HORROR MOVIES OF 1988
by astrowolf81 | created - 23 Jan 2017 | updated - 24 Jan 2017 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 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: 145,366 | Gross: $13.01M
classic political sf, lots of fights great lines and jc on top satirical form
2. 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: 116,655 | Gross: $33.24M
the start of the unstoppably mediocre franchise
3. Friday the 13th: The New Blood (1988)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
Jason Voorhees is accidentally freed from his watery prison by a telekinetic teenager. Now, only she can stop him.
Director: John Carl Buechler | Stars: Terry Kiser, Jennifer Banko, John Otrin, Susan Blu
Votes: 42,336 | Gross: $19.17M
theres no new blood.
4. 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: 43,469 | Gross: $8.25M
unexpectedly great remake, great fx ,kevin dillon. shawnee smith
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
R | 93 min | Horror
Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may be able to defeat him for good.
Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Robert Englund, Rodney Eastman, John Beckman, Kisha Brackel
Votes: 61,589 | Gross: $49.37M
freddy starts to become a joke round about here
6. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
R | 97 min | Horror, Thriller
Kirsty is brought to an institution after the horrible events of Hellraiser (1987), where the occult-obsessive head doctor resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites and their demonic underworld.
Director: Tony Randel | Stars: Doug Bradley, Ashley Laurence, Clare Higgins, Kenneth Cranham
Votes: 56,096 | Gross: $11.09M
much better in the extended cut than u remember
7. Dead Ringers (1988)
R | 116 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon
Votes: 53,544 | Gross: $9.13M
cronenbergs classic messed up twin gynocologists
8. Vampire's Kiss (1988)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Fantasy
After an encounter with a neck-biter, a publishing executive thinks that he's turning into a vampire.
Director: Robert Bierman | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jennifer Beals, Elizabeth Ashley
Votes: 20,850 | Gross: $0.73M
insane horror comedy, nic cage has never been more out there
9. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
PG-13 | 88 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Aliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.
Director: Stephen Chiodo | Stars: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon
Votes: 45,443 | Gross: $15.63M
terrific fun, great fx
10. Poltergeist III (1988)
PG-13 | 98 min | Horror, Thriller
Carol Anne is staying with her aunt in a high-rise building, where the supernatural forces haunting her make their return.
Director: Gary Sherman | Stars: Heather O'Rourke, Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen, Zelda Rubinstein
Votes: 20,452 | Gross: $14.11M
this is the one in the tower block, no one cared
11. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
Ten years after his original massacre, the invalid Michael Myers awakens on Halloween Eve and returns to Haddonfield to kill his seven-year-old niece. Can Dr. Loomis stop him?
Director: Dwight H. Little | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell, Danielle Harris, George P. Wilbur
Votes: 58,623 | Gross: $17.77M
first real dumb michael myers movie, danielle harris
12. Fright Night Part 2 (1988)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller
"Fright Night Part 2" is a sequel to "link=tt0089175]". Charley Brewster and the horror host Peter Vincent must face more vampires, out for revenge.
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace | Stars: William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Traci Lind, Julie Carmen
Votes: 14,231 | Gross: $2.98M
nah boring
13. Phantasm II (1988)
R | 97 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
Mike, now released from a psychiatric hospital, meets with Reggie, and discover his dreams (the events of the original film) are real, and they both journey to find and stop the evil Tall Man from his grim work.
Director: Don Coscarelli | Stars: James Le Gros, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm, Paula Irvine
Votes: 16,752 | Gross: $7.28M
dreamlike sequel as mike and reggie hunt the tall man. james legros
14. The Vanishing (1988)
Not Rated | 107 min | Mystery, Thriller
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.
Director: George Sluizer | Stars: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus
Votes: 44,120
terrifying ending
15. Pumpkinhead (1988)
R | 86 min | Fantasy, Horror
After a tragic accident, a man conjures up a towering, vengeful demon called Pumpkinhead to destroy a group of unsuspecting teenagers.
Director: Stan Winston | Stars: Lance Henriksen, Jeff East, John D'Aquino, Kimberly Ross
Votes: 27,799 | Gross: $4.39M
ok
16. Maniac Cop (1988)
R | 85 min | Action, Crime, Horror
A killer dressed in a police uniform begins murdering innocent people on the streets of New York City.
Director: William Lustig | Stars: Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree
Votes: 20,158 | Gross: $0.67M
another odd franchise,the first is pretty good thtom atkins, bruce campbell, richard roundtree
17. The Lair of the White Worm (1988)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Horror
When an archaeologist uncovers a strange skull in a foreign land, the residents of a nearby town begin to disappear, leading to further inexplicable occurrences.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, Peter Capaldi
Votes: 15,078 | Gross: $1.19M
ridicoulous madness from ken russel. amanda donohoe peter capaldi
18. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
R | 98 min | Fantasy, Horror
An anthropologist goes to Haiti after hearing rumors about a drug used by black magic practitioners to turn people into zombies.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield
Votes: 27,639 | Gross: $19.60M
cool voodoo drama from wes craven bill pulmann
19. 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: 21,540 | Gross: $9.21M
james karen and thom matthews return but they forgot the fun
20. The Seventh Sign (1988)
R | 97 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Abby Quinn is eagerly awaiting childbirth but is haunted by dreams where she suffers a miscarriage. When she decides to rent a room to a mysterious stranger, she realizes a chain of events that will unleash the end of humanity.
Director: Carl Schultz | Stars: Demi Moore, Michael Biehn, Jürgen Prochnow, Peter Friedman
Votes: 15,669 | Gross: $18.88M
demi moore and michael biehn in daft but fun religious horror
21. Waxwork (1988)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Horror
A wax museum owner uses his horror exhibits to unleash evil on the world.
Director: Anthony Hickox | Stars: Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Jennifer Bassey, Joe Baker
Votes: 14,032 | Gross: $0.81M
super fun deborah foreman movie set in guess where
22. Lady in White (1988)
PG-13 | 113 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
An author tells the story of how, as a young boy growing up in a 1960s small town, he was haunted after witnessing the murder of a little girl.
Director: Frank LaLoggia | Stars: Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 8,040 | Gross: $1.71M
super creepy low key ghost action
23. Monkey Shines (1988)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten
Votes: 13,023 | Gross: $5.34M
romero mad monkey film as good as that sounds
24. Night of the Demons (1988)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Ten teenagers party at an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween night. When an evil force awakens, demonic spirits keep them from leaving and turn their gathering into a living Hell.
Director: Kevin Tenney | Stars: Cathy Podewell, Alvin Alexis, Hal Havins, Allison Barron
Votes: 19,116 | Gross: $3.11M
kids go to a party at a funeral party on halloween. i mean what did they expect
25. Critters 2 (1988)
PG-13 | 86 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Eggs of the small but voracious alien creatures called Crites are left behind on earth and, after hatching, set their appetites on the small farm town of Grover's Bend.
Director: Mick Garris | Stars: Scott Grimes, Liane Curtis, Terrence Mann, Don Keith Opper
Votes: 16,843 | Gross: $3.81M
more critters come.
26. Man Behind the Sun (1988)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, History, Horror
Japanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.
Director: Tun-Fei Mou | Stars: Gang Wang, Dai Yao Wu, Runshen Wang, Zhe Quan
Votes: 7,270
totally gross out scum flick about japanese prison experiments. will never watch again
27. Watchers (1988)
R | 91 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
A boy takes in a stray dog, later discovering that it is an ultra-intelligent runaway being stalked by a dangerous creature from the same genetic research lab.
Director: Jon Hess | Stars: Corey Haim, Michael Ironside, Christopher Cary, Graeme Campbell
Votes: 4,697 | Gross: $0.94M
genetic mutated dog rubbih with corey haim michael ironside
28. Brain Damage (1988)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
One morning, a young man wakes to find that a small, disgusting creature has attached itself to the base of his brain stem. The creature gives him a euphoric state of happiness but demands human victims in return.
Director: Frank Henenlotter | Stars: Rick Hearst, Gordon MacDonald, Jennifer Lowry, Theo Barnes
Votes: 13,157
henenlotters follow up to basket case, even better tripy, funny fantastic
29. 976-EVIL (1988)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Horror
People who dial 976-EVIL receive supernatural powers and turn into satanic killers. When Spike dialed 976-EVIL, he knew it was an expensive toll call, but he didn't know that he'd have to pay for it with his soul.
Director: Robert Englund | Stars: Stephen Geoffreys, Patrick O'Bryan, Jim Metzler, María Rubell
Votes: 6,008 | Gross: $2.96M
robert englund directed horror movie starrng stephen geoffreys
30. Dead Heat (1988)
R | 84 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
A cop is killed investigating a strange case of resurrected corpses. His partner and a pathologist resurrect him, but he only has a limited time before he starts to decompose, and he uses it to chase down the diabolical man who killed him.
Director: Mark Goldblatt | Stars: Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo, Lindsay Frost, Darren McGavin
Votes: 9,227 | Gross: $3.59M
undead policemen quite fun
31. Pin (1988)
R | 103 min | Horror, Thriller
Isolated by his strange parents, Leon finds solace in an imaginary friend, which happens to be an anatomy doll from his father's doctor office. Unfortunately, the doll begins to take over Leon's life, and his sister's life as well.
Director: Sandor Stern | Stars: David Hewlett, Cynthia Preston, Terry O'Quinn, Bronwen Mantel
Votes: 5,280
haunted doll
32. Amsterdamned (1988)
R | 114 min | Action, Crime, Horror
A hard-boiled police detective sets out to capture a gruesome serial killer terrorizing the canals of Amsterdam.
Director: Dick Maas | Stars: Huub Stapel, Monique van de Ven, Serge-Henri Valcke, Hidde Maas
Votes: 9,467
bodies are turning up in the canals in amsterdam
33. Pulse (1988)
PG-13 | 91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A visiting son tries to warn his father and stepmother that they are being menaced by a living and intelligent pulse of electricity that moves from house to house and terrorizes the residents therein.
Director: Paul Golding | Stars: Cliff De Young, Roxanne Hart, Joey Lawrence, Matthew Lawrence
Votes: 2,866 | Gross: $0.04M
killer electricity
34. Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988)
R | 80 min | Comedy, Horror
As part of a sorority ritual, pledges and their male companions steal a trophy from a bowling alley; unbeknownst to them, it contains a devilish imp who makes their lives a living Hell.
Director: David DeCoteau | Stars: Andras Jones, Linnea Quigley, Robin Stille, Hal Havins
Votes: 4,889
classic tite, less than classic film. linnea quigley
35. Scarecrows (1988)
R | 83 min | Action, Crime, Horror
Criminals hijack a plane and force the pilot and his daughter to fly them to Mexico. However, an unexpected landing finds them in a cemetery inhabited by killer scarecrows.
Director: William Wesley | Stars: Ted Vernon, Michael David Simms, Richard Vidan, Kristina Sanborn
Votes: 5,645
great robbers vs killer scarecrows movie
36. Bad Dreams (1988)
R | 80 min | Horror, Thriller
The lone survivor of a suicide cult wakes from a thirteen-year coma in a psychiatric ward, where other patients suddenly start dying under mysterious and gruesome circumstances.
Director: Andrew Fleming | Stars: Jennifer Rubin, Bruce Abbott, Richard Lynch, Dean Cameron
Votes: 4,351 | Gross: $9.80M
jennifer rubin escapes from a cult ok
37. Jack's Back (1988)
R | 97 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A serial killer in Los Angeles celebrates Jack the Ripper's 100th birthday by committing similar murders and only one has a chance of stopping him.
Director: Rowdy Herrington | Stars: James Spader, Cynthia Gibb, Jim Haynie, Robert Picardo
Votes: 4,081 | Gross: $0.49M
james spader battles jack the ripper in 1988
38. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)
R | 75 min | Comedy, Horror
A detective embarks on a mission to track down a woman in L.A.'s seedy nightclubs, only to come face-to-face with a blood-thirsty cult of lethally beautiful prostitutes. Is he the next victim of Hollywood's demented Chainsaw Hookers?
Director: Fred Olen Ray | Stars: Gunnar Hansen, Linnea Quigley, John Henry Richardson, Dawn Wildsmith
Votes: 3,974
linnea quigley as if u hadnt guessed
39. American Gothic (1987)
R | 90 min | Horror
A group of travellers make emergency landing on an island in the Pacific Northwest after their seaplane malfunctioned, and stumble across an isolated and psychopathic family.
Director: John Hough | Stars: Sarah Torgov, Terence Kelly, Mark Erickson, Caroline Barclay
Votes: 4,537
not as good as the painting
40. The Unnamable (1988)
R | 87 min | Horror
College students check out a haunted house where in the 1800's an ugly monster called "the Unnamable" was trapped in a vault.
Director: Jean-Paul Ouellette | Stars: Charles Klausmeyer, Mark Kinsey Stephenson, Alexandra Durrell, Laura Albert
Votes: 3,167
unwatchable ha ha
41. Catacombs (1988)
R | 88 min | Horror
A demon is trapped in a monastery. 400 years later a young girl arrives at the monastery to study.
Director: David Schmoeller | Stars: Timothy Van Patten, Ian Abercrombie, Jeremy West, Laura Schaefer
Votes: 935
useless tim van patten rubbish
42. To Die For (1988)
R | 94 min | Horror, Romance, Thriller
L.A. real estate agent Kate Wooten gets a new lease on life when she learns that her new client, a mysterious and handsome man named Vlad, is looking for a house isolated in the Hollywood ... See full summary »
Director: Deran Sarafian | Stars: Brendan Hughes, Sydney Walsh, Amanda Wyss, Scott Jacoby
Votes: 587
amanda wyss is inthis
43. Dream Demon (1988)
R | 89 min | Horror
A young woman about to be married begins having terrifying dreams about demons. When she wakes, however, the demons are real and begin to commit gruesome murders.
Director: Harley Cokeliss | Stars: Jemma Redgrave, Kathleen Wilhoite, Timothy Spall, Jimmy Nail
Votes: 1,447
odd british horror movie with tim spall and jimmy nail
44. Evil Dead Trap (1988)
Unrated | 102 min | Horror
A late night TV presenter receives a snuff tape, in which a woman is brutally killed. She decides to take a crew out to a location indicated in the tape, but only death and despair await them.
Director: Toshiharu Ikeda | Stars: Miyuki Ono, Aya Katsuragi, Hitomi Kobayashi, Eriko Nakagawa
Votes: 3,789
crazed japanese flick about a tv crew killed off by a foetus
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