The 1980s were the golden years for slasher films. After the explosive success of John Carpenter’s classic, Halloween (1978), the genre was awash in a bloody frenzy of masked killers, elaborate death scenes, and unforgettable final girls. Low-budget productions coupled with high returns and increasing VHS popularity helped make the genre a dominant force in horror. The sudden rise in popularity of slasher films made it a genre that was worshiped by teens and reviled by parents.
The 1980s had no shortage of gory slasher classics. From Brian De Palma’s twisted split-personality thriller, Dressed to Kill, to Wes Craven’s iconic Nightmare on Elm Street, this was the ultimate era for the genre. This list takes a look at some of the influential, iconic, and bloodiest of these films and ranks the most essential 1980s slashers.
11
‘Maniac’ (1980)
Directed by William Lustig
William Lustig shocked audiences with his 1980 film, Maniac. This horrific film tells the story of Frank Zito (Joe Spinell, who also contributed as a writer), a serial killer in New York City who spends his time murdering and scalping women. This brutal film was shot on a shoestring budget and employed a guerrilla style for several of its memorable scenes. Since its release, Maniac has developed a cult-following among audiences.
Maniac is a gruesome film filled with a slew of bloody, stomach-churning scenes. In contrast to other popular slasher films, Maniac places enormous focus on the killer’s perspective as opposed to telling the story from the perspective of his viewers. This only enhances the grueling discomfort of the film, as viewers are forced to spend an exorbitant amount of time with the heinous main character. Spinell does an excellent job in the role of the sadistic lunatic, painting a compelling and repellent portrait of the killer. This essential 80s slasher even spawned a remake starring Elijah Wood in the main role.
Maniac
- Release Date
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November 14, 1980
- Runtime
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88 minutes
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Caroline Munro
Anna D’Antoni
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-
-
Nelia Bacmeister
Carmen Zito
10
‘Happy Birthday to Me’ (1981)
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
J. Lee Thompson’s Happy Birthday to Me is a bizarre early 80s slasher film that depicts the gruesome slayings of the Crawford “Top Ten”, an elite group of high schoolers. As Virginia “Ginny” Wainright’s (played by Little House on the Prairie’s Melissa Sue Anderson) birthday approaches, she begins suffering from blackouts and disturbing flashbacks attributed to a traumatic brain injury and surgery. Could she be the killer? Does this injury have any bearing on the gruesome murders? None of these things are made abundantly clear in the film’s confusing plot, but it’s a thrill to watch nonetheless.
Happy Birthday to Me is a great film with some stupendously gory murders and characters that are written and layered just well enough to make audiences feel bad for them. While the film suffers from a pacing that feels like it drags at times and an outrageous plot, it makes up for this with the kind of colorful and exciting kills that audiences expect from a good old-fashioned slasher film. Happy Birthday to Me has plenty of colorful killings, from throat-slitting and strangulation by motorcycle, to a neck-crushing misadventure by manner of weight-lifting. One character is even murdered after getting a kebab violently jammed in his throat. Note: a lot of these killings focus on the neck. Not sure what all that’s about, but it’s notable nonetheless. Happy Birthday to Me‘s an essential slasher film from the 80s well worth watching.
Happy Birthday to Me
- Release Date
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May 15, 1981
- Runtime
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110 minutes
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Glenn Ford
Dr. David Faraday
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Melissa Sue Anderson
Virginia Wainwright
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Lawrence Dane
Hal Wainwright
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Sharon Acker
Estelle Wainwright
9
‘Prom Night’ (1980)
Directed by Paul Lynch
Fresh off the success of Carpenter’s Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis continued her run as an iconic final girl with Prom Night, a film that follows a group of high school girls who are targeted on their prom night by a killer who’s out to avenge the accidental death of Robin Hammond, a girl who was killed six years earlier. Curtis stars alongside Leslie Nielsen in the film, directed by Paul Lynch. Curtis was a natural pick for the role due to her previous success in Halloween, and Nielsen’s involvement was noted as being one of the final serious roles he took. He spent most of his later years acting in comedy.
Prom Night is a classic 1980s slasher film that has everything audiences have come to expect from the genre: teenagers getting picked off by a killer with a wicked backstory and hankering for vengeance, brutal killings, and, of course, Curtis. She’s predictably the main attraction in the film and naturally kills it in her role as the super-cool prom queen, who also conveys a bit of isolation in her role. The film’s got great kills, including decapitation and axe hacking, exactly what audiences expect from the genre. Although it’s not as gory and campy as we typically like our slasher films to be, Prom Night’s a classic that was highly influential in the slasher genre and helped make it more viable.
Prom Night
- Release Date
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July 18, 1980
- Runtime
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93 Minutes
8
‘Friday the 13th’ (1980)
Directed by Sean S. Cunningham
Sena S. Cunningham’s slasher classic, Friday the 13th is without a doubt one of the most influential films of the genre. When a group of teenage camp counselors try opening up the abandoned Crystal Lake campgrounds, they start getting picked off one-by-one by an unknown killer. Friday the 13th was a huge commercial success upon its release and spawned one of the most beloved slasher franchises in the history of horror.
Friday the 13th was produced and directed by Cunningham, who had experience in horror from his previous work with Craven during the making of his film The Last House on the Left. Cunningham wanted Friday the 13th to be “visually stunning” and get people to jump out of their seats, an ambition that was fully realized with the execution of this genre-defining slasher film. Friday the 13th is an essential 80s slasher film, primarily because of the enormous influence it had on the genre. Following on the heels of Halloween’s success. It was one of the earliest films in the genre and inspired dozens of similar films. While Friday the 13th may not be the most haunting, intelligent, or gory of slasher films, it’s still a compelling story with a well-cast killer that can still manage to captivate viewers.
7
‘The Burning’ (1981)
Directed Tony Maylam
Image Via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Tony Maylam’s The Burning is a slasher film that tells the story of a former camp caretaker who seeks vengeance on a group of campers years after a prank gone wrong left him horribly disfigured. This brutal slasher film was also the film debut of Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens and is widely considered one of the best and most influential slasher films of the decade.
The Burning is a phenomenal slasher film that features well-written dialogue, and offers effective scares alongside heinous killings, making it one of the best films of its genre. Tom Savini was placed in charge of makeup and special effects, a great choice given his prior work on Friday the 13th and Dawn of the Dead. Savini proved to be an indispensable part of what made the film such a success, as he designed and developed Cropsy’s horrifying disfigured look as well as his creepy mask. The Burning features plenty of gory kills, including several executed by Cropsy himself with his pair of handy-dandy giant shears. The Burning is well-paced and features a cast of phenomenal actors in their debut performances, making it an essential 80s slasher film for any fan of the genre.
The Burning
- Release Date
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May 8, 1981
- Runtime
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91 Minutes
6
‘My Bloody Valentine’ (1981)
Directed by George Mihalka
George Mihalka’s My Bloody Valentine is a slasher film that follows a group of young adults who decide to throw a party in the local mine after their Valentine’s Day dance is canceled. The group suffers an unexpected surprise when their party is brutally interrupted by a vengeful homicidal lunatic in mining gear who proceeds to off the party-goers. Mihalka’s film, like many other popular slasher films of the period, including Prom Night, was filmed in Canada.
My Bloody Valentine is indeed a bloody good time, and an excellent subsitute for the typical romance films audiences associate with the holiday. The killer’s mining gear is as scary as it is haunting, and having the setting take place in a mine lends the film a claustrophobic feel that enhances the viewer’s experience. Plus, there’s no shortage of brutally creative kills; victims suffer pickaxes to the belly and granite drills to the back, not to mention cardiac evisceration. My Bloody Valentine’s also got a great cast that includes Lori Haller and Neil Affleck. My Bloody Valentine’s a gruesome joyride that’s a must-watch for fans of the genre.
5
‘Sleepaway Camp’ (1983)
Directed by Robert Hiltzik
Robert Hiltzik’s Sleepaway Camp is one of the most memorable slasher flicks of the era. Like many of the Friday the 13th-inspired slashers of the time, it takes place at a forsaken camping site. Timid and traumatized Angela Baker (Felissa Rose) is sent to Camp Arawak with her protective cousin, Ricky (Jonathan Tiersen), where a string of heinous murders take place. As tensions rise among the surviving campers and staff, suspicions rise as to who the mystery killer might be.
Sleepaway Camp is a phenomenal slasher film that’s well-regarded for its shocking and controversial twist ending. Although it was initially panned by critics, the film has gained a cult-following over the years. Unlike other, more polished slashers of the time, Sleepaway Camp embraced an offbeat tone, a general weirdness, and an almost surrealistic quality that distinguishes it from other films of the time, and Rose’s performance as Angela remains one of the essential scream queen performances of the genre. While Sleepaway Camp has garnered an enormous cult following and critical reappraisal, its also generated plenty of controversy due to its divisive ending. Despite the controversy surrounding the film, it remains an essential and influential piece of 80s slasher films.
4
‘Dressed to Kill’ (1980)
Directed by Brian De Palma
One of De Palma’s less-talked-about films is Dressed to Kill. De Palma’s contribution to the slasher genre doubles as a psychological thriller and tells the story of a frustrated housewife (Angie Dickinson) who is mysteriously murdered after engaging in an afternoon. A sex-worker (Nancy Allen) who witnessed the murder attempts becomes the prime suspect and works with the victim’s son (Keith Gordon) to try and solve the case. Dressed to Kill is a suspenseful slasher film that also features a phenomenal performance from Michael Caine.
Instead of relying on an abundance of gore and guts, Dressed to Kill leans on the mystery and suspense elements of the story to keep viewers locked in to the story. Dressed to Kill features some brilliant pacing that’s supported by some of De Palma’s most elegant and visually arresting cinematography. The voyeuristic camerawork and lush direction elevate this film beyond most of the slasher films of the era and its thriller elements give it a unique appeal that sets it apart from the other films of the era. There are plenty of references to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho as well, that fans of his work will genuinely appreciate. Dressed to Kill is not just an essential 80s slasher film, but also an essential De Palma film.
3
‘Child’s Play’ (1988)
Directed by Tom Holland
Tom Holland‘s original Child’s Play movie holds up remarkably well nearly four decades later. It’s a simple, ingeniously crafted horror picture that pits a high-tech “Good Guy” babydoll possessed by the spirit of a serial killer (Brad Dourif) against a sympathetically overwhelmed young single mother (Catherine Hicks) and her plucky kid (Alex Vincent). The special effects are whiz bang, and the slow-burn suspense is impressive. Dourif’s voice work is maniacally inspired, funny and unsettling.
The Child’s Play series has been a tightly run, tightly connected operation behind the scenes for decades now, with the movies often praised for overall quality control relative to others in the horror genre (it’s sort of like the horror equivalent to the Bond series if you take all that into account). It all began here, with a landmark slasher movie that’s smarter and classier than it gets credit for.
Child’s Play
- Release Date
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November 9, 1988
- Runtime
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87 Minutes
2
‘Tenebrae’ (1982)
Directed by Dario Argento
Dario Argento is a legendary Italian director of Giallo films and his Tenebrae is one of the most definitive testaments to his talent. Tenebrae tells the story of writer Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa), who travels to Italy to promote his latest work but finds himself at the center of a bloody murder mystery when someone familiar with his work starts killing people. Argento was inspired by a series of phone calls he received from a distressed fan who claimed to be damaged by the psychological effects of his previous films, as well as a string of murders he had heard about while staying in Los Angeles in 1980.
Tenebrae is a phenomenal and essential 1980s slasher film that infuses the stylistic elements of Italian giallo films with the brutality and body count expectations of American slasher films. Like Dressed to Kill, Tenebrae offers a murder mystery that engenders a level of thrill and suspense for viewers that’s less common among other run-of-the-mill slashers. This dizzying murder mystery features fluid long takes, spectacular lighting and a meta-commentary on violence that adds a self-relexive element to the film, and the brutal killings in Tenebrae are sure to satiate even the most die-hard slasher fans. For audiences interested in an international take on the beloved slasher subgenre, Tenebrae is a must-watch.
Tenebrae
- Release Date
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October 27, 1982
- Runtime
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101 Minutes