In the 1980s, it seemed like slasher movies ruled the day in the horror movie genre. The decade was full of movies featuring slasher killers like Jason, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger. However, taking a look at the best movies of the decade will reveal that the type of horror movies that stood the test of time was much more varied.
The decade of the 80s provided fans with a good mix of haunted houses, alien invasions, demonic attacks, and even a werewolf masterpiece mixed in with a few of the more prominent slasher movies. By the end of the 1980s, horror movies changed again, but the decade provided some of the more memorable movies that the genre ever produced.
1980 - The Shining - 8.4
In 1980, a Stephen King adaptation arrived that split the movie-going fandom and King's constant readers in half. This was Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, a movie that remains considered one of the best horror movies of all time. However, the movie is hated by King and many fans of his book for the changes made to the story.
The movie stars Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, a man who takes his family to a hotel before the snowy season to live there and write his next book while serving as the caretaker. Fans of The Shining point to the visuals and tense atmosphere as why it is a movie every horror fan needs to see.
1981 - An American Werewolf In London - 7.5
There were a few werewolf movies released around the same time, and while The Howling maintains its spot near the top of fans' favorites, An American Werewolf in London is the best-rated of them all. The movie features two friends hitchhiking across Europe when they are attacked by a werewolf.
Directed by John Landis, the movie is great because it is scary and has fantastic practical effects but never takes itself too seriously, remaining a pitch-perfect horror-comedy. The makeup effects by Rick Baker were so great, it picked up an Oscar nomination.
1982 - The Thing - 8.1
In 1982, John Carpenter released The Thing, one of the best movies of his career and it was not only a box office bomb but also a critically panned release. It wasn't until The Thing was a decade old that critics reappraised it and called it one of the best horror movies of all time.
The Thing is an alien invasion horror movie where the alien can take on the form of anyone, meaning the survivors at the Arctic base have no idea who they can trust. The movie is now a beloved classic, with a prequel almost 30 years later and a massive fanbase thanks to the practical effects and claustrophobic terror.
1983 - Videodrome - 7.2
The best-rated horror movie in 1983 according to IMDb voters is a movie that most young movie fans have likely never seen. However, it is a movie that all horror fans should watch and is even more relevant in today's world of streaming TV and all-access social media.
David Cronenberg's Videodrome is a body horror movie where a television network president discovers a broadcast signal featuring torture and violence and then airs it on his network, causing hallucinations and eventual death and destruction. In an era of slasher movies, this is one horror release with a message that made people really think about what media consumption means for a person's psyche.
1984 - A Nightmare On Elm Street - 7.5
While Friday the 13th and Halloween were building their franchises based on unstoppable serial killers, Wes Craven did something different in 1984 and fans loved it. Craven took the idea of a slasher killer and put him in teenager's dreams, causing nightmares for an entire generation of movie fans with A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Freddy Krueger faced a diminishing level of respect over the years when he became more comedic. However, this first movie remains highly rated and beloved, daring to do something different in the era of slasher killers.
1985 - The Return Of The Living Dead - 7.3
In 1985, George Romero released his third movie in his zombie trilogy, but that wasn't the zombie movie that IMDb fans preferred in that specific year. The top-rated horror movie for fans that year was a horror comedy called The Return of the Living Dead.
This movie took Romero's zombies that he created in Night of the Living Dead and perfected in Dawn of the Dead and made them comedic devices. The movie was not only a hilarious horror-comedy, with zombies almost begging for more brains to eat, but had a punk rock aesthetic, right down to its soundtrack.
1986 - The Fly - 7.6
The 1980s proved that not all horror remakes were bad movies and there were quite a few that were better than the originals. In 1986, David Cronenberg directed the remake of the classic body-horror movie The Fly.
This new version starred Jeff Goldblum as the scientist who tries to master teleportation and ends up turning into a fly-hybrid creature. The movie won the Oscar for makeup effects and fans praised both the acting, makeup effects, and the movie's love story.
1987 - Evil Dead II - 7.7
In 1981, Sam Raimi directed one of the most beloved independent horror movies of all tie in The Evil Dead. He returned six years later with a remake of the movie, titled Evil Dead II and it ended up becoming one of the highest-rated horror movies of all time.
Not only did it receive a 7.7 from IMDb fans, but it is 95% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 89% fresh rating by fans there. Evil Dead II still holds up today with its story about young people unlocking an ancient evil at a cabin in the woods.
1988 - Child's Play - 6.6
Outside of A Nightmare on Elm Street, the only other slasher genre movie to top the best of horror lists for IMDb fans in the 1980s was Child's Play. However, it also faced the same fate as Freddy's movies, as Chucky also became more comedic over the years and the franchise's critical success dropped.
The first movie was a straight horror movie that saw a young boy receive the Chucky toy doll for Christmas only to find out it is possessed by a serial killer who sets out on a murder spree for revenge.
1989 - Pet Sematary - 6.6
In a nice bit of bookends for the 1980s, the top-rated horror movies according to IMDb fans in 1980 and 1989 were both based on Stephen King novels. While The Shining made some big and controversial changes to the source material, Pet Sematary remained pretty loyal, with a man trying to bring his son back from the dead with catastrophic results.
King fans loved it, as the Master of Horror wrote the script, and director Mary Lambert remained faithful to the source material. The movie was a blockbuster when released and ended up as one of King's more nihilistic horror movies, much to the delight of horror fans.