The 25 Best Horror Films Of The 1980s - Page 2 of 5

Dead Ringers20. “Dead Ringers” (1988)
The fleshy, splattery grotesquerie of Cronenberg’s other 1980s horrors ceded to something altogether more clinical and insidious but no less unsettling in his final film of the decade. In fact, it’s the very icy cerebral nature of “Dead Ringers” and its visual restraint (notably, this was the director’s first collaboration with future frequent collaborator cinematographer Peter Suchitzky) that makes it so effective. Inspired by real-life twin gynecologists, the film stars Jeremy Irons in a hall-of-fame double role as identical brothers Beverly and Eliot Mantle, and details the twins’ perversely symbiotic relationship as they share everything: girlfriends, patients, jealousy and complete psychotic breakdowns. There’s an element of megalomaniac sociopathy in these characters just as there are in many Cronenberg “heroes,” but here the added dimension of twisted sexual jealousy (over Genevieve Bujold) and the vulnerability of the women in their “care” (oh those nightmarish redesigned surgical instruments) compounds the slick uncanniness of this desperately disquieting horror.

Nightmare on Elm Street19. “Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984)
There are a few franchise-spawning ’80s staples that we didn’t feel quite cut the mustard enough as standalone films to figure here (diehard “Friday the 13th” fans can repair to the comment section right now), but the world’s introduction to Wes Craven‘s iconic Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) still works like gangbusters, and not just because it turns a young Johnny Depp into tomato soup. Playing in the realm of dreams and dreamscapes always allowed the ‘Nightmare’ series to plunder the darker reaches of Craven’s imagination, and the cleverly surreal flourishes that resulted here (and in 1987’s “Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors,” probably the best of the sequels) are what set the franchise above its more obviously slasher-indebted brethren. This film’s greatness lies less in the idea of a malevolent rotten-faced creature stalking teenagers in order to gorily dispatch them, and more in being in the surreal territory of our uncontrollable subconscious fears, well before the boogeyman even turns up.

Fright-Night18. “Fright Night” (1985)
A film that has managed to be very good twice over (Craig Gillespie’s remake is also a lot of fun), Tom Holland’s “Fright Night” takes its simple premise (what if you knew the new neighbor was a vampire, but you’re the type of teen no one believes?) and populates it with jump scares, light satire and cherished performances. Chris Sarandon is great as the urbane vamp-next-door, and William Ragsdale is appealingly wide-eyed as the panicking teen Charlie. But it’s really Roddy McDowall who steals the show (rather like David Tennant did in the remake) as the “vampire-hunting” TV host who turns out to be a craven fraud (McDowall modeled his performance on the Cowardly Lion). Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised the film is good though: Holland wrote “Psycho II” and also directed “Child’s Play,” so he’s a patron saint of horrors that are better than they deserve to be, and “Fright Night” is his finest hour.

The Fog17. “The Fog” (1980)
John Carpenter reinvented the horror film in 1978 with “Halloween,” but his return two years later didn’t quite have the same effect —Leper Pirate Ghosts From The Mist do not quite have the same iconic value as Masked Killer. And that’s a shame, because while it’s not as influential as its predecessor, “The Fog” is a beautifully made and hugely effective film by anyone’s standards. The film follows DJ Stevie (Adrienne Barbeau) and the other inhabitants of the Northern California town Antonio Bay as the titular weather pattern descends. Gore added by reshoots somewhat takes away from the campfire-tale vibe of the rest of the film, but it’s otherwise a masterclass in sustained atmosphere, a film that makes a case as Carpenter’s most eerily beautiful and well composed (and the score is great). Carpenter’s other horror films of the era are worth checking out, particularly the flawed but often terrific “Prince Of Darkness,” but this is a definite highlight.

Near Dark16. “Near Dark” (1987)
In a slightly similar way to Joel Schumacher‘s vastly inferior “Lost Boys” (and those who are going to kvetch that that film isn’t listed here should watch it again), Kathryn Bigelow‘s grungily compelling movie showcases the attraction and seductive power of the vampire lifestyle as a kind of tribal choice. Long before Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino would mash up biker culture and vampires with “From Dusk Till Dawn” Bigelow’s film presented a much more believable yet no less stylish vision as Adrian Pasdar’s farmboy is turned vampire by Jenny Wright‘s bloodsucking drifter, and must overcome his horror and self-hatred over killing if he wants to run with his new “family” (played with ghoulish relish by Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and little boy vampire Joshua John Miller). It’s a violent, gorily great-looking horror, and even its rather pat resolution can’t undo the twisted, finger-lickin’ grittiness and confidence of this cultish slice of desert-trash Americana.