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80s horror movies

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Mdk7

Member
killer_klowns_from_outer_space_movie_poster_horror_comedy_review.jpg

C'mon guys, these should have been mentioned at least 15 times. :D
 
Holy shit I did same thing. I don't know what it was about that scene in particular but that image haunted me for years. Man, I'd forgotten all about that.

It was this one:


LOL at the sticker. I remember Dokken's music video. They always aired it on MTV!

Creature design is really top notch in the 80s. Yeah those movies could have only come out in the 80s. Timing was perfect. I feel that most horror movies should take place in the 70s/80s.

Idk what happened in the 90s but outside of Scream and I Know what you Did last summer, I can't recall anything that really stands out. It's like the genre became a parady.

I'd say te 90s horror is weaker than current horror, though I am a fan of the torture porn horror like Texas Chainsaw series, Hostel, House of 1000 corpses etc...which was kinda 80s like in some ways
I think over the 00s, horror's been steadily making a come back. I actually like some of the movies like Insidious and The Conjuring(though I think Annabelle looks terrible).

For the 90s, one of the stand outs had to be Candyman. THAT was a good 80s-feeling 90s horror movie. There was also Leprechaun and Wishmaster(quality definitiely dips, but they kinda kept the spirit of the 80s supernatural creature/slasher thing). I liked Del Toro's Cronos and The Devil's Backbone too. But when we got to Scream(which I think was an alright movie itself), what it spawned(I remember my friends started calling them "WB/CW Horror" where a shit load of actors and actresses known for starring in teen drama such as Party of Five and Dawson's Creek.) these really slick, "hip youth" horror. I really wasn't a fan of that stuff. It was just too mainstream for my taste and as a teen, I just never liked any of that shit(popular teen dramas) to begin with. Though that style died good in the 00s(even though a sliver of it tries to keep it alive, as every now or then, you'll see a similar styled movie being released like that sub-genre is whispering, "Remember me!" before it fades off again).

And I do have a special place for horror movies that take place in the 80s. Personally speaking, I'd like the more minimalist 80s style(where you know it's 80s, but it doesn't blatantly beat it over your head by having every guy have a mullet and girls constantly wearing neon pink leg warmers). I think Super 8 did a good job in capturing that late 70s/early 80s feel. And to me, it's just a special time, in general. Hell, if I ever made a horror movie set in the 80s, gotta get the soundtrack right. Get someone like Mitch Murder to compose the score! Fuck yeah! People I know always rag on 80s synthesizer music as sounding too fake, but I think there's some beauty in that cold, electronic sound. You hear it in a lot of horror movies, that's for sure, and that cold feel really accents the feeling of dread.
 

Halifax Fausfur

Neo Member
Like everyone else here I’m a huge fan of 80’s horror movies/ movie posters.
My mom and my grandmother we’re both HUGE horror movie fans, and I was exposed to the genre VERY early (My first film being Nightmare on Elm Street at age 5, which left me so terrified to take a bath that I cried for hours.) Later on by age 7 if there was even a glimmer of a horror film I would sit right down and watch it.

In terms of films I loved for either their art or awesome plot, some of my tops were:
Night of the Creeps- I just love how oblivious the girls are to these clearly messed up men that came to pick them up for their college prom (or whatever that was). Plus there is nothing better than slugs running out of someone’s mouth while they stand in your door in a 1980’s tux!! The art for this movie always made me smile too!
creeps.jpg

Dolls- This movie couldn’t be any better. I love every minute of it, mostly for the transformation scenes. Whether they were slow (the British girl in the attic) or quick (the dad at the end.)
dolls2.jpg

Body Parts- The art isn’t to graphic, but it would always make me double take in the video store, then remember that it’s the Re-animator that I really like.
7443_poster.jpg



The stuff was always a favorite in my house because you could yell at the screen with everyone because there was no way you’d eat that.
The-Stuff-video-poster.jpg
]
Prom Night 2 had my favorite “I’m back from the dead for vengeance” poster cause there’s nothing like a coffin locker.
hello-mary-lou-prom-night-2--movie-poster-1987-1020244086.jpg


Thanks to movie posters from the 80’s I played a lot of games and read books based on their scary covers.
I used to give myself nightmares playing Uninvited (anyone who’s played this will know not to open doors to soon).
tumblr_kzesng8XZx1qae85lo1_400.jpg


And I read this whole crappy R.L Stine series because I wanted my 80’s slasher films in book form.
107928.jpg


People are right though about everything being crappy Photoshop. It’s really sad that these great airbrushing/painting/ colored pencil techniques are going to be lost soon enough. (I actually don’t know what techniques they used for half of these awesome posters).
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
This thread might be about the best chance I have tracking down a movie I saw partly as a kid in the 90s and never been able to track down. Here's what I know about it:

A small town/city where something weird is going on. Someone (one of the main characters) is coming to investigate something, also find someone who was there earlier or something. A lot (if not all) of the villagers are acting rather weird. The main dude at some point finds a corpse in a hotel room and remarks something like looks like he swallowed a (foot/basket)ball because the dude's head is blown off or something. There's also a scene were the main dude is chased by a truck in the village that's bent on driving over him. Later on there's also some underground research station (like a lab or something) where the main dude walks around in a hazmat suit.

It scared me shitless as an 10 year old but I've never seen it completely and am sorta curious to do so :)
 

Risible

Member
This thread might be about the best chance I have tracking down a movie I saw partly as a kid in the 90s and never been able to track down. Here's what I know about it:

A small town/city where something weird is going on. Someone (one of the main characters) is coming to investigate something, also find someone who was there earlier or something. A lot (if not all) of the villagers are acting rather weird. The main dude at some point finds a corpse in a hotel room and remarks something like looks like he swallowed a (foot/basket)ball because the dude's head is blown off or something. There's also a scene were the main dude is chased by a truck in the village that's bent on driving over him. Later on there's also some underground research station (like a lab or something) where the main dude walks around in a hazmat suit.

It scared me shitless as an 10 year old but I've never seen it completely and am sorta curious to do so :)

Any more details? That sounds like a lot of horror movies :). Heck, it even sounds like Halloween III in a lot of ways, sans a few things.
 
I thought the 80s remake of The Blob was better than the original. So much fun and the Blob was much scarier in this version.

That was the first horror movie that I saw. I think I was in the 4th grade at the time. I was absolutely terrified but I pretended I was watching so as to look cool in front of my brother and his friends.
 
Might I just add, The Gate was one of the many horror movies from that decade that didn't treat kids like idiots. You really had a lot of movies that respected kids during that decade. They didn't treat them like second class citizens, but like real people(like The Goonies, E.T., The Explorers, Stand By Me...). And a lot of them don't sugar coat the experiences they go through(when there's danger, there is a fear of death, even in The Goonies). The Gate doesn't pull it's punches. These are terrifying things happening to kids and I respect the hell out of it! There should be more child-based horror movies like that.


A movie like The Gate would never get made today.
Blood & gore with grade school kids. Not happening in today's PC society.
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
Any more details? That sounds like a lot of horror movies :). Heck, it even sounds like Halloween III in a lot of ways, sans a few things.

Unfortunately, I don't recall much else. I vaguely remember one of main good guys have a beard and maybe an Indiana Jones-like hat. I also recall that they receptionist of the hotel with the aforementioned dead dude in a room was a super-creepy old lady. I haven't seen Halloween III so I guess I maybe should start there. I've already tried to google that one quote I (half)rememberd, but no lick.
 
A movie like The Gate would never get made today.
Blood & gore with grade school kids. Not happening in today's PC society.

I think that's a problem with modern society, we've become a society of paper skin and glass bones. We think we are "real" yet we are too afraid to show reality. In the threat of danger(real-life or fictional monsters), nobody's safe. I think over the years, they've made it one of the "horror rules" that "kids don't die". You rarely see kids die in horror movies now, but they weren't afraid of doing that back in the day, because in all seriousness, if there were such things as, say, werewolves, it wouldn't care if you are young or old, black or white. All it would care about is ripping people apart. I recall the scene in Silver Bullet when Corey Haim's best friend went out to play alone and was killed(off screen), seeing the police's reaction and the reaction of the boy's father(and thinking, "Man, that kid probably got ripped apart... a KID!!") adds to the scene. I also think of that scene in The Blob(remake):
the-blob_imagelarge-1.jpg


For being a fun decade most people ragged about from the 90s onward("Stupid 80s cheese!"), the 80s wasn't afraid of going to places that modern horror shits bricks thinking about. And I'm not ragging on modern horror either, but I would love more directors(hell, the industry) to grow some balls regarding subject matter. IMO, that could benefit modern horror was a whole.

And to get back on topic regarding The Gate, specifically, that was a movie where the MAJORITY of the cast were young(kids to teens, and I mean REAL teens, not 30-somethings playing teens). The parents showed up once in a while, but it was mainly focused on the kids, in their house, going through all this scary shit while the grown ups were gone. Really, that was ballsy as hell.
 

DonasaurusRex

Online Ho Champ
The THing and Prince of Darkness were good too, and I hear Jacobs Ladder was good stuff....I guess i should watch it.

Halloween 4
and 5's....last...30 mins were pretty tense.
 
This thread might be about the best chance I have tracking down a movie I saw partly as a kid in the 90s and never been able to track down. Here's what I know about it:

A small town/city where something weird is going on. Someone (one of the main characters) is coming to investigate something, also find someone who was there earlier or something. A lot (if not all) of the villagers are acting rather weird. The main dude at some point finds a corpse in a hotel room and remarks something like looks like he swallowed a (foot/basket)ball because the dude's head is blown off or something. There's also a scene were the main dude is chased by a truck in the village that's bent on driving over him. Later on there's also some underground research station (like a lab or something) where the main dude walks around in a hazmat suit.

It scared me shitless as an 10 year old but I've never seen it completely and am sorta curious to do so :)

Could it be Dead & Buried?

Or less likely, maybe In the Mouth of Madness?

A dude coming to investigate a town is such a common plot device so it's hard to pick something out specific because so many movies blend together.
 
Could it be Dead & Buried?

Or less likely, maybe In the Mouth of Madness?

A dude coming to investigate a town is such a common plot device so it's hard to pick something out specific because so many movies blend together.

It also sounds like the Tales for the Crypt episode Morning Mess, but there was no hazmat suit in that one.

EDIT:
This thread might be about the best chance I have tracking down a movie I saw partly as a kid in the 90s and never been able to track down. Here's what I know about it:

A small town/city where something weird is going on. Someone (one of the main characters) is coming to investigate something, also find someone who was there earlier or something. A lot (if not all) of the villagers are acting rather weird. The main dude at some point finds a corpse in a hotel room and remarks something like looks like he swallowed a (foot/basket)ball because the dude's head is blown off or something. There's also a scene were the main dude is chased by a truck in the village that's bent on driving over him. Later on there's also some underground research station (like a lab or something) where the main dude walks around in a hazmat suit.

It scared me shitless as an 10 year old but I've never seen it completely and am sorta curious to do so :)

Can you tell us around what year this would be. It might help us narrow down what movie it was.
 
Sorry if posted already but I discovered this gem for the first time last year, Phantasm. Yeah, I know it's 79 but it feels so 80s to me I feel like it's good company alongside these other picks. Was really surprised how fun, moody, and atmospheric this was. Has such surreal pacing a lot of it feels like a dream, also the soundtrack is incredible, perfectly complements the weirdness of the plot.

PHANTASM.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ieQxm_M2I
 

GhaleonEB

Member
A movie like The Gate would never get made today.
Blood & gore with grade school kids. Not happening in today's PC society.
Often true, but one of my annual watches is up there: Trick'r Treat. A lot of kids die, at least one rather gruesomely. (I haven't seen The Gate for comparison; it's going on my list for next month!)
 

JoeBoy101

Member
The THing and Prince of Darkness were good too, and I hear Jacobs Ladder was good stuff....I guess i should watch it.

Halloween 4
and 5's....last...30 mins were pretty tense.

Careful with that shit. Going into the horror version of Inception can be disturbing. I should quote Roger Ebert:

This movie left me reeling with turmoil and confusion, with feelings of sadness and despair. Those are the notes it strives for.

"Jacob's Ladder" enters into the hallucinations of a desperate mind, and lives there. It evokes a paranoid-schizophrenic state as effectively as any film I have ever seen. Despite an ending that is intended as victorious, the movie is a thoroughly painful and depressing experience - but, it must be said, one that has been powerfully written, directed and acted.
 
Often true, but one of my annual watches is up there: Trick'r Treat. A lot of kids die, at least one rather gruesomely. (I haven't seen The Gate for comparison; it's going on my list for next month!)

Trick 'r Treat is an awesome horror anthology. That one scene you are talking about, with the school bus(right?), I think the difference regarding scenes like that and some in the 80s movie camp is, that particularly story(within the anthology) kinda painted the majority of the kids as being really unlikable little assholes. It's similar to when you are given a group of unlikable douchebags and send someone like Victor Crowley after them, those characters are written and directed in such a way, you really don't see them as anything BUT a cliche(in horror movie sense, fodder). I think the survivor girl, who DO feel for her because we are allowed to sympathize with her. Again, writing kids like that(as least somewhat multi-dimensional) does a world of good. The Gate, sure, the kids can act annoying at time, but they are also MORE than just THAT. They got dreams, hopes, quirks and personality. They aren't just "annoying little shits", but are "kids". I love movies like that. Even thinking back to my own childhood, I knew I could act like a brat sometimes, but I also know I was aware of a lot of things, I was filled with wonder, compassion, curiosity, imagination, adventure and the such.

But yeah, thumbs up for Trick 'r Treat! I think many movie studios are afraid to approach the "anthology" format nowadays. Even in television, the "reboot" of Tales from the Darkside(now simply called "Darkside") will be less anthology, more serial like Supernatural, the X-Files or Penny Dreadful(focusing on a set group of main characters who, likely go on adventures and encounter creepy things).
 
Often true, but one of my annual watches is up there: Trick'r Treat. A lot of kids die, at least one rather gruesomely. (I haven't seen The Gate for comparison; it's going on my list for next month!)
Love Trick'r Treat!

Anthologies need to come back.
This thread might be about the best chance I have tracking down a movie I saw partly as a kid in the 90s and never been able to track down. Here's what I know about it:

A small town/city where something weird is going on. Someone (one of the main characters) is coming to investigate something, also find someone who was there earlier or something. A lot (if not all) of the villagers are acting rather weird. The main dude at some point finds a corpse in a hotel room and remarks something like looks like he swallowed a (foot/basket)ball because the dude's head is blown off or something. There's also a scene were the main dude is chased by a truck in the village that's bent on driving over him. Later on there's also some underground research station (like a lab or something) where the main dude walks around in a hazmat suit.

It scared me shitless as an 10 year old but I've never seen it completely and am sorta curious to do so :)
This all makes me think of Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982)...

Halloween+III+15.jpg
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
It also sounds like the Tales for the Crypt episode Morning Mess, but there was no hazmat suit in that one.

EDIT:

Can you tell us around what year this would be. It might help us narrow down what movie it was.

Dead & Buried, In the Mouth of Madness I have seen and aren't this movie.

Well, I think I saw it when I was 9 or 10, so that was '92 or '93. And on TV so probably not very new.

I'll check out Halloween III this weekend and see if that's it! Even if it's not sounds like a good watch :)
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I thought the 80s remake of The Blob was better than the original. So much fun and the Blob was much scarier in this version.

The Blu-ray preorders open up at 4PM Eastern today. It's going to sell out fast.
 
Love Trick'r Treat!

Anthologies need to come back.

This all makes me think of Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982)...

Halloween+III+15.jpg

The scene talked about in the hotel kinda reminds me of this:


Fuckin shit, that used to make me piss my pants as a kid! The concept of Halloween masks shooting death lasers is stupid, but that face is totally fucked up! Used to give me nightmares! Thank you 1980s horror for some of the most fucked up imagery in all of horror movies!
 

kess

Member
If anyone's up for some camp, camp, camp horror, I wholeheartedly recommend Freaked (1993), which has some insane practical effects courtesy of Screaming Mad George, and Randy Quaid as the freak show operator. Yeah, it's 90s, but the style is there.

2099520,vADbWDL43NRAF3Y53Z1Pp1Z76LkGhMHep_p_6W7601FwpWgi6UYEvgJgPeOS3+TzP7qqwCcLyODdR79920XjOw==.jpg
 
If anyone's up for some camp, camp, camp horror, I wholeheartedly recommend Freaked (1993), which has some insane practical effects courtesy of Screaming Mad George, and Randy Quaid as the freak show operator. Yeah, it's 90s, but the style is there.

2099520,vADbWDL43NRAF3Y53Z1Pp1Z76LkGhMHep_p_6W7601FwpWgi6UYEvgJgPeOS3+TzP7qqwCcLyODdR79920XjOw==.jpg
Freaked is awesome! Gotta love Sockhead!
 

N4Us

Member
tumblr_mchlhed6o41r0lqigo2_500.gif


I was trying to find a gif where the rat and cat high five each other cause my friend and I used to lose it over that scene
 
Okay, so here's a movie I'm trying to remember. It was either mid to late 80s or very early 90s.

It was a killer robot movie with a really 80s looking robot (possibly mostly white). It wasn't Chopping Mall, Hardware or Death Machine.

I believe it mostly took place in a suburb. The main scene I remember was the robot showing up at someone's front door to kill them. There may have also been a scene involving a swimming pool (possibly the robot falls in?).

That's all I got. I know it's not much to go on, but I don't think there's too many killer robot movies so hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about.

Edit: Woohoo, found its title on some random bad movie blog. Thanks google!
 

Risible

Member
Okay, so here's a movie I'm trying to remember. It was either mid to late 80s or very early 90s.

It was a killer robot movie with a really 80s looking robot (possibly mostly white). It wasn't Chopping Mall, Hardware or Death Machine.

I believe it mostly took place in a suburb. The main scene I remember was the robot showing up at someone's front door to kill them. There may have also been a scene involving a swimming pool (possibly the robot falls in?).

That's all I got. I know it's not much to go on, but I don't think there's too many killer robot movies so hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about.

Have a look through these.
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
Okay, so here's a movie I'm trying to remember. It was either mid to late 80s or very early 90s.

It was a killer robot movie with a really 80s looking robot (possibly mostly white). It wasn't Chopping Mall, Hardware or Death Machine.

I believe it mostly took place in a suburb. The main scene I remember was the robot showing up at someone's front door to kill them. There may have also been a scene involving a swimming pool (possibly the robot falls in?).

That's all I got. I know it's not much to go on, but I don't think there's too many killer robot movies so hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about.

Edit: Woohoo, found its title on some random bad movie blog. Thanks google!

Hardware was a fun romp. The perv/voyeur dude was pretty fucked up.
 

jackal27

Banned
Yeeesssss! The Thing is probably my favorite movie of all time. I'm so glad Netflix has helped me discover so many amazing 80s horror movies. The Blob remake was one that came out of left field for me and I loved it so much.

I can't wait for October this year.
 
Not 80's but I think y'all would appreciate The Guest (2014). Great score.

the-guest-teaser-poster.jpg




If anyone's up for some camp, camp, camp horror, I wholeheartedly recommend Freaked (1993), which has some insane practical effects courtesy of Screaming Mad George, and Randy Quaid as the freak show operator. Yeah, it's 90s, but the style is there.

2099520,vADbWDL43NRAF3Y53Z1Pp1Z76LkGhMHep_p_6W7601FwpWgi6UYEvgJgPeOS3+TzP7qqwCcLyODdR79920XjOw==.jpg

OMG, I've been trying to find the name of this movie in forever! THANK YOU

I loved watching this as a kid.
 
Been trying to remember a horror film I saw years ago, but I can't remember much detail about it at all. I remember there being a wooden shack in a woodland and the killer wielded a large kitchen knife, and I think he wore a mask of some description. I don't think it was supernatural and it wasn't Halloween or Friday the 13th, or any of those famous ones. I seem to recall the box art on the video was the killer's mask in the background with his knife held in front and reflecting off the knife the face of a screaming victim.

Any help? It must have been from when I was pretty young so I'm guessing it would have been late '80s.
 
It's the second one

Loved the carnival setting of the second one. Also love the scene of the kid with the shurikens. It was one of those 80s "WTF moments". The fact that the Ghoulies high five and everybody in the spook house cheers is hilarious!

This is a really underrated wes craven film, but it's one of my favorites.

0_8d1b_240528bf_L.jpg
Shocker is no way a good movie, but I have to be honest, it's one of my favorite Wes Craven movies! And the soundtrack is fuckin awesome as hell.

And for some obscure movies:

From_a_Whisper_to_a_Scream_%28film%29.jpg


The_Rejuvenator_1988_Movie_Poster.jpg


deadtimemr0.jpg
 
Been trying to remember a horror film I saw years ago, but I can't remember much detail about it at all. I remember there being a wooden shack in a woodland and the killer wielded a large kitchen knife, and I think he wore a mask of some description. I don't think it was supernatural and it wasn't Halloween or Friday the 13th, or any of those famous ones. I seem to recall the box art on the video was the killer's mask in the background with his knife held in front and reflecting off the knife the face of a screaming victim.

Any help? It must have been from when I was pretty young so I'm guessing it would have been late '80s.

Could be The Burning or The Prowler. You should see those two anyway because they are both criminally underrated by mainstream movie goers.

Edit: Did some searching for a cover for you, is this it?

BC3.jpg
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
The scene talked about in the hotel kinda reminds me of this:

Halloween-3-02.jpg


Fuckin shit, that used to make me piss my pants as a kid! The concept of Halloween masks shooting death lasers is stupid, but that face is totally fucked up! Used to give me nightmares! Thank you 1980s horror for some of the most fucked up imagery in all of horror movies!

Where is the second image from?
 
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