973/

59

/268/

53

/132/

3.0

/11825/

57

/7/

50

/149/

Two cannibalistic brothers kill various young women to make their flesh part of a new special dish at their rundown restaurant while seeking blood sacrifices to awaken a dormant Egyptian goddess.

47

5.6

/18179/

61

/865/

62

/496/

3.0

/18612/

31

/13/

37

/326/

48

/10/

1.0

Three bounty hunters from space fly back to the town of Grovers Bend, hoping to save local residents from a new batch of Critter eggs.

51

6.4

/17834/

66

/623/

62

/379/

3.2

/19150/

33

/15/

57

/421/

42

/9/

1.0

Mike, after his release from a psychiatric hospital, teams up with his old pal Reggie to hunt down the Tall Man, who is at it again. A mysterious, beautiful girl has also become part of Mike's dreams, and they must find her before the Tall Man does.

50

6.0

/65449/

63

/2611/

61

/1457/

3.1

/136687/

25

/32/

52

/1927/

33

/7/

age 16+

After his revival in a hospital morgue, Jason fixes his vengeful attention on the Jarvis family and a group of hitherto carefree teenagers.

55

6.0

/56506/

63

/2278/

62

/1305/

3.2

/109939/

56

/34/

54

/1705/

30

/10/

age 16+

Tommy Jarvis, tormented by the fear that maybe Jason isn't really dead, unwittingly resurrects the mass murderer for another bloody rampage.

46

5.6

/62092/

60

/2284/

57

/1090/

2.7

/116130/

36

/33/

40

/2236/

45

/6/

1.0

age 17+

A traveling couple end up in an abandoned Nebraska town inhabited by a cult of murderous children who worship a demon that lives in the local cornfields.

43

41

5.3

/6907/

57

/236/

55

/147/

2.8

/11361/

46

/13/

38

/155/

1

/4/

Three girls discover that two men are willing to do anything to impress Mother and what impresses Mother is watching her sons commit acts of rape and murder. Now these women are prisoners and lowered to pawns in the game of checkers between two dim wits and their Maniac Mommy and the question becomes, can any of them escape, alive?

45

35

5.1

/3364/

56

/73/

50

/64/

2.8

/3145/

20

/5/

37

/28/

When two brothers, Josh and Mike, go to a small southern town for a vacation, they find most of the residents either dead or missing. When Mike himself goes missing, Josh teams up with the local sheriff and an attractive school teacher to find him until Josh discovers that the whole town and most of it's people have been infected by a form of toxic waste, and they have all turned into toxic vampires whom prowl the streets at night for human blood!

64

6.8

/90628/

68

/2613/

67

/1681/

3.5

/154370/

76

/71/

65

/1979/

55

/11/

2.0

age 15+

Strange things begin to occur as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone stumbles upon a dark secret about the town's founding; radio announcer Stevie witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.

76

7.1

/77664/

72

/2526/

70

/1621/

3.8

/169610/

90

/127/

82

/2048/

73

/14/