They're here: Best horror movies of the 80s

"You wanna see something really scary?" Great line from the 1983 flick "Twilight Zone: The Movie." And the perfect way to begin our list of best horror films of the 80s.

The list is generated by reader suggestions, reviews of the movies and a little personal opinion here and there. It's not as long as our previous lists of best comedies, worst songs, best videos and worst films. But it'll still give you a great guide to picking movies to watch between now and Halloween.

Excerpts from critic reviews are only included in the top 5 for this list. Critics are traditionally harsh on horror movies and their comments weren't pretty beyond the very best of the movies. I picked the "taglines" for the rest of the flicks.

Enjoy the list and remember: "You can't choose between life and death when we're dealing with what is in between."

Top 20 Horror Films of the 80s:

20. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986): Dennis Hooper, Caroline Williams. "After a decade of silence... The buzzz is back!"

19. C.H.U.D. (1984): Daniel Stern, John Heard. "You Won't Want To Know What It Means."

18. The Changeling (1980): George C. Scott, Jean Marsh. "Whatever you do...DON'T GO INTO THE ATTIC."

17. Hellraiser (1987): Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins. "Demon to some. Angel to others."

16. The Evil Dead (1981): Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss. "The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror."

15. Fright Night (1985): Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale. "If you love being scared, it'll be the night of your life."

14. House on Sorority Row (1983): Kate McNeil, Eileen Davidson. "Sisters in life.  Sisters in death."

13. Re-Animator (1985): Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott. "Herbert West Has A Very Good Head On His Shoulders... And Another One In A Dish On His Desk."

12. The Lost Boys (1987): Jason Patric, Corey Haim. "Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire."

11. Dressed to Kill (1980): Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson. "Every Nightmare Has A Beginning ... This One Never Ends."

10. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): Johnny Depp, Robert Englund. "A scream that wakes you up, might be your own."

9. The Believers (1987): Martin Sheen, Helen Shaver. "They exist. Fear them."

8. Return of the Living Dead (1985): Clu Gulager, James Karen. "They're back ... They're Hungry ... And they're NOT vegetarian."

7. Prince of Darkness (1987): Donald Pleasance, Jameson Parker. "It is evil. It is real. It is awakening."

6. Christine (1983): Keith Gordon, John Stockwell. "Hell hath no Fury...like Christine."

The top 5...

5. The Shining (1980): Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall. One critic said: "It is not just a great horror film; it is a psychological profile of how people wrestle with their unsavory pasts."

4. Night of the Creeps (1986): Jason Lively, Steve Marshall. One critic said: "Rarely is a horror comedy as much fun to watch as this movie is."

3. American Werewolf in London (1981): David Naughton, Jenny Agutter. One critic said: "It may be one of the best endings to any movie, ever."

2. The Thing (1982): Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley. One critic said: "If you don't repeatedly drop your jaw and gape at the screen in disbelief, you might need to lay off the PCP."

1. Poltergeist (1982): Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams. One critic said: "This is the movie The Amityville Horror dreamed of being."

The scariest scenes: The face-ripping scene, that dreaded clown, the bodies floating in the pool. The list goes on and on. The cast of Poltergeist was virtually unknown before the movie. And though ToBe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) is given credit for directing it, rumor had it that writer Steven Spielberg often took control of the shooting, giving this move the quintessential 80s feel.

So there's the list. Feel free to share your darts and laurels.

Speaking of horror flicks...

Our Stuck in the 80s special Halloween podcast is now online, featuring music and scenes from our favorite movies, along with the stories that made the day special for us back in the 80s. Click here to listen or click here to subscribe to the series for free on iTunes.

Comments

[alleya]

dash fantastic

[sozeeta]

does anyone remember a movie name in which few men where searching for diamonds when they met a skinny blond girl , her dress is torn and she looks like dead , they took her with them to help here and look after her ,after that each man is murdered in a misterious way ,she was the only survivor,
the end was when she tore her dress and lay down as if she was attacked or raped , that moment we knew she was responsible in a way of killing these men .

[Julie]

scary movies from the 80's are so much better than the ones out there today :)

[joe]

A family of four driving down a highway in the daytime. The car suddenly stops. The parents get out and leaves the kids behind. A hairy beast with a big snout comes out and scares the kids. The parents return as the creature leaves. They come to find out the creature hides out in a coffin in a church. Does anyone know the name of this movie?

[joe]

A family of four driving down a highway in the daytime. The car suddenly stops. The parents get out and leaves the kids behind. A hairy beast with a big snout comes out and scares the kids. The parents return as the creature leaves. They come to find out the creature hides out in a coffin in a church. Does anyone know the name of this movie?

[joe]

A family of four driving down a highway in the daytime. The car suddenly stops. The parents get out and leaves the kids behind. A hairy beast with a big snout comes out and scares the kids. The parents return as the creature leaves. They come to find out the creature hides out in a coffin in a church. Does anyone know the name of this movie?

[tracy]

i am trying to find a movie about where this girl comes out of her house and all the sudden she is sucked down into the mud and that is the only thing i remember about the movie except there were four girls that lived in that house... please help me i really want this movie

[Clay C]

I am glad to see that Christine made the list. I have always been very fond of that film. "Has it ever occurred to you that part of being a parent... is trying to kill your kids....see you aound pal" - Arnie Cunningham

[Clay C]

What about "The Final Terror" and "Just Before Dawn"? Great 80's horror flicks(of the killer-in-the-woods genre) IMO

[brian]

vicki, I think you may be talking about Slaughter High. The plot sounds really familiar.

[vicki]

does anyone remeber this movie can't think of the name but he was a nerd in school and these jocks put his face in the hopper and stuff well they put a joker 's hat on him and he pushed him out a window well he came back in revendge and killed all that hurt him and all you heard was his bells on the joker's hat please help me figure that one out i thought it was joker or april's fool but it is not thank you got to love the 80's

[Rochelle]

does anyone remember a movie in which it stars out like at a drive-in.But 2 girls join a sorority but the house is haunted. One girl gets possessed or something and is crawling on the walls and ceiling. Dressed up for halloween or something. I believe it is a 1980's movie. Please help!

[nancy]

does anyone remember a movie?where this young beautiful girl is killed by a bunch of motor cylce gangsters. later on she comes back as a ghost. her father was devastated and wanted her to come back, he did some kind of curse on her. It is a small town with nobody around but other people were like corpes but still alive and acting really strange. She is wearing a pink dress and has a blonde hair. A bunch of teenagers were driving by the town and one guy noticed her. she led him back to her place and trying to seduce him. The girlfriend rescued him and threw her out the window. I remember her screaming. I have been trying to look for the title and My friend thought it was ghost town. I looked it up and it is not the one. It played old 50's to 60's music like the movie christine.please email me if anybody knows the title?thanks

[Ashley]

Reply for Yvonne:

"The Girl Most Likely to..." it starred Stockard Channing and it was a made for TV movie from 1973.

[Becky]

Does anyone know the name of a 80's film where a mentally handicapped man is held in a basement by his parents? (I think he had a teddy bear)I believe some women are lured to the home and killed, but I can't remember by whom. In the end it is revealed that the man in the basement is the offspring of a brother/sister marriage-uggh!

[tracy]

I dont see the really good ones, like..
chopping mall, From beyond, Hunters blood, Return of the living dead and House

[Clint Beed]

The Thing is my favorite horror film of the 80's. Its probably my favorite horror film period. How can you go wrong with a John Carpenter film about aliens. Not to mention the great music that makes this movie so creepy.

[kelly]

I think this was an 80's movie where the telephone would ring and then the listener would convulse and bleed? There was also a mickey mouse phone prominent in the movie. Does anyone know the name of this movie? It's driving me crazy!

[heather]

does anyone remember a scary movie about a little girl and a carosel horse .. the horses eyes would bleed

[yvonne]

Does anyone remember a move about a group of teens that use to tease this ugly girl from their school. One day the ugly girl got into a car accident which everyone thought she died. After her accident she had plastic surgey that mad her look so beautiful. She returned to her old neighborhood to seek revenge. One part in the movie she became friends with one of her enemies before the accident.In this scene the so called friend was showing her some of her cheerleading moves, as she was fliping in the air, the ugly girl( which is good looking now) open the window and the girl fell out.
what is the name of this movie?? anyone knows

[mel]

Does anyone remember a haunted house movie released before 1987 where a girl/woman in a sweater gets in a car accident. The sweater catches on fire and by the time someone else gets to her, she is a goopy skeleton. Also, in a dream sequence (I think) a monster of some kind comes out of a pool of liquid on the floor of the house. I was only 6 years old when I saw part of this movie, and I have always wondered what it was. I think it may be The Amityville Horror, but I'm not sure. Thanks.

[Paul]

Yes, it's called The Legacy

[pam]

Does anyone remember a movie where a lady inherits a mansion and some dying old man lives in the house and a person dies in the indoor pool when invisible glass covers the pool and the person drowns, then someone chokes on a chicken bone at dinner and dies? I think it's from the 80's.

[ashley]

Hey, Ive been trying to find out the name to this movie I seen when I was lttle. The only thing I remember about it is watching the scene where a boy is in the woods and he walks into this womans trailor or something and she must have been a witch because she turned him into a plant(half and half) and then she sawed him...it creeped me out when i was little hopefully someone remembers it. Thanks.

What about Children of the Corn? The best scary movie of the 80s.

Good movie. It's Carrie.

[Stole]

Does anyone remember scary movie about girl named Kerry when she starts killing people on the prom?
This was my favorite scary movie in the 80s.

[info987]

Great list ! Glad to see Return of the Living Dead included, a classic ..See my list here........

http://80shorrormovies.blogspot.com/

That horror movie about something in the basement is called "the boogens"

[Illusionfive]

Does anyone remember an 80s horror film where there is something in the basement and it grabs people under the bed (in some kind of farmhouse/bed and breakfast)?

I can't remember the name

[John]

According to http://www.rankopedia.com, the best three horror movies ever are Alien, The Exorcist the The Thing.

[Weldon]

Agree, I watched Poltergeist last night and it holds up... just STAY AWAY from 2 and 3 :)

A few that were not on the list...

In No Order.....

The Serpent And The Rainbow
The Gate
Trick Or Treat
Near Dark
The Hunger
Tenebrae
The Evil Dead

[Spears]

Poltergeist is as scary today as it was 20 years ago. I watched it the other day and was surprised that I was still terrified.

[VBH]

This list is brilliant. All of my favorites are on it, some of which I have not seen in a very long time. My girlfriend is probably never going to forgive you for posting this list because I will be watching all these movies in the next few days.

My biggest surprise is seeing Night of the Creeps so high on the list, and a pleasant surprise it is. I've been a fan of that movie ever since I first saw it. It's fun, it's stupid, but above all it's just SOOOOOO eighties! Let´s just hope they listen to all the online petitions that are going on and release it on DVD.

"Screeming like banshees!"

cheers,
VBH - Iceland

[Rodney Welch]

Biggest surprise of the day: someone besides me has seen "The Believers."

Second biggest: they actually remember it.

[Chase]

What no Halloween 3? "8 more days 'till halloween, halloween, halloween ... Sil-ver shamrock" ... you'll have it stuck in your head all day ...

I thought Nightmare on Elm Street deserved higher than no. 10 ... but agree on Poltergeist, jeezus that thing scared the crap out me ...

Chase

[Bassnote]

Great list. Most of my favorites are on it.