The 1980s brought some of the best – and some of the worst – horror movies of all time. Following the surprise success of John Carpenter’s Halloween, slashers became the dominant horror subgenre, while the hybridizing of genres led to sci-fi horror movies like The Thing and horror comedies like An American Werewolf in London.

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As independent cinema was on the rise, the horror market was flooded with microbudget offerings like Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead, with mixed results. The decade brought both slam dunks and disappointing duds. So, here are the five best and five worst horror movies from the ‘80s.

Best: The Evil Dead (1981)

Sam Raimi gave every lazy horror director the idea to take a camera and some actors up to a cabin in the woods with his groundbreaking debut feature The Evil Dead. Bruce Campbell became an icon overnight in the role of Ash Williams, the ultimate splatter movie protagonist.

From a woman getting sexually assaulted by a tree to a demon’s head getting blown off with a shotgun, The Evil Dead is filled with iconic horror moments.

Worst: Piranha II: The Spawning (1981)

Piranha 2

This movie is technically credited as James Cameron’s directorial debut, but the producers pretty much hired him in name only and then enforced their own vision on his film. Cameron wasn’t even asked to come to the set after the first few days of shooting.

God only knows what a movie about piranhas terrorizing people would’ve looked like in the hands of the visionary filmmaker who would go on to helm The Terminator and Aliens, but in the hands of meddling producer Ovidio G. Assonitis, Piranha II: The Spawning is a complete mess.

Best: A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street

Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced horror fans to Freddy Krueger, one of the genre’s most iconic villains. Freddy haunts his victims in their dreams, which is a fascinating premise.

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The first Nightmare movie made better use of this premise than any of its sequels, with Craven deftly blurring the line between reality and the dream world.

Worst: Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982)

A kid with a pumpkin mask in Halloween III: Season of the Witch

After Halloween II followed up John Carpenter’s terrifying 1978 original with a by-the-numbers sequel about Michael Myers’ second attempt on Laurie Strode’s life, Halloween III: Season of the Witch oddly added science fiction elements into the mix.

Michael is nowhere to be seen for the first (and, so far, only) time in the franchise’s history in an insane story about a cult summoning the powers of Stonehenge and a TV commercial that can brainwash people.

Best: An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Before Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London was the go-to example of a horror comedy that nails both the horror and comedy elements of its hybrid genre.

The self-aware riffs on horror tropes are nothing short of satirical genius, but at the same time, werewolves have never been scarier.

Worst: The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984)

The first Hills Have Eyes movie was hardly an exercise in good taste, but it was at least somewhat inspired. Its 1984 sequel, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, is an exploitative cash-in on an already-exploitative movie.

The sequel was made on the cheap with a shoestring budget – and it shows. Wes Craven rarely directed the sequels to his own movies, and he should’ve maintained that policy when it came to The Hills Have Eyes franchise.

Best: The Thing (1982)

MacReady exploring the Norwegian base in The Thing

Thanks to a little movie called E.T., John Carpenter’s The Thing wasn’t appreciated in its time. But it’s since been re-evaluated as a masterpiece of sci-fi horror, second only to Ridley Scott’s original 1979 Alien movie.

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Kurt Russell leads a band of scientists in Antarctica who are terrorized by a shape-shifting alien that can assume the form of anything – including one of them – so before too long, they don’t know who they can trust.

Worst: Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Emilio Estevez by the truck from Maximum Overdrive

The only film ever to be directed by Stephen King, Maximum Overdrive takes place in a world where machines have begun rising up. As exciting as that sounds, the movie is filled with too much mindless slapstick humor and not enough of King’s usual creepiness.

King learned the hard way that filmmaking is a difficult process, and vowed to never direct another movie after the disastrous reception met by Maximum Overdrive.

Best: The Shining (1980)

Here's Johnny!

Although the author of its source novel, Stephen King, doesn’t seem to think so, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a masterpiece of horror cinema. Kubrick’s film is filled with disturbing imagery, from the butchered Grady twins to the elevator full of blood.

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Jack Nicholson is captivating in the lead role of Jack Torrance, the winter caretaker at an isolated hotel who gets writer’s block while working on his new novel, then descends into madness and tries to murder his family.

Worst: Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

Jaws The Revenge roaring shark leaping from the water

You know a franchise has gone off the rails when the first one is hailed as one of the best movies ever made and the fourth one is hailed as one of the worst. Contradicting what Hooper said about sharks in the first Jaws movie, a shark travels across the ocean to mercilessly hunt down the Brody family.

Even Michael Caine isn’t a good enough actor to salvage the interminable dreck that is the screenplay for Jaws: The Revenge. There isn’t a scary moment in the entire movie. Instead, all the shark action is just goofy and laughable.

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