
Decade
1980s Horror
The horror that defined the 1980s — ranked by Crypt Score, from era-defining classics to the deep cuts worth resurrecting.
625 titles

The Seventh Sign
›R1988 · Horror, Drama, Thriller · 97m · Demi Moore, Michael Biehn, Jürgen Prochnow
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.

Flowers in the Attic
›R1987 · Drama, Mystery, Thriller · 93m · Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson
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.

The January Man
›R1989 · Crime, Mystery, Thriller · 97m · Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Nick and Frank Starkey were both policemen. A scandal forced Nick to leave the force, now a serial killer has driven the police to take him back. A web that includes Frank's wife, bribery, and corruption all are in the background as Nick tries to uncover the secret of where the killer will strike next, and finally must lay a trap without the police.

Contamination
›R1980 · Science Fiction, Horror · 95m · Ian McCulloch, Louise Marleau, Marino Masé
A former astronaut helps a government agent and a police detective track the source of mysterious alien pod spores, filled with lethal flesh-dissolving acid, to a South American coffee plantation controlled by alien pod clones.

Without Warning
›R1980 · Horror, Science Fiction · 89m · Tarah Nutter, Christopher S. Nelson, Jack Palance
When a mountain town is besieged by aliens, stranded teens Sandy and Greg team up with a local hunter as a paranoid war vet becomes convinced they're the enemy.

The Curse
›R1987 · Horror, Science Fiction · 92m · Wil Wheaton, Claude Akins, Malcolm Danare
Nathan Hayes is a religious man trying to hold onto his farm and keep his family in line. A real estate developer is trying to buy most of the farm property in the area, including Mr. Hayes’ family farm, in the hope that the Tennesse Valley Authority will choose the town for the site of a new dam and recreational area. The night of a terrible storm, an unidentified, glowing object crashes on the Hayes farm and with it comes a horrible curse for the family and other members of the community.

Scarecrows
›R1988 · Horror · 83m · Ted Vernon, Michael David Simms, Richard Vidan
Five men heist the Camp Pendleton payroll and kidnap a pilot and his daughter, who are forced to fly them to Mexico. Enroute a double cross has one of the thieves parachute with the loot into an abandoned farm surrounded by strange scarecrows. The rest of the team jump after their loot and their former partner. Everything happens during the course of one very dark night.

Stepfather 2
›R1989 · Horror, Thriller · 93m · Terry O'Quinn, Meg Foster, Caroline Williams
"Stepfather" Jerry Blake escapes an insane asylum and winds up in another town, this time impersonating a marriage counselor. With a future wife and new stepson who love him, Blake eliminates anyone who stands in his way to building the perfect family.

Student Bodies
›R1981 · Comedy, Horror · 86m · Kristen Riter, Matthew Goldsby, Joe Flood
This zany send-up of teen slasher flicks features a maniacal psycho known as the Breather, who stalks –and murders– promiscuous students at a suburban high school. The fanatical killer's unusual weapons include paper clips, blackboard erasers and eggplants.

Hospital Massacre
›R1981 · Horror, Thriller · 89m · Barbi Benton, Charles Lucia, Jon Van Ness
When Susan was a little girl, she rejected the Valentine of a lovestruck classmate. Decades later, she’s come to the hospital for a routine medical examination, and finds herself trapped in a bizarre nightmare, made all the worse as her vengeful childhood valentine, disguised among the hospital staff, begins murdering everyone in his path as a means of proving his undying ‘romantic’ obsession…

The Island
›R1980 · Thriller, Horror, Mystery · 114m · Michael Caine, David Warner, Angela Punch McGregor
David Nau leads a band of modern day pirates who raid yachts and sail boats of people on vacation in the Caribbean. When reporter Blair Maynard and his son arrive to investigate the mystery of the disappearing boats, Nau and his band of raiders decide to induct them into their tribe.

Bloodbath at the House of Death
›R1984 · Comedy, Horror · 91m · Kenny Everett, Pamela Stephenson, Vincent Price
Six scientists arrive at the creepy Headstone Manor to investigate a strange phenomena which was the site of a mysterious massacre years earlier where 18 guests were killed in one night. It turns out that the house is the place of a satanic cult lead by a sinister monk who plans to kill the scientists who are inhabiting this house of Satan.

Neon Maniacs
›R1986 · Horror · 91m · Clyde Hayes, Leilani Sarelle, Donna Locke
A group of teenagers in San Francisco discover a nest of homicidal monsters living in a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, but when they try to tell authorities, no one believes them.

The Outing
›R1987 · Horror · 87m · Deborah Winters, James Huston, Andra St. Ivanyi
A group of high schoolers decide to stay in a natural museum after closing hours, but a newly acquired and mysterious lamp hiding a deadly force will turn the fun into horror.

It's Alive III: Island of the Alive
›R1987 · Horror · 94m · Michael Moriarty, Karen Black, Laurene Landon
The mutant babies have been placed by court order on a deserted island. Appalled by the cynicism and exploitation by the legal system and the media, the man responsible leads an expedition to the island to free them.

The Dead Next Door
›NR1989 · Horror, Action, Thriller · 84m · Peter Ferry, Bogdan Pecic, Michael Grossi
The government sets up a zombie squad after an epidemic has made the world run rampant with living corpses. The team head off to Ohio to try and find a cure but soon run into a crazy cult of zombie lovers who are set on preserving the walking dead as they believe it's God's will.

The Boogens
›R1981 · Horror · 95m · Rebecca Balding, Fred McCarren, Anne-Marie Martin
Otherworldly creatures inhabit the bootlegging tunnels underneath a small town mining community, and they kill any of the townsfolk who invade their home.

Edge of Sanity
›R1989 · Horror, Thriller · 91m · Anthony Perkins, Glynis Barber, Sarah Maur Thorp
When his experiments into a powerful new anesthetic go hideously awry, respected physician Dr. Jekyll transforms into the hideous Jack Hyde. As his wife Elisabeth passes her time in charitable work, rehabilitating the district's fallen women, Hyde is drawn into an escalating cycle of lust and murder that seems to know no bounds.

Killer Party
›R1986 · Comedy, Horror · 92m · Joanna Johnson, Elaine Wilkes, Sherry Willis-Burch
It's April Fool's Day and the sisters of Sigma Alpha Pi believe they've found the perfect place to throw a party: the abandoned fraternity house where the guillotined pledge once lost his head in a hazing gone awry.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood
›R1982 · Horror, Mystery, Thriller · 88m · Laurie Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow
A crazed killer stalks college students who gave up their vacation to clean a deserted dormitory.

Nightwish
›1989 · Horror, Science Fiction · 96m · Brian Thompson, Alisha Das, Jack Starrett
A professor and four graduate students journey to a crumbling mansion to investigate paranormal activity and must battle ghosts, aliens and satanic entities.

Hack-O-Lantern
›R1988 · Horror, Thriller · 96m · Hy Pyke, Gregory Scott Cummins, Katina Garner
When Tommy was a boy, he saw his grandpa, the leader of a vicious satanic cult, murder his father in a brutal ritual on Halloween night. Now he is 18, and grandpa is ready to indoctrinate him into the ways of the black arts.

The Hearse
›PG1980 · Horror, Mystery, Drama · 99m · Trish Van Devere, Joseph Cotten, David Gautreaux
A schoolteacher moves into her deceased aunt’s house in a small Californian town, and is harassed by unfriendly locals and a mysterious hearse.

Curse II: The Bite
›R1989 · Horror · 98m · Jill Schoelen, J. Eddie Peck, Jamie Farr
After a young man is bitten on the hand by a radioactive snake, his hand changes into a lethal snake head, which attacks everyone he comes into contact with. Also, his body becomes filled with snakes. Now, he must prevent himself from hurting others.
