Twenty 80s Horror Movies That Totally Warped My Childhood
I've loved horror movies for as long as I can remember. My parents used to watch them, too (in fact watching anything scary with my dad is an experience in and of itself, as he is quite possibly the jumpiest person you'll ever meet in your lifetime). I even had a cool babysitter named Nora growing up who used to stay up late with me watching some of the films listed below while my parents were out, and she'd cover my eyes during the really scary parts (I always peeked). These are some of the most memorable ones - please feel free to comment below and add your own!
1. Death Ship (1980)
When I was nothing but a tot growing up in Montréal, this film used to play very late on Saturday nights on the French television channel TQS, ALL the time, under its French title Le bateau de la mort.
It's about a bunch of castaways that stumble upon an old Flying Dutchman-like Nazi torture ship adrift in the ocean that kills people, and shit.
I've always been terrified of boats and open water, so this one used to make me cover my eyes, a LOT.
Fun Fact: I think Ghost Ship (2002) may, in fact, be a total rip-off of this film.
2. The Changeling (1980)
I still love this film and really enjoy watching it on stormy nights. After suffering the loss of his family, a man moves into a ginormous gothic mansion for no good Goddamn reason and is soon plagued by the spirit of a young boy who desperately wants his mysterious disappearance and subsequent death solved.
What follows is a wonderfully-written and well-paced ghost story/mystery that still runs shivers up my spine. I wish they could still make great films like these.
The events are loosely based on the experiences of Russell Hunter at the Henry Treat Rogers mansion in 1968.
Fun Fact: This movie was the first film to win Best Picture in the Canadian Film Awards after its name was changed to the Genie Awards. The film was nominated for ten Genies and won eight. For real.
3. Terror Train (1980)
This is another film that I may or may not have first seen in French on TQS, late at night, with a babysitter to cover my eyes during the scary bits. It was actually shot in Montréal, and I remember hearing a lot about it, growing up.
It's about a bunch of college kids celebrating New Year's Eve aboard a moving train. In costumes. With a killer on board. What could possibly go wrong? Right - ALL of the things.
This was the fourth slasher film in rapid succession starring Jamie Lee Curtis - following Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980) and Prom Night (1980); followed by Halloween II (1981)... earning her the well-earned title of "Scream Queen".
The scares were pretty good and the ending pretty difficult to figure out (by 1980's standards - thanks M. Night Shyamalan), so I'd really recommend checking it out.
Fun Fact: Illusionist David Copperfield makes his screen debut as... you guessed it - a magician (you get a cookie).
4. Prom Night (1980)
After watching both this film and Carrie (1976), I remember thinking that when I grew up and went to my own prom, some crazy shit was definitely going to go down. In actuality, the most scandalous event from my high school graduation was a girl from Mauritius eating the butter balls on the table because she thought they were candy. Oops.
This film follows some teenagers in the days leading up to their prom, where a masked killer is picking them off one by one because of an accident they were all involved in, as children, resulting in the death of one of their playmates. Because PLOT.
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis (I know, again) and Leslie Nielsen in the only serious role I've ever seen him play, the part of the movie I most remember being scared by is the opening scene involving the accident in an abandoned building. Kids are straight-up dicks.
Fun Fact: Another Canadian entry - yay! Also, the sequel, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987) was unrelated to the events of this film, but also pretty badass.
5. He Knows You're Alone (1980)
Tom Hanks was in this. No, seriously, look it up - I swear. Although when I first saw this film, I had no idea who Tom Hanks was (it's okay, neither did anyone else). The only person I did recognize was Patsy Pease, who payed Kim on Days of Our Lives (DON'T judge me) and being fascinated by the fact that people could be in more than one thing. C'mon, I was pretty young. And my mom used to park us in front of the TV from 1pm-3pm to watch her soaps, in case she fell asleep and needed a daily recap - remember, this was way before the internet. As a sidebar, that's a whole other couch session of why I am the way I am, today.
Where was I? Oh, right - the movie. This one was about a killer (surprise!) who goes around murdering brides-to-be before their weddings. I know, the 80s were chock-FULL of awesome storylines, right?
In any case, I mostly love this film for the era it depicted and for the almost innocent way the story progresses toward the events surrounding the climax. It's a fun slasher film full of amateur actors looking like they're having a great time. Check it out.
Fun Fact: Was shot in 15 days. They could never do that now. Unless it was found-footage, which I loathe with a burning passion.
6. Evilspeak (1981)
When I was really little, my dad worked as a draftsman for RCA-Victor... drawing stuff. Today's equivalent of a graphic designer. As a result, when the RCA Videodisc (or SelectaVision) bombed in the early 80s (to be replaced by VHS), we got 2 players and a metric ton of Videodiscs, including a bunch of classic and kid's movies and... some not-so kid-friendly movies - of of them being Evilspeak.
I used to sneak-watch this film when my parents were out, because it had boobies and some really gross shit going on. It's about a military cadet played by Clint Howard (shudder) who gets bullied and ends up finding a secret room in the academy's basement with wicked-good wifi that allows him to sync his Commodore 64 or whatever with some demons that he then uses to get back at his tormentors. As one does.
The scariest part I can remember is a sounder of pigs (no really, that's what a group of pigs is called) eating a woman in her bathtub and a bunch of fetuses in jars coming back to life.
Fun Fact: Clint Howard still sketches me right the fuck out, to this day - ever since he played that messed-up alien kid on Star Trek.
7. Ghost Story (1981)
I first discovered this gem at my local video store as a kid, and my mom was cool enough to rent it, for us. My parents never really had a problem with me watching horror movies when I was really young, as long as an adult watched them with me. I can remember her having the novel by Peter Straub, which had very similar artwork to the film adaptation's poster/cover, and I'd always been fascinated by the image of the creepy old house on the jacket.
The story centres around a group of old men who share a deadly, half-century secret that has returned to haunt them. The pacing is a little slow, but the storytelling is delicious, nonetheless, and peppered with some effective gore. One of the creepiest scenes was echoed in 1992's Raising Cain - see if you can guess which one.
Starring Fred Astaire (yup, the iconic dancer mentioned in Madonna's Vogue) and Alice Krige (The Borg Queen from Star Trek - squee!), you should probably try and find a copy of this one if you like ghosts and haunted houses, as I do.
Fun Fact: The pipe organ used is the same organ that was used by Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925).
8. Happy Birthday To Me (1981)
Here's another Montréal-filmed entry I wish I could have worked on! I remember renting this movie from D.L.M.T. Video after staring at the wall of VHS boxes in the horror section forever, before finally making my choice and tearing the little plastic token off its velcro strip (remember those?) and then waiting for my mom to make her selection. It wasn't so much the write-up on the back that influenced my choice, so much as the cover (pictured above) - a dude being shish-kebabbed and the promise of six of the most bizarre murders I'll ever see? SOLD.
The actual premise of this film is that this girl returns to private school after recovering from brain surgery (wait for it) after a car accident where her mom forgot how to BRIDGE and now her friends are dying in the most ridiculously inventive ways, because reasons. Oh, and they all wear these douchey scarves that look like the sandworms from Beetlejuice. Anyway, could she be the killer? no, she couldn't possibly. Wait... could she? And then some serious Mexican telenovela shit happens and you need to retreat to your quiet place to think about things, for a while. It's great, watch it.
Fun Fact: For a short time, this was the highest ever grossing Canadian film until Bob Clark's Porky's (1982) came along the next year. And that's just sad. But hey, it has Kim Cattrall barking like a dog in a cheerleader uniform while getting fucked in a laundry bin, so... still sad.
9. Visiting Hours (1982)
Shatner. Ironside. How could this be anything but a total train wreck of awesomesauce? Well, it's actually not that bad. The kicker for me was that this building (actually the Ste-Anne's Veteran's Hospital in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Montréal) sat directly across the street from my high school and I had to stare at it during every (except gym) class for six years. We used to dare each other to go inside during breaks. I know, kids are dumb.
The story is that a hard-hitting television reporter gets stalked and attacked by an angry viewer who disagrees with her views and, when he fails to kill her, then tracks her down to the hospital where she's being treated for her wounds in order to finish the job. So basically, it's Rescue 911 with its own built-in sequel. Think Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981) all rolled into one. Both of which should always be watched in sequence, followed by Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) for the full experience. Then watch Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) while folding laundry, or something. Skip 4, 5, 6, Resurrection and the Rob Zombie ones altogether, because they're crap, anyway.
Fun Fact: I apparently went way off-topic on this one.
10. Poltergeist (1982)
To this day, Poltergeist remains one of my favourite films of all time - I never get tired of watching both it and its direct sequel, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986). A third film was made in 1988 which should have been awesome, but due to the sudden death of Heather O'Rourke and the concurrent death of Zelda Rubinstein's mother (which forced her to leave mid-production), the film had to be hastily finished with major changes made to both the plot and character storylines. Boo-URNS.
I don't remember how old I was when I first saw this film, but I have it to thank for my fear of clowns, lullabies, partially-open closet doors, old trees, backyard swimming pools and TV static. Like, seriously - if I fell asleep with the TV on and the Star-Spangled Banner started playing to signal the end of that channel's broadcast day, I'd wake up and totally lose my shit. Sleep timers were the best thing invented for TVs since the remote control.
I'm assuming that out of all the entries on this list, this is the film that most of you have seen (hopefully). If not, it's about a family being visited by ghosts in their new home who seem innocent enough, at first - until their youngest child disappears and the real terror begins. It's Stephen Spielberg, so if you haven't seen it... do so, immediately. Paranormal Activity (2007) pales in comparison.
Fun Fact: The skeletons used in the film's climax were real (eww).
11. The Beast Within (1982)
This was probably one of the first really gory horror films I ever saw, and another one of the not-so kid-friendly selections in my parents' Videodisc library. I was so naïve (I was 5), that during the rape scene in the earlier moments of the film, I figured that the only logical explanation was that the monster pushed the lady down, ripped off her dress, plopped a baby down and ran away. 'Cause that's how babies are made, I still assume, today. Years later, I read the source novel that filled in a lot of the gaps.
Basically, a child of rape grows up and not only starts getting hair in new places, but also homicidal urges and something strange happening under his skin, too. Shit goes down and people literally lose their heads and... I still have to close my eyes because childhood trauma.
I had nightmares for years after seeing this movie, although probably due to my age - had I waited a few years, I probably would have wet myself a little less.
Fun Fact: The translation into English of the German title is "The Angel Face: Three Nights of Horror." - I would have guessed "Hasselhoff Ist In Mir", instead.
12. Sleepaway Camp (1983)
The original Sleepaway Camp was one of those movies that my friends and I had all heard about growing up, but that none of had ever actually seen. Our local video stores had the two independent sequels (which were more horror-comedies), but as a believer in film cannon, I wanted to see where it had all began. I finally got my chance in grade 7 when the cousin of a schoolmate let me borrow her badly-dubbed bootleg copy, and I was off to the races. I'm pretty sure this was also one of the first times I ever saw full-frontal male nudity in a movie, other than Porky's (1982). This in itself was pretty scandalous for a 12 year-old.
Now, full disclosure: this film was produced on a shoestring budget with no professional actors involved. In fact, one of the earlier scenes featuring the overacting "maunt" (manly aunt), as I like to call her, was so over the top that I knew I wouldn't be disappointed - because the only thing better that a good 80s horror movie is a TERRIBLE 80s horror movie. Sign me up.
So this girl, Angela, and her cousin (?) Ricky get sent to summer camp where anyone who throws shade at her gets killed and nobody really cares. The kills are pretty creative and the acting laughable, but what you're really sticking around for is the twist ending (cue the Boy George version of The Crying Game theme). You won't be disappointed.
Fun Fact: My friends Seb, Dan and I got to hang out with Felissa Rose for a bit at the Summer Fear Festival in Tatamagouche, Nova-Scotia, a few years ago. She was a delight and had fond memories of making this film as a teenager.
13. The House on Sorority Row (1983)
Again, I'm a sucker for grand, spooky old houses (I'm a child of Sco-by Doo, Where Are You?), so this one was right up my alley.
The girls of Pi Theta are planning a huge graduation party at their sorority house, much to their house mother's objection. They decide to play a prank on her in order to teach her a lesson, and wackiness ensues. Because of course. Wackiness being the girls' deaths.
Also, the box lies - there are all kinds of things that can prepare you for what happens when she fights back. Like salty snacks. And maybe weed, I don't know.
Fun Fact: Eileen Davidson, who played multiple roles on Days of Our Lives (Hey, what did I just say about judging me?) was in this. Go team Kristen/Susan/Sister Mary Moira/Thomas/Penelope!
14. C.H.U.D. (1984)
I remember watching this at my friend Alex's house during a sleepover, one night. Alex's parents bootlegged any movie they ever saw or rented, and had a massive library of VHS cassettes with a little black book of numbered codes telling you what films were on which cassette. It was basically the Netflix of our neighbourhood. It was pretty cool. As long as you could master their version of the damn Dewey Decimal System (which incidentally, I did learn when I became a librarian, in college).
"C.H.U.D." is an acronym for "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller", creatures that live in the sewers beneath New York City and decide to start eating people. The effects were decent and the scares quite effective. Plus, it stars John Heard and Daniel Stern, both from Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). So win/win!
Fun Fact: This film was so memorable to me that when I bought my first house, many years later, I unceremoniously named my next-door neighbours The CHUDs, due to the apparent inbrededness (it's a word... now) of their nature. I swear, it even trends on Twitter, occasionally.
15. Gremlins (1984)
This is still one of my favourite Christmas movies - and saying so has earned me more than a few sidelong glances, as most people forget that this film is set during the Holiday season. It is also one of the few films that scared me so badly as a child that I was afraid to sleep in the dark for a really long time. Another example is The Dark Crystal (1982), which they screened for my kindergarten class and therefore left many 5 year-olds scarred for life. Apparently, none of the school personnel actually screened the movie first - and if they did, what a bunch of sick fucks.
I first saw Gremlins when I was five or six years old, by hiding behind a chair in our dark living room one night, while my dad and older brother watched it. I don't remember if I watched the whole thing, but I think I got caught and was sent to bed - where I became convinced that there were evil, scaly gremlins hiding in my closet, under the bed or in any dark corner of my bedroom. I can remember how terrified I was. They used to broadcast it on TV every Halloween after that, with most of the scary bits cut out. I loathe sanitized films.
If somehow you haven't seen it, the film is about a remarkably old teenager who receives a unique pet from his traveling-salesman father, for Christmas. The pet comes with three very important rules for care of said-creature, all of which the "boy" breaks, because PLOT. Then he and girlfriend need to clean up his mess and prevent the creatures from multiplying and destroying everything.
The story by Chris Columbus was great (although cleaned up a little in order to get a lower rating), the practical effects were both creative and effective, and the execution superb. I really wish they could still make movies like this one.
Fun Fact: Howie Mandel, who was mostly known for his stand-up comedy at the time, provided the voice of Gizmo.
16. The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
I think this is the film that sparked my love affair with the zombie genre. I remember renting it (also from D.L.M.T. Video on St-Charles Boulevard) when I was eleven or twelve years old, and watching it while my parents were out either with their social club or at their ballroom dancing class (I know, I totally grew up in the ghetto...). I was able to stay home by myself by then, which was a big deal - but without the advantage of having a babysitter there to warn me when to shut my eyes when shit got real.
The events of the film are heavily implied as taking place several years after the events of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) and follow the employees of a medical supply company who accidentally release one of the original zombies from its containment barrel and start the whole shebang over, again. What follows is have zombie>dismember zombie>incinerate zombie>smoke produces acid rain and makes MOAR zombies>repeat. Also: punk-rock boobies.
I really loved this movie for having the right balance of horror, gore, suspense and comedy - which is tough to achieve. But at that age, I went to bed thinking that there could be a hoard of zombies slowly approaching my house I'd never know about it until it was too late - so I did what any scared kid would do: I turned on every light in the house and locked myself in my room.
Fun Fact: When I was in film school, Night of the Living Dead was used as the prime example of how important it is to renew your film's copyright. Romero didn't, and that's why everyone was/is free to rip off his iconic, groundbreaking film.
17. Witchboard (1986)
This movie is pretty cool and kind of obscure. I think all of us messed around with a Ouija board at one time of our young lives or another, just to freak each other out, mostly. I mean, they sold them at Toys R Us, so why not?
Starring Todd Allen who played Patch on Days of Our Lives (again with the judging - we talked about this) and Tawny Kitaen from... actually, I think the only other thing I ever saw her in was America's Funniest People, that weird show with Dave Coulier that aired after America's Funniest Home Videos, on Sunday nights. It was basically the same show, but in that one they admitted that the videos were all staged.
Anyway, back to the film. This girl discovers Ouija boards one night when a friend brings his to a party (I bet there's an app for that, now). She becomes addicted to using it because they didn't have meth in the 80s, and she slowly becomes possessed and Patch has to save her.
The film was creepy and well-paced, my favourite part being the totally tubular 80's psychic who helps them totally find out what's going on in a really rad way. Cowabunga, dude.
Fun Fact: The house used in the film was the same one used for Waxwork (1988). Shit, why didn't I put Waxwork on this list? Right, because I have too many, already.
18. April Fool's Day (1986)
I love the classic Agatha Christie "murder weekend" scenario established in her 1939 literary masterpiece And Then There Were None. The story structure was so popular, in fact, that it went on to inspire dozens upon dozens of authors, playwrights, screenwriters and even game creators to adopt the now familiar plot device as a staple of the perfect mystery: a group of people assembled in a remote location, each with a secret and each being dispatched by a killer who is revealed in the story's third act. One of my favourite examples of this is Clue (1985). Family Guy even paid homage to the original story in the season 9 premiere episode And Then There Were Fewer. No, but really - that Seth MacFarlane guy is as sharp as a tack.
I first saw this particular film, again, on late-night TV sometime back in the late 80s. It's not particularly scary (think of an episode of Murder, She Wrote with the cast of The Facts of Life) but it sure is a lot of fun to watch. The kills are fun and the twist ending was both unexpected and refreshing, considering the genre. I think it still holds up, today.
Fun Fact: Part of a 1980s cycle of slasher films with titles and subjects based around commemorative days and events that got made after the box-office success of Halloween (1978). The movies include Prom Night (1980), Graduation Day (1981), My Bloody Valentine (1981), The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), New Year's Evil (1980), Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), and Friday the 13th (1980).
19. Pumpkinhead (1988)
I first learned of Stan Winston's Pumpkinhead through a series of horror movie trading cards they had around when I was a kid. They were like baseball or wacky cards and even came with a stick of chewing gum in each packet. They had a still or character from a horror movie on the front and either details or a puzzle piece on the back that could be assembled into a poster. I think it was Freddy, or something. Anyway, one of the cards that struck me as particularly creepy was that of Haggis, the mountain witch from this film. It took me a few years to track down a copy on VHS, and when I did, I wasn't disappointed.
When a child is accidentally killed by a group of teenagers who are messing around in the country on their dirt bikes, the boy's grieving father seeks revenge by summoning a vengeance demon the mountain folk call "Pumpkinhead". It then tracks each of them down and slaughters them mercilessly until their blood debt has been repaid.
I remember feeling bad for the teenagers, for a change, as the boy's father was so blinded by vengeance that he was simply unable to see that they had meant no harm and were actually trying to do the right thing. Human experience and all that. Me likey.
Fun Fact: This film marks Mayim Bialik's film debut. I know, if this were trivia night you'd have said Beaches, right? WRONG.
20. Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989)
OK, so this was technically a TV movie, but I didn't know that until I started researching for this post. Besides, it was available for rent at my local video store, so it totally counts. When I was eleven years old, my friend David Thompson and I watched this in his basement one night while our respective parents were upstairs, I don't know, doing needlepoint or some shit - whatever parents do when you're that age. They had a stuffed hammerhead shark mounted on the wall, so their house was pretty dope.
The story follows Patty Duke (Sam from the The Lord of the Rings movies' mom) and her kids as she moves in with her elderly aunt following the death of her husband. But the catch is that her aunt recently purchased this really ugly lamp from The Amityville Horror house which is somehow possessed by demons (though the plug, I think). Oops. So the lamp demon starts making trouble by doing things like killing the plumber and making toaster-strudels out of the aunt's bird... it's all pretty lame - but it scared the shit out of me. So much that my dad had to sleep in my bed as I couldn't stop crying because LAMPS.
Fun Fact: Aron Eisenberg played one of the kids in this film. He's probably best-known as Nog, the Ferengi kid from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and is also one of the creepiest-looking actors I've seen since Clint Howard (Ron Howard's brother) from Evilspeak (1981). Apparently Ron used up all of the kid-cute genes in that family.
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