HORROR MOVIES FROM THE 1980s (1980-1989)
by bigrudedude87 | created - 26 Jul 2013 | updated - 10 Sep 2013 | PublicBest decade for horror and other movie genres.
Subgenres of the horror genre
with each films
Slasher Films
Serial Killer Thriller Films
Splatter & Gore films
Zombie Films
Giallos
Supernatural
Science Fiction with Horror Elements
Vampire Films
Werewolf Films
Demon Films
Cannibal Films
Horror genre mixed with Thriller
& Crime genres
Killer Doll Films
Killer Kid Films
Ghost Films
Killer Sea Creature Films
Monster Films
Creature Features
Ghoul Films
Killer Animal Films
Mummy Films
Action Horror
Comedy Horror
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,106,973 | Gross: $44.02M
2. Friday the 13th (1980)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of teenage camp counselors attempt to re-open an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past, but they are stalked by a mysterious, relentless killer.
Director: Sean S. Cunningham | Stars: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan
Votes: 157,486 | Gross: $39.75M
3. Maniac (1980)
18+ | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A psychopathic man goes on a killing and mutilation spree in New York City.
Director: William Lustig | Stars: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton, Kelly Piper
Votes: 20,219
4. Prom Night (1980)
R | 92 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
At a high-school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years previously.
Director: Paul Lynch | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens, Anne-Marie Martin
Votes: 20,931 | Gross: $14.80M
5. Inferno (1980)
R | 106 min | Horror
An American student investigates the disappearance of his sister and the death of a friend, both connected from New York to Rome by an old alchemy book.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Leigh McCloskey, Irene Miracle, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi
Votes: 24,024
6. The Fog (1980)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman
Votes: 83,022 | Gross: $21.38M
7. The Grim Reaper (1980)
R | 92 min | Horror
A group of friends and a hitchhiker become stranded on a tourist island where they are stalked by a disfigured cannibalistic killer who is prowling the island after killing its residents.
Director: Joe D'Amato | Stars: Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Margaret Mazzantini
Votes: 6,971
aka The Grim Reaper
8. He Knows You're Alone (1980)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller
A young bride-to-be is being stalked upon by a serial killer in Staten Island. She gets help from a former lover, but will they manage to escape?
Director: Armand Mastroianni | Stars: Don Scardino, Caitlin O'Heaney, Elizabeth Kemp, Tom Rolfing
Votes: 4,243
9. The Silent Scream (1979)
R | 87 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
During her first semester at college, a co-ed finds housing at a seaside mansion where, following the death of a fellow-student, she becomes entangled in a murder mystery surrounding the property and its secretive tenants.
Director: Denny Harris | Stars: Rebecca Balding, Cameron Mitchell, Avery Schreiber, Barbara Steele
Votes: 2,089
10. Nightmare City (1980)
R | 88 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
An airplane exposed to radiation lands, and blood drinking zombies emerge armed with knives, guns and teeth! They go on a rampage slicing, dicing, and biting their way across the Italian countryside.
Director: Umberto Lenzi | Stars: Hugo Stiglitz, Laura Trotter, Maria Rosaria Omaggio, Francisco Rabal
Votes: 6,734
aka City of the Walking Dead
11. Hell of the Living Dead (1980)
Unrated | 99 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
After an experiment gone wrong, a virus that turns people into zombies spreads throughout New Guinea. A female reporter and her cameraman, and a team of four commandos sent to investigate try to survive the onslaught.
Directors: Bruno Mattei, Claudio Fragasso | Stars: Margie Newton, Franco Garofalo, Selan Karay, José Gras
Votes: 5,924
aka Night of the Zombies aka Zombie Creeping Flesh
12. Motel Hell (1980)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller
A seemingly friendly farmer and his sister kidnap unsuspecting travelers and bury them alive, using them to create the "special meat" they are famous for.
Director: Kevin Connor | Stars: Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod
Votes: 13,617 | Gross: $6.34M
13. Mother's Day (1980)
Unrated | 91 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller
Two brothers kidnap and brutalize three women for the pleasure of their demented mother.
Director: Charles Kaufman | Stars: Tiana Pierce, Nancy Hendrickson, Deborah Luce, Frederick Coffin
Votes: 6,204
14. City of the Living Dead (1980)
Not Rated | 93 min | Horror
A reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves.
Director: Lucio Fulci | Stars: Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi
Votes: 19,359
aka The Gates of Hell
15. Alligator (1980)
R | 91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.
Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger
Votes: 15,873
16. Fade to Black (1980)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A shy, lonely film buff embarks on a killing spree against those who browbeat and betray him, all the while stalking his idol, a Marilyn Monroe lookalike.
Director: Vernon Zimmerman | Stars: Dennis Christopher, Tim Thomerson, Gwynne Gilford, Norman Burton
Votes: 4,997
17. Dressed to Kill (1980)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A mysterious blonde woman kills one of a psychiatrist's patients, and then goes after the high-class call girl who witnessed the murder.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon
Votes: 48,241 | Gross: $31.90M
18. The Boogey Man (1980)
R | 82 min | Horror
Through the reflection in the mirror, a girl witnesses her mother's boyfriend's murder.
Director: Ulli Lommel | Stars: Suzanna Love, John Carradine, Ron James, Nicholas Love
Votes: 5,108 | Gross: $4.50M
19. Blood Beach (1980)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Something is attacking and killing people on the beach. David and Mariana, old friends, search for clues where they played as kids to uncover the mysterious creature.
Director: Jeffrey Bloom | Stars: David Huffman, Marianna Hill, Burt Young, Otis Young
Votes: 2,861
20. The Changeling (1980)
R | 107 min | Horror, Mystery
After the death of his wife and daughter in a car crash, a music professor staying at a long-vacant Seattle mansion is dragged into a decades-old mystery by an inexplicable presence in the mansion's attic.
Director: Peter Medak | Stars: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas, Jean Marsh
Votes: 40,026
21. Terror Train (1980)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Three years after a prank went terribly awry, the six college students responsible are targeted by a masked killer at a New Year's Eve party aboard a moving train.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner, David Copperfield
Votes: 13,852
22. Funeral Home (1980)
R | 93 min | Horror, Thriller
A young woman arrives at her grandmother's house, which used to be a funeral home, to help her turn the place into a bed-and-breakfast inn. After they open, however, guests begin disappearing or turning up dead.
Director: William Fruet | Stars: Kay Hawtrey, Lesleh Donaldson, Barry Morse, Dean Garbett
Votes: 1,607
23. Christmas Evil (1980)
R | 100 min | Horror, Thriller
A toy factory worker, mentally scarred as a child upon learning Santa Claus is not real, suffers a nervous breakdown after being belittled at work, and embarks on a Yuletide killing spree.
Director: Lewis Jackson | Stars: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull, Andy Fenwick
Votes: 8,574
24. Beyond Evil (1980)
R | 94 min | Horror
An architect and his wife move into a colonial mansion, where the demonic presence of the original owner's wife takes residence.
Director: Herb Freed | Stars: John Saxon, Lynda Day George, Michael Dante, Mario Milano
Votes: 1,038
25. Eaten Alive! (1980)
Not Rated | 92 min | Adventure, Horror
A young woman teams up with a mercenary to find her missing sister in the jungles of New Guinea where they find that a deranged leader of a religious cult has located his commune in an area inhabited by cannibals.
Director: Umberto Lenzi | Stars: Robert Kerman, Janet Agren, Ivan Rassimov, Mel Ferrer
Votes: 4,599
26. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Unrated | 95 min | Adventure, Horror
During a rescue mission into the Amazon rainforest, a professor stumbles across lost film shot by a missing documentary crew.
Director: Ruggero Deodato | Stars: Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi
Votes: 61,160
27. House on the Edge of the Park (1980)
91 min | Horror, Thriller
Two low-life punks invite themselves to a party at a posh villa and after being taunted by their snobbish hosts, hold everyone hostage and subject them to various forms of torture and mayhem.
Director: Ruggero Deodato | Stars: David Hess, Annie Belle, Christian Borromeo, Giovanni Lombardo Radice
Votes: 5,941
28. Toxic Zombies (1980)
R | 89 min | Horror
Marijuana growers deep in the woods are hit with a new toxic herbicide, and they turn into mindless cannibals killing everyone they come into contact with.
Director: Charles McCrann | Stars: Charles McCrann, Beverly Shapiro, Dennis Helfend, Kevin Hanlon
Votes: 1,157
aka Toxic Zombies
29. Night of the Demon (1980)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror
An anthropologist and his students attempt to track down a Bigfoot responsible for a rash of violent murders, only to uncover something even more sinister.
Director: James C. Wasson | Stars: Michael Cutt, Joy Allen, Bob Collins, Jody Lazarus
Votes: 2,516
30. Macabre (1980)
Unrated | 89 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A middle-aged woman, traumatized from the death of her adulterous lover, moves into a room at a New Orleans boarding house where the blind landlord becomes suspicious to her activities of continuing her affair with her dead lover.
Director: Lamberto Bava | Stars: Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny, Roberto Posse
Votes: 3,092
31. To All a Goodnight (1980)
R | 87 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of teenagers at a party find themselves being stalked by a maniacal killer in a Santa Claus costume.
Director: David Hess | Stars: Jennifer Runyon, Forrest Swonsen, Linda Gentile, William Lauer
Votes: 2,356
32. Phobia (1980)
R | 91 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A psychiatrist involved in a radical new therapy comes under suspicion when his patients are murdered, each according to their individual phobias.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Paul Michael Glaser, Susan Hogan, John Colicos, David Bolt
Votes: 838 | Gross: $0.06M
33. The Children (1980)
R | 93 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A nuclear-plant leak turns a bus-load of children into murderous atomic zombies with black fingernails.
Director: Max Kalmanowicz | Stars: Martin Shakar, Gil Rogers, Gale Garnett, Shannon Bolin
Votes: 2,749
34. Altered States (1980)
R | 102 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid
Votes: 38,646 | Gross: $19.85M
35. Cannibals in the Streets (1980)
R | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Mentally unstable Vietnam vets who were held captive by the Viet Cong come back to America after being rescued carrying a dangerous virus that turns people into cannibals when bitten.
Director: Antonio Margheriti | Stars: John Saxon, Elizabeth Turner, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Cinzia De Carolis
Votes: 4,298
aka Cannibals in the Streets aka Invasion of the Flesh Hunters
36. Death Ship (1980)
R | 91 min | Adventure, Horror, Mystery
A mysterious ghostly freighter rams and sinks a modern day cruise ship whose survivors climb aboard the freighter and discover that it is a World War II Nazi torture vessel.
Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes
Votes: 5,695
37. The Awakening (1980)
R | 101 min | Horror
An archeologist discovers his daughter is possessed by the spirit of an Egyptian queen. To save mankind he must destroy her.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Charlton Heston, Susannah York, Jill Townsend, Stephanie Zimbalist
Votes: 2,865 | Gross: $8.42M
38. Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
R | 80 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Humanoid sea creatures start killing a fishing town's residents, and raping their women. It's up to the townsfolk and a visiting biologist to fight back and fend them off.
Directors: Barbara Peeters, Jimmy T. Murakami | Stars: Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow, Cindy Weintraub
Votes: 10,513
39. Don't Go in the House (1979)
R | 82 min | Horror
A disturbed young man who was burned as a child by his sadistic mother stalks women with a flamethrower.
Director: Joseph Ellison | Stars: Dan Grimaldi, Charles Bonet, Bill Ricci, Robert Carnegie
Votes: 5,246
40. Don't Answer the Phone! (1980)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller