The 1980s were a very good time to be a horror fan. The genre wasn’t invented during the ’80s, but it was refined by some of the masters of horror including John Carpenter, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, Clive Barker, and more. This was also the age of the slashers like Friday the 13th‘s Jason Voorhees, A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Freddy Krueger, and Halloween’s Michael Myers. These cinematic villains were box office gold in that decade, and they also helped transform horror flicks into mainstream blockbusters.
But when it came time to determine the best ’80s horror movies, only one of the slasher movies made the cut. That’s because there was an embarrassment of riches to choose from. Some of these films are over 40 years old, and yet still in high enough demand that they’re readily available to stream. So for this Halloween season, these are the horror flicks that you should be bingeing.
7. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
You may go mad trying to reconcile the continuity between The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. It’s easier to just think of it as a remake of the first film. Before the third movie, Army of Darkness, hilariously embraced farce, Evil Dead 2 worked extremely well as a horror movie with some touches of slapstick.
Bruce Campbell reprises his role as Ash Williams from the first movie. In this one, he takes his girlfriend, Linda (Denise Bixler), on an ill-timed vacation to the woods. After unwittingly awakening the Deadites, Ash and Linda are at risk of losing their lives and their souls. The ending is off-the-wall bonkers, and foreshadows the change in setting for Army of Darkness, even though the films don’t perfectly match up. Still, it’s hard to deny that this is one of the classics of the genre.
Watch Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn on Hoopla.
6. Re-Animator (1985)
Re-Animator reinvents the original story by H. P. Lovecraft with a lot more humor, and plenty of dead bodies coming back from the grave. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) is really his own worst enemy in this flick. His reanimation fluid really can bring people back to life, but not exactly as they were before. Herbert also ropes his unwitting roommate, Daniel Cain (Bruce Abbott), into getting involved with the experiments …which quickly become disastrous.
But the real villain of the film is Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), a university professor with an unhealthy fixation on Daniel’s girlfriend, Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton). Herbert’s attempt to silence and reanimate Hill backfires and creates an adversary who wants the power of resurrection for himself … even if he’s just a head.
Watch Re-Animator on Cineverse.
5. The Fly (1986)
Director David Cronenberg takes body horror really far in The Fly, especially by the standards of 1986. Jeff Goldblum stars as Seth Brundle, a brilliant inventor who is close to unlocking the key to teleportation. The literal fly in Seth’s ointment is the insect that merges with him when he performs a test of his teleport machine. At first, Seth doesn’t realize what’s happened and he thinks he’s simply been enhanced by the machine. But soon enough, he begins mutating into a human/fly hybrid.
Seth’s lover, Veronica “Ronnie” Quaife (Geena Davis), does her best to stand by him after it becomes apparent that his humanity is slipping away. Yet, not even their love is enough when Seth’s transformation reaches its final stage.
Watch The Fly on Hulu.
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Almost every Nightmare on Elm Street fan will tell you that the third film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, is the best in the series. It’s great, but it’s not the best horror film of the series. By the time Dream Warriors arrived, Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger was already becoming a darkly comedic figure. He’d dream murder any teenagers and unleash some hilariously awful puns. But Freddy was never scarier than he was in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp), Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss), and the rest of the teenagers living on Elm street are being stalked in their dreams by Freddy despite his death years earlier. Freddy picks them off one by one whenever they fall asleep and enter his domain. And if the children die in their dreams, then they die in the real world as well.
Watch A Nightmare on Elm Street on Max.
3. Hellraiser (1987)
There have been a ridiculous number of Hellraiser movies — including a lackluster 2022 reboot on Hulu — but none have been scarier than the original. Clive Barker’s Hellraiser wisely keeps Pinhead (Doug Bradley) and the Cenobites largely offscreen, which makes them a lot more terrifying when they cross over from Hell looking for souls to claim.
Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) is the young woman who finds herself in the middle of Hell’s claim on her uncle, Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman), who murders his own brother, Larry (Andrew Robinson), with the help of Larry’s wife, Julia (Clare Higgins). In order to escape with her life and her soul intact, Kirsty needs to make a deal with a devil … and no one should ever trust a Cenobite to keep their word.
Watch Hellraiser on Prime Video.
2. The Shining (1980)
Stephen King has let it be known that he didn’t care for director Stanley Kubrick’s take on his novel The Shining. There are certain changes from the book that King probably objected to, but as a horror film, The Shining is a masterpiece. In Kubrick’s vision, the Overlook Hotel takes on sinister properties, and it’s easy to understand why Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is driven to madness.
The ghosts of the hotel are all too real, especially for Jack’s son, Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd), who is gifted with psychic powers. And when Jack inevitably goes on a rampage, his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and Danny are forced to run for their lives as the Overlook attempts to claim them as well.
Watch The Shining on Max.
1. The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter‘s The Thing was derided by critics upon its release in 1982, but it has since become beloved by generations of sci-fi and horror fans. Carpenter’s frequent collaborator Kurt Russell headlines the film as R.J. MacReady, a helicopter pilot attached to an arctic research base. The men living there on assignment unwittingly come across an alien being that can mimic any lifeform perfectly, and infect both humans and animals with its self-replicating DNA.
By the time MacReady, Childs (Keith David), Blair (Wilford Brimley), and rest of the group realize what’s happening, the Thing has already infiltrated many of them. The suspense is intense, as are the grotesque sequences when the monster reveals itself. This film has withstood the test of time and earned its title as the best horror movie from the ’80s.
Watch The Thing on Prime Video.