The Crypt Charts
The Top 31 Horror Movies of the 1980s
Thirty-one films that defined the 1980s in horror — ranked by the Crypt Score, our audience-first blend of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and viewer votes.
Ranked by Crypt Score · Updated weekly · captured Jul 20, 2026
Eligibility: a title needs at least 2 rating sources and 1,000+ votes to chart — no thin-data entries.
The Shining
R1980 · Horror, Thriller · 144m · Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
The Thing
R1982 · Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction · 109m · Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
The Fly
R1986 · Horror, Science Fiction · 96m · Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
When brilliant, eccentric scientist Seth Brundle makes a huge technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.
Evil Dead II
R1987 · Horror, Comedy, Fantasy · 84m · Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie DePaiva
Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda find a log cabin in the woods with a voice recording from an archeologist who had recorded himself reciting ancient chants from "The Book of the Dead." As they play the recording an evil power is unleashed taking over Linda's body.
Santa Sangre
NC-171989 · Thriller, Drama, Horror · 122m · Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell, Thelma Tixou
A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless, cult leader mother, and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
R1984 · Horror · 91m · Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, Amanda Wyss
Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...
Predator
R1987 · Science Fiction, Action, Adventure · 107m · Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall, Elpidia Carrillo
A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
Poltergeist
PG1982 · Horror · 114m · JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne
The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.
An American Werewolf in London
R1981 · Comedy, Horror, Fantasy · 97m · David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne, John Woodvine
American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.
The Woman in Black
1989 · Horror, Mystery, TV Movie · 100m · Adrian Rawlins, Bernard Hepton, David Daker, Pauline Moran
A lawyer travels to a small seaside town to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman, but soon becomes ensnared in something much more sinister.
Gremlins
PG1984 · Fantasy, Horror, Comedy · 106m · Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Frances Lee McCain
After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.
The Evil Dead
NC-171981 · Horror · 85m · Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
In 1979, a group of college students find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented for a weekend getaway.
Manhunter
R1986 · Crime, Horror, Thriller · 120m · William L. Petersen, Tom Noonan, Dennis Farina, Brian Cox
FBI Agent Will Graham, who retired after catching Hannibal Lecter, returns to duty to engage in a risky cat-and-mouse game with Lecter to capture a new killer.
Dead Ringers
R1988 · Thriller, Horror · 115m · Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon
Elliot, a successful gynecologist, works at the same practice as his identical twin, Beverly. Elliot is attracted to many of his patients and has affairs with them. When he inevitably loses interest, he will give the woman over to Beverly, the meeker of the two, without the woman knowing the difference. Beverly falls hard for one of the patients, Claire, but when she inadvertently deceives him, he slips into a state of madness.
Little Shop of Horrors
PG-131986 · Horror, Comedy · 94m · Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Levi Stubbs
Seymour Krelborn is a nerdy orphan working at Mushnik's; a flower shop in urban Skid Row. He harbors a crush on fellow co-worker, Audrey Fulquard, and is berated by Mr. Mushnik daily. One day, Seymour finds a very mysterious unidentified plant which he calls Audrey II. The plant seems to have a craving for blood and soon begins to sing for it’s supper.
The Dead Zone
R1983 · Thriller, Horror, Science Fiction · 103m · Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom
Johnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee's home one night, is involved in a car crash which leaves him in a coma for 5 years. When he wakes, he discovers he has an ability to see into the past, present and future life of anyone with whom he comes into physical contact.
Possession
R1981 · Horror · 124m · Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent
A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.
White Dog
PG1982 · Drama, Horror, Thriller · 90m · Kristy McNichol, Paul Winfield, Burl Ives, Jameson Parker
Samuel Fuller’s throat-grabbing exposé on American racism was misunderstood and withheld from release when it was made in the early eighties.Today, the notorious film is lauded for its daring metaphor and gripping pulp filmmaking. Kristy McNichol stars as a young actress who adopts a lost German shepherd, only to discover through a series of horrifying incidents that the dog has been trained to attack black people, and Paul Winfield plays the animal trainer who tries to cure him. A snarling, uncompromising vision, White Dog is a tragic portrait of the evil done by that most corruptible of all animals; the human being.
Special Bulletin
1983 · TV Movie, Drama, Thriller · 103m · Ed Flanders, Kathryn Walker, Roxanne Hart, Christopher Allport
An evening of TV programming is interrupted by breaking news: in Charleston, South Carolina, two Coast Guard personnel and two members of a local news team have been taken hostage by a group of terrorists who are seeking to destroy the triggers of all local nuclear devices. Moreover, the terrorists threaten to detonate their own device if their demands are not met.
The Lost Boys
R1987 · Horror, Comedy, Thriller · 97m · Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes
When an unsuspecting town newcomer is drawn to local blood fiends, the Frog brothers and other unlikely heroes gear up to rescue him.
They Live
R1988 · Science Fiction, Action, Thriller · 93m · Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George Buck Flower
A lone drifter stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission.
Videodrome
R1983 · Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery · 88m · James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.
Angel Heart
R1987 · Horror, Mystery · 113m · Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling
A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.
Re-Animator
NR1985 · Science Fiction, Comedy, Horror · 86m · Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Conducting clandestine experiments within the morgue at Miskatonic University, scientist Herbert West reveals to a fellow graduate student his groundbreaking work concerning the re-animation of fresh corpses.
The Return of the Living Dead
R1985 · Comedy, Horror, Science Fiction · 91m · Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews
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.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
NR1986 · Crime, Horror, Thriller · 83m · Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles, Mary Demas
Arriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.
The Changeling
R1980 · Horror · 107m · George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas, John Colicos
After a tragic event happens, composer John Russell moves to Seattle to try to overcome it and build a new and peaceful life in a lonely big house that has been uninhabited for many years. But, soon after, the obscure history of such an old mansion and his own past begin to haunt him.
The Deliberate Stranger
NR1986 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · 185m · Mark Harmon, Frederic Forrest, George Grizzard, Ben Masters
Based on a true story, this film depicts the life of Ted Bundy, the serial killer. In 1974, after having murdered several young women, he leaves Seattle for Utah, where he is a law student and where other girls disappear. It takes the cooperation of a number of police forces to work efficiently on this case. Soon, but not soon enough, the police eliminate endless possibilities and close in on him. Bundy is tried in the media and his good-boy attitude brings him sympathy but also the hatred of many.
Fright Night
R1985 · Comedy, Horror · 107m · Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Roddy McDowall
Charley Brewster, a high school student, accidentally discovers the true and creepy nature of Jerry Dandrige, his dashing and enigmatic new neighbor; but no one seems willing to believe him.
Dressed to Kill
R1980 · Thriller, Mystery, Horror · 105m · Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Angie Dickinson, Keith Gordon
After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.