The Crypt Charts
The 31 Worst Horror Movies of the 1980s
The 1980s' most notorious duds — thirty-one horror films the crypt spat back out, ranked from bad to unspeakable by the Crypt Score. Only titles enough people actually saw to earn their infamy.
Ranked by Crypt Score · Updated weekly · captured Jul 20, 2026
Eligibility: a title needs at least 2 rating sources and 10,000+ votes to chart — no thin-data entries. Ranked from bad to worst.
Jaws: The Revenge
PG-131987 · Adventure, Thriller, Horror · 89m · Lorraine Gary, Lance Guest, Mario Van Peebles, Michael Caine
After another deadly shark attack, Ellen Brody decides she has had enough of New England's Amity Island and moves to the Caribbean to join her son, Michael, and his family. But a great white shark has followed her there, hungry for more lives.
Jaws 3-D
PG1983 · Thriller, Horror · 98m · Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Louis Gossett Jr.
A giant thirty-five-foot shark becomes trapped in a SeaWorld theme park and it's up to the sons of police chief Brody to rescue everyone.
Piranha II: The Spawning
R1982 · Horror · 94m · Tricia O'Neil, Steve Marachuk, Lance Henriksen, Ricky Paull Goldin
A scuba diving instructor, her biochemist boyfriend, and her police chief ex-husband try to link a series of bizarre deaths to a mutant strain of piranha fish whose lair is a sunken freighter ship off a Caribbean island resort.
Ghoulies
PG-131985 · Horror, Comedy · 81m · Peter Liapis, Lisa Pelikan, Michael Des Barres, Jack Nance
A young man and his girlfriend move into the man's old mansion home, where he becomes possessed by a need to control ancient demons.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
R1987 · Comedy, Horror · 88m · Eric Freeman, James Newman, Elizabeth Kaitan, Jean Miller
Ricky is released from a mental hospital, taking with him the memory of his brother Billy's death and embarking on a journey of relentless revenge.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
R1989 · Horror, Thriller · 100m · Jensen Daggett, Sharlene Martin, Scott Reeves, Tiffany Paulsen
Jason ships out aboard a teen-filled "love boat" bound for New York, which he soon transforms into the ultimate voyage of the damned.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
R1985 · Horror, Thriller · 92m · John Shepherd, Tiffany Helm, John Robert Dixon, Juliette Cummins
Homicidal maniac Jason returns from the grave to cause more bloody mayhem. Young Tommy may have escaped from Crystal Lake, but he’s still haunted by the gruesome events that happened there. When gory murders start happening at the secluded halfway house for troubled teens where he now lives, it seems like his nightmarish nemesis, Jason, is back for more sadistic slaughters.
Poltergeist III
PG-131988 · Horror, Thriller · 98m · Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen, Heather O'Rourke, Lara Flynn Boyle
Carol Anne has been sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle in an effort to hide her from the clutches of the ghostly Reverend Kane, but he tracks her down and terrorises her in her relatives' appartment in a tall glass building. Will he finally achieve his target and capture Carol Anne again, or will Tangina be able, yet again, to thwart him?
Troll
PG-131986 · Fantasy, Horror · 83m · Noah Hathaway, Jenny Beck, Phil Fondacaro, Michael Moriarty
When a family moves into a San Francisco apartment, an opportunistic troll decides to make his move and take possession of little Wendy, thereby paving the way for new troll recruits, the first in his army that will take eventual control of the planet. We soon discover Torok is the ex-husband of Eunice St. Clair, a resident in the building who was married to Torok.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
R1989 · Horror · 98m · Donald Pleasence, Danielle Harris, Ellie Cornell, Wendy Foxworth
After lying in a coma for a year, Michael Myers awakens and stalks his way back to his small hometown in Illinois, intent on killing his niece, Jamie, who has been confined to a mental institution since his last attempt to slay her.
Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
R1989 · Comedy, Horror · 79m · Pamela Springsteen, Tracy Griffith, Michael J. Pollard, Kyle Holman
Psychotic Angela is itching to do what she does best: slaughter dozens of teenage campers. As luck would have it, the previous site of her murders has been renamed and converted into an experimental summer camp meant to bring together privileged and lower-class teens. On the day the youths are boarding the buses to camp, Angela runs over a potential camper with a garbage truck and assumes her identity. Once she has infiltrated the camp, the real terror begins.
Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood
R1988 · Horror, Thriller · 88m · Lar Park Lincoln, Kane Hodder, Terry Kiser, Kevin Spirtas
Tina Shepard, a telekinetic teenage girl, accidentally unchains Jason from his watery grave, allowing him to go on another killing spree in the area.
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
R1989 · Horror, Thriller · 89m · Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox, Erika Anderson, Valorie Armstrong
The pregnant Alice finds Freddy Krueger striking through the sleeping mind of her unborn child, hoping to be reborn into the real world.
Maximum Overdrive
R1986 · Horror, Action, Science Fiction · 98m · Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, Yeardley Smith
When a comet passes close to the earth, machines all over the world come alive and go on homicidal rampages. A group of people at a desolate truck stop are held hostage by a gang of murderous 18-wheelers. The frightened people set out to defeat the killer machines…Or be killed by them.
The Fly II
R1989 · Horror, Science Fiction · 105m · Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson, John Getz
Martin Brundle, born of the human/fly, is adopted by his father's place of employment (Bartok Inc.) while the employees simply wait for his mutant chromosomes to come out of their dormant state.
DeepStar Six
R1989 · Action, Horror, Thriller · 99m · Taurean Blacque, Nancy Everhard, Greg Evigan, Miguel Ferrer
The crew of an experimental underwater nuclear base are forced to struggle for their lives when their explorations disturb a creature who threatens to destroy their base.
House II: The Second Story
PG-131987 · Fantasy, Horror, Comedy · 88m · Arye Gross, Jonathan Stark, Royal Dano, Bill Maher
Jesse moves into an old family property where his parents were mysteriously murdered years before. He soon finds himself with unexpected guests in the form of his mummified great-great grandfather, a mystical crystal skull, and a zombie cowboy.
Friday the 13th Part III
R1982 · Horror, Thriller · 95m · Richard Brooker, Dana Kimmell, Catherine Parks, Tracie Savage
An idyllic summer turns into a nightmare of unspeakable terror for yet another group of naïve friends. Ignoring Camp Crystal Lake's bloody legacy, one by one they fall victim to the maniacal Jason, who stalks them at every turn...
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
R1982 · Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery · 98m · Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy, Michael Currie
After a terrified toy salesman is mysteriously attacked and brought to the hospital, clutching the year's most popular Halloween mask, Dr. Daniel Challis sets out to investigate the strange events and finds himself thrust into a nightmarish conspiracy.
The Final Conflict
R1981 · Horror, Mystery, Thriller · 108m · Sam Neill, Rossano Brazzi, Don Gordon, Lisa Harrow
Damien Thorn has helped rescue the world from a recession, appearing to be a benign corporate benefactor. When he then becomes U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Damien fulfills a terrifying biblical prophecy. He also faces his own potential demise as an astronomical event brings about the second coming of Christ.
Prom Night
R1980 · Horror, Mystery · 93m · Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens, Anne-Marie Martin
At a high school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years prior.
The Seventh Sign
R1988 · Horror, Drama, Thriller · 97m · Demi Moore, Michael Biehn, Jürgen Prochnow, Peter Friedman
Abby is a pregnant woman with a curious new boarder in the apartment over her garage. Turns out he's heaven-sent and is speeding along the Apocalypse by bloodying rivers, egging on plagues and following scripture word for word.
Amityville II: The Possession
R1982 · Horror · 104m · James Olson, Burt Young, Rutanya Alda, Jack Magner
Anthony and Dolores Montelli, along with their four children, move into their dream house in Amityville and are immediately plagued by a string of paranormal experiences. When the abusive Anthony wrongly places the blame on the children, Dolores recruits a local Catholic priest to exorcise the house.
Flowers in the Attic
R1987 · Drama, Mystery, Thriller · 93m · Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson, Jeb Stuart Adams
After the death of her husband, a mother takes her kids off to live with their grandparents in a huge, decrepit old mansion. However, the kids are kept hidden in a room just below the attic, visited only by their mother who becomes less and less concerned about them and their failing health, and more concerned about herself and the inheritence she plans to win back from her dying father.
Return of the Living Dead Part II
R1988 · Horror, Comedy · 89m · Michael Kenworthy, Thor Van Lingen, Jason Hogan, James Karen
A group of kids discover one of the drums containing a rotting corpse and release the 2-4-5 Trioxin gas into the air, causing the dead to once again rise from the grave and seek out brains.
Shocker
R1989 · Horror, Thriller, Comedy · 111m · Michael Murphy, Mitch Pileggi, Peter Berg, Camille Cooper
About to be electrocuted for a catalog of heinous crimes, the unrepentant Horace Pinker transforms into a terrifying energy source. Only young athlete Jonathan Parker, with an uncanny connection to him through bizarre dreams, can fight the powerful demon.
Once Bitten
PG-131985 · Comedy, Horror, Fantasy · 94m · Jim Carrey, Lauren Hutton, Karen Kopins, Cleavon Little
Mark wants to lose his virginity, but his girlfriend wants to wait. Unfortunately for both of them, a 400-year-old vampire Countess needs to turn a virgin into a vampire before Halloween in order to preserve her own youthful appearance, and when she finds Mark, she turns his life upside-down.
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge
R1985 · Horror · 87m · Robert Englund, Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler
A teenage boy is haunted in his dreams by deceased child murderer Freddy Krueger, who is out to possess him in order to continue his reign of terror in the real world.
Children of the Corn
R1984 · Horror, Thriller · 92m · Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R.G. Armstrong, John Franklin
A traveling couple end up in an abandoned Nebraska town inhabited by a cult of murderous children who worship a demon that lives in the local cornfields.
Poltergeist II: The Other Side
PG-131986 · Horror, Thriller · 91m · Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Oliver Robins
The Freeling family move in with Diane's mother in an effort to escape the trauma and aftermath of Carol Anne's abduction by the Beast. But the Beast is not to be put off so easily and appears in a ghostly apparition as the Reverend Kane, a religious zealot responsible for the deaths of his many followers. His goal is simple - he wants the angelic Carol Anne.