40. The Lost Boys (1987)
Vampires aren’t the most interesting in ghouls in scary lore. While there are exceptions to this rule, they just aren’t as fascinating as werewolves, fish-men, or zombies. In The Lost Boys, though, they’re the coolest bats in town. Directed by the late, great Joel Schumacher, the movie gave bloodsuckers a hip ‘80s makeover that involved leather, mullets, and sleeping all day, partying all night. Throw in a topless, greased-up saxophone player and one of the best soundtracks of all time, and what you have is a movie that knows how to rock hard and scare people at the same time. I still believe in Lost Boys. (Kieran Fisher)
39. The Changeling (1980)
The Changeling deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as horror’s greatest on-screen classics. The Seattle-set haunted house film, which is directed by Peter Medak, is a unique and truly jarring psychological scare-fest. In it, East Coast composer John Russell tries to bury his grief after a horrible accent by renting a new home in the Pacific Northwest. Er, well, the home is new to him, but it soon becomes apparent that the space has a dark history that it’s eager to share with its new owner by any means necessary. Bookended with heartbreak and filled to the brim with eerie moments, The Changeling rang in a decade of horror and left an impression on viewers that lasted well after the ’80s were over. (Valerie Ettenhofer)
38. Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)
No one shoots New York City like Larry Cohen. In all of his films, but especially Q: The Winged Serpent, which is predominantly shot in exteriors, each frame is filled with non-actors who have no idea they are being featured in a movie that will be remembered over 40 years later. Cohen’s films are electric because he takes a mondo idea like a resurrected Aztec God terrorizing Manhattan and, through guerilla filmmaking tactics, is able to ground the outlandish in reality by using real New Yorkers as his background extras.
There’s plenty of wonderful takeaways from the film, like the fact that Cohen actually got the Chrysler Building to let him shoot machine guns off of the roof, but it’s Michael Moriarty’s intelligent, committed turn as a small-time crook who can’t escape his own emotional failings that help make the movie so much more than grindhouse shlock. Cherish its gloriously cheesy wit, because a film like Q could only come out in the 1980s. (Jacob Trussell)
37. Night of the Creeps (1986)
In 1986, Fred Dekker made his directorial debut with his zombie-alien invasion-slasher hybrid, Night of the Creeps. Alien parasites that first landed on Earth in 1959 resurface nearly thirty years later during pledge week at Corman University. Chaos ensues and the only one that can save the day is Tom Atkins and his sweet, sweet ‘stache. Dekker’s debut is a horror nerds dream, chockfull of references both subtle and in-your-face obvious.
Like any great ’80s horror movie, this one comes fully loaded with gruesome practical effects. Zombies die left and right in creative ways and most of the time their deaths are followed by exploding heads the release slugs. Night of the Creeps is the perfect gory horror-comedy and one of the best debuts the genre has seen. Thrill me? Oh, I’ve been thrilled. (Chris Coffel)
36. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
When Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II was released, the LA Times called it the “Blue Velvet of high school movies” and frankly: they aren’t being completely hyperbolic. About a teen possessed by the evil spirit of a dead prom queen, the film doesn’t share the same level of bleakness or abject violence as David Lynch’s film, but it plays in similarly disparate moods that give the film an avant-garde tone unequaled in similar horror films from the late 1980s.
What it smartly does is not get hung up on having art-house aspersions, opting instead for fun supernatural surrealism aimed at the middle school slumber party crowd who rented the VHS based on the box art alone. Despite featuring cinematography evocative of the abstract eye of Luis Bunuel, Prom Night II isn’t ready-made for exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, but if one high school-set shocker was going to, it’d be this one. (Jacob Trussell)
35. Child’s Play (1988)
To the uninitiated, the Child’s Play franchise looks like a joke, and as with any horror franchise that goes on long enough, its filmmakers eventually show signs that they’re in on the fun. Still, in the beginning, there was Andy’s Good Guy Doll, and as freshly possessed by Brad Dourif’s gleefully wicked serial killer, the toy was genuinely scary.
Child’s Play has so many batshit elements that make it as inexplicably good as it is, from its Voodoo-based premise to Chucky’s freaky wisecracking attitude to the fact that it’s a Christmas movie through and through. Child’s Play is a perfect ‘80s relic because it juggles both the pervasive silliness that sets ‘80s horror apart from its peers, and the invincible slasher threats of more self-serious classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th. (Valerie Ettenhofer)
34. The Stuff (1985)
Only a madman like Larry Cohen could make a film like The Stuff, a.k.a. a film where Michael Moriarty does a spot-on Foghorn Leghorn impression while unraveling a capitalist conspiracy to sell evil yogurt to the masses. But I get it: you find pernicious white goo while fracking the earth and you think to yourself “hmm, I bet this is delicious.” Imagine if in The Blob (‘58 or ‘88, it doesn’t matter), the homeless person’s first instinct wasn’t to pick up the interdenominational goop with a stick but to lick it. That’s the vibe. And the totality of all that goofiness is an alarmingly on-the-nose commentary on the dangers of consumption and greed. Be it of the Reagan-y corporate variety or… something more literal and tasty. (Meg Shields)
33. Christine (1983)
It’s unclear how I ended up with yet another Stephen King movie to blurb (except that yes, I did assign the blurbs), but I’m not complaining. While it may not be the best that either King or director John Carpenter has to offer, Christine remains a highly effective coming of age tale about a boy, a girl, and a killer car. Carpenter brings the story to life with fantastic visuals — the car screaming down the road while on fire, the car screaming back to life as it heals itself, the car — and a propulsive score (paired with a great rock n roll soundtrack), and it finds thrills in the clashes with victims, bullies, and heroes alike. There’s a reason the name Christine has become synonymous with killer cars, and it remains the best of the sub-genre. (Rob Hunter)
32. The Howling (1981)
The peak expression of new-age malaise is the “retreat” phenomenon. You know, those remote, humanistic compounds that promise to mend your fractured mind-body connection with the power of breathing exercises? Well, the ’80s attitude towards all that earnest existential profiteering was a big ole’ sneer. Or, at least that’s what I assume based on The Howling, Joe Dante’s ghoulish werewolf flick that’s part Broadcast News, part Looney Tunes, part Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
Grisly but never self-serious, for every pun and Universal monster reference there’s an impressive practical effect courtesy of boy wonder Rob Bottin (subbing in for his mentor, Rick Baker, who was tied up with An American Werewolf In London). Dante got his start in Hollywood working for low budget legend Roger Corman, and The Howling walks a distinctly Corman-y line between chuckles and spooks. You’ll laugh at Slim Pickens eating from a can of Wolf brand chili. And you’ll cry at the horrible things Bottin can do with air bladders and a bit of latex. (Meg Shields)
31. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
“Feed me, Seymour!” Frank Oz’s cult classic scratches the same camp horror itch that Rocky Horror Picture Show did eleven years earlier by combining catchy music with an ever-escalating plot and characters who seem designed to inspire group Halloween costumes for years to come. You could call Little Shop of Horrors a resting point in this list, a chance to get your heart rate under control as you sing along to “Suddenly, Seymour”, but you still shouldn’t ignore the horror aspects that earned the title a spot on our list.
Steve Martin’s sadist dentist is hilarious, it’s true, but for those of us who fear the big white chair, he sets our teeth on edge. Then there’s Audrey II (Levi Stubbs), the groovy, smooth-talking alien plant that develops an insatiable taste for human blood and meat. Little Shop of Horrors is a sweet film, but it’s got bite. (Valerie Ettenhofer)
Related Topics: 31 Days of Horror Lists, Horror
