1980's Horror General
by rlarsonbjb | created - 22 Aug 2022 | updated - 3 weeks ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Fog (1980)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman
Votes: 83,002 | Gross: $21.38M
2. Midnight (1982)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller
A young woman fleeing her sexually abusive stepfather hitches a ride with two young men, but the three soon find themselves at the mercy of a backwoods Satanic cult.
Director: John A. Russo | Stars: Melanie Verlin, Lawrence Tierney, John Hall, C. Anthony Jackson
Votes: 1,244
3. Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)
R | 93 min | Crime, Fantasy, Mystery
NYPD detectives Shepard and Powell are working on a bizarre case of a ritualistic Aztec murder. Meanwhile, something big is attacking people of New York and only greedy small time crook Jimmy Quinn knows where its lair is.
Director: Larry Cohen | Stars: David Carradine, Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, Richard Roundtree
Votes: 9,462
4. The Stuff (1985)
R | 87 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation, but the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world.
Director: Larry Cohen | Stars: Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino
Votes: 18,496
5. It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The monster babies have been placed by court order on a deserted island so that they can live out their lives as far away from normal humans as possible without killing them. Enraged by the... See full summary »
Director: Larry Cohen | Stars: Michael Moriarty, Karen Black, Laurene Landon, James Dixon
Votes: 2,177
6. One Dark Night (1982)
PG | 89 min | Horror
As part of an initiation into a club called the Sisters, a young girl must spend the night in a mausoleum.
Directors: Tom McLoughlin, Michael Schroeder | Stars: Meg Tilly, Melissa Newman, Robin Evans, Leslie Speights
Votes: 3,754
7. The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.
Director: Dan O'Bannon | Stars: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews
Votes: 68,907 | Gross: $14.24M
8. Return of the Living Dead II (1988)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Curious kids unearth the barrels that previously helped revive the dead, which proves the second time's an undead charm.
Director: Ken Wiederhorn | Stars: James Karen, Thom Mathews, Michael Kenworthy, Thor Van Lingen
Votes: 21,551 | Gross: $9.21M
9. Night of the Creeps (1986)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Alien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie. Some teenagers start to fight against them.
Director: Fred Dekker | Stars: Jason Lively, Tom Atkins, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow
Votes: 26,116 | Gross: $0.59M
10. The Blob (1988)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A deadly entity from space crash-lands near a small town and begins consuming everyone in its path. Panic ensues as shady government scientists try to contain the horrific creature.
Director: Chuck Russell | Stars: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 43,515 | Gross: $8.25M
11. The Fog (1980)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman
Votes: 83,002 | Gross: $21.38M
12. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,479 | Gross: $13.01M
13. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
PG-13 | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A rough-and-tumble trucker and his side kick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong
Votes: 154,000 | Gross: $11.10M
14. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,670 | Gross: $13.78M
15. One Dark Night (1982)
PG | 89 min | Horror
As part of an initiation into a club called the Sisters, a young girl must spend the night in a mausoleum.
Directors: Tom McLoughlin, Michael Schroeder | Stars: Meg Tilly, Melissa Newman, Robin Evans, Leslie Speights
Votes: 3,754
16. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,106,739 | Gross: $44.02M
17. Alien Nation (1988)
R | 91 min | Action, Sci-Fi
In 1988, Earth makes the first contact with an alien civilization. In 1991, these aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after three years of quarantine.
Director: Graham Baker | Stars: James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, Kevyn Major Howard
Votes: 16,666 | Gross: $25.22M
18. Basket Case (1982)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Horror
A young man carrying a big basket that contains his extremely deformed, formerly conjoined twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will.
Director: Frank Henenlotter | Stars: Kevin VanHentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner, Robert Vogel
Votes: 21,694
19. C.H.U.D. (1984)
R | 88 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A bizarre series of sudden disappearances on the streets of New York City seems to point toward something unsavory living in the sewers.
Director: Douglas Cheek | Stars: John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, Kim Greist
Votes: 13,972 | Gross: $4.65M
20. Fade to Black (1980)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A shy, lonely film buff embarks on a killing spree against those who browbeat and betray him, all the while stalking his idol, a Marilyn Monroe lookalike.
Director: Vernon Zimmerman | Stars: Dennis Christopher, Tim Thomerson, Gwynne Gilford, Norman Burton
Votes: 4,996
21. Dead & Buried (1981)
R | 94 min | Horror, Mystery
Sheriff Dan Gillis investigates eerie deaths in a sleepy coastal town.
Director: Gary Sherman | Stars: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield
Votes: 14,913 | Gross: $0.22M
22. Warning Sign (1985)
R | 99 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A woman working as a security guard in an agricultural research facility finds herself and her co-worker Schmidt fighting to survive against their former friends.
Director: Hal Barwood | Stars: Sam Waterston, Kathleen Quinlan, Yaphet Kotto, Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 2,912 | Gross: $1.92M
23. Virus (1980)
PG | 108 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
After a virus devastates the global human population, survivors in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure and save the human race.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Masao Kusakari, Tsunehiko Watase, Isao Natsuyagi, Shin'ichi Chiba
Votes: 3,042
24. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Horror, Musical
A nerdy florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed.
Director: Frank Oz | Stars: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Levi Stubbs
Votes: 86,388 | Gross: $38.75M
25. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,409 | Gross: $2.40M
26. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 201,921 | Gross: $40.46M
27. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 201,921 | Gross: $40.46M
28. The Howling (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
After a bizarre and near deadly encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone
Votes: 40,206 | Gross: $17.99M
29. Howling II: ... Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
A man discovers that his sister was a werewolf, and helps an investigator track down a gang of the monsters through the United States and eastern Europe.
Director: Philippe Mora | Stars: Christopher Lee, Annie McEnroe, Reb Brown, Marsha A. Hunt
Votes: 8,116
30. Aliens (1986)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser
Votes: 763,101 | Gross: $85.16M
31. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
R | 79 min | Horror, Thriller
Little Billy witnesses his parents getting killed by Santa after being warned by his senile grandpa that Santa punishes those who are naughty. Now Billy is 18 and out of the orphanage, and he has just become Santa himself.
Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr. | Stars: Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Robert Brian Wilson
Votes: 18,809 | Gross: $2.49M
32. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
The now-adult Ricky talks to a psychiatrist about how he became a murderer after his brother, Billy, died, which leads back to Mother Superior.
Director: Lee Harry | Stars: Eric Freeman, James Newman, Elizabeth Kaitan, Jean Miller
Votes: 9,059 | Gross: $0.15M
33. Christmas Evil (1980)
R | 100 min | Horror, Thriller
A toy factory worker, mentally scarred as a child upon learning Santa Claus is not real, suffers a nervous breakdown after being belittled at work, and embarks on a Yuletide killing spree.
Director: Lewis Jackson | Stars: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull, Andy Fenwick
Votes: 8,573
34. Re-Animator (1985)
Unrated | 84 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Votes: 71,510 | Gross: $2.02M
35. Poltergeist (1982)
PG | 114 min | Horror, Thriller
A family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight
Votes: 179,574 | Gross: $76.61M
36. Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
R | 80 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Humanoid sea creatures start killing a fishing town's residents, and raping their women. It's up to the townsfolk and a visiting biologist to fight back and fend them off.
Directors: Barbara Peeters, Jimmy T. Murakami | Stars: Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow, Cindy Weintraub
Votes: 10,512
37. The Boogens (1981)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Otherworldly creatures are released from the bootleg tunnels underneath a small-town mining community, and begin chomping on the locals.
Director: James L. Conway | Stars: Rebecca Balding, Fred McCarren, Anne-Marie Martin, Jeff Harlan
Votes: 3,119
38. Saturday the 14th (1981)
PG | 75 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A family inherits an old mansion which houses the dangerous 'Book of Evil' that has all the monsters of the world trapped inside it.
Director: Howard R. Cohen | Stars: Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss, Jeffrey Tambor, Severn Darden
Votes: 5,024
39. Gremlins (1984)
PG | 106 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, John Louie
Votes: 247,810 | Gross: $148.17M
40. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
R | 116 min | Drama, War
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin
Votes: 790,448 | Gross: $46.36M
41. Evil Dead II (1987)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
Ash Williams, the lone survivor of an earlier onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits, holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva
Votes: 181,927 | Gross: $5.92M
42. Beetlejuice (1988)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy
The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Annie McEnroe
Votes: 340,131 | Gross: $73.71M
43. Batman (1989)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure
The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl
Votes: 404,274 | Gross: $251.19M
44. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
The solitary life of an artificial man - who was incompletely constructed and has scissors for hands - is upended when he is taken in by a suburban family.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall
Votes: 523,834 | Gross: $56.36M
45. Child's Play (1988)
R | 87 min | Horror, Thriller
A struggling single mother unknowingly gifts her son a doll imbued with a serial killer's consciousness.
Director: Tom Holland | Stars: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif
Votes: 116,756 | Gross: $33.24M
46. C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud (1989)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A military experiment to create a race of super-warriors go awry, and legions of murderous zombies are unleased upon a surburan neighborhood.
Director: David Irving | Stars: Brian Robbins, Bill Calvert, Tricia Leigh Fisher, Gerrit Graham
Votes: 4,035
47. Heavy Metal (1981)
R | 86 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
A glowing green orb that embodies ultimate evil terrorizes a young girl with an anthology of bizarre and fantastic stories.
Directors: Gerald Potterton, John Bruno, John Halas, Julian Harris, Jimmy T. Murakami, Barrie Nelson, Paul Sabella, Jack Stokes, Pino Van Lamsweerde, Harold Whitaker | Stars: Richard Romanus, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks
Votes: 38,162
48. Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
PG-13 | 83 min | Comedy, Crime
Frank Drebin comes out of retirement to help Police Squad infiltrate a gang of terrorists planning to detonate a bomb at the Academy Awards.
Director: Peter Segal | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, O.J. Simpson
Votes: 111,880 | Gross: $51.13M
49. My Mom's a Werewolf (1989)
PG | 90 min | Comedy, Horror
After being bitten by a mysterious pet-shop owner, house-wife Leslie begins a gruesome transformation into a werewolf. Her only hope is her young daughter Jennifer who races against time to stop Leslie from turning into an animal for good.
Director: Michael Fischa | Stars: Susan Blakely, John Saxon, Tina Caspary, John Schuck
Votes: 1,357
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