Chewers' 100 Scariest Films of the 80's - Page 2

Great choice.   I'm old enough to remember when this came out and how controversial it was that Lisa Bonet was in it.   In fact I think she got fired from the Cosby Show because of it.   Great film that has aged very very well.

38.

dir. Jeffrey Bloom, 1987

Your mother has come home after seventeen years to repent for her sins and for her crime. Not only against your grandfather and me, but against God! Your mother's marriage was unholy! A sacrilege! An abomination in the eyes of the Lord! She did not fall from Grace! She leapt! Into the arms of a man whose veins pulsed with the same blood as hers! Not a stranger, but her own uncle! And you, the children, are the devil's spawn! Evil from the moment of conception!

Adapted from the popular (at the time) novel by V.C. Andrews, the film is about four siblings (2 teens & 2 smaller children) who, after the death of their father, are sent with their mother to live with their wealthy, hyper-religious grandmother (played by Nurse Ratched) in a secluded mansion. Unbeknownst to the four, the siblings are the product of their mother's incestuous marriage &, soon after arriving, they're locked away in the mansion's attic by their grandmother. Held captive over the course of a couple years, we see the kids struggle to survive beatings, isolation, starvation, poisonings, & their own burgeoning incestuous desires.

Flowers In The Attic is one searingly creepy film.
Edited by Art Decade - 9/29/11 at 4:06pm

39. Dark Night of the Scarecrow (dir. Frank De Felitta, 1981)

There are several tv movies that scarred a generation. This might be the last one.

40. Just Before Dawn (1981) d. Jeff Lieberman

 

This spooky blend of wilderness horror and Slasher is the too often overlooked when talking about the Golden Age. Directed with an assured hand by Lieberman, once it gets going the film is unrelentingly suspenseful, even frightening (And of course, George Kennedy rules). A true cult classic.

 

I've still never seen that one. I need to get on that.

 

41. Stagefright (1987)

 

By the late 80's slashers had become rather stale but leave it up to those crazy Italians to bring new life to the genre. Michele Soavi's film is simple on plot but long on stylishness. There's some good jump scares, some excellent gore (drill through the door!), and that owl costume is just plain creepy.

42. Cannibal Holocaust- Simply one of the most powerful horror films ever made. Brutality (courtesy of Deodato) juxtaposed with beauty (courtesy of Ortolani) in one amazing, harrowing, unforgettable package. The granddaddy of the found footage movie, so intensely verite that the filmmakers had to prove to the Italian courts that their actors were still very much alive and had not been served up as human satay snacks. However, the whereabouts of the Italian Humane Association reps are still unknown

Speaking of Michel Rubini..

44.

dir. Tony Scott, 1983

John Blaylock: Forever...?
Miriam Blaylock: ...and ever.

A young Mr. Crimson Denzel Top Gun tries to out-Ridley Scott his older brother with this feature debut: a lush - and actually quite beautiful - modern vampire tale set in New York City. One of my all-time favourite films, this is the gothiest goth film that ever did goth & it features what might be the greatest sex scene ever lensed.

Catherine Deneuve stars as a queen vamp who seduces a young Susan Sarandon into becoming the next in a long line of immortal-ish lovers after her most recent paramour (played by Second Coming of Christ, David Bowie) succumbs to the flawed vampirism that's left him in a state of perpetual, undying old age. Plot-wise, nothing much happens & the film's dialogue could probably be reproduced line by line on a napkin, but every shot & edit is a stunningly gorgeous expression & edgy experiment by it's young, hungry director. The Hunger moves at a very meticulous pace, alternating between quick stabs of gore set to the screeching synths of Michael Rubini & painterly, slow-moving scenes bathed in smoke, flowing drapes, & stark neon set to the sonic romantic classicism of Bach & Léo Delibes.

All said, the film remains a crystalline time capsule of edgy 1982/83 cool, bleeding style from every frame & capturing, for all time, iconic moments that feature: Bauhaus at their glorious height, an impossibly young Willem Dafoe making his screen debut as Street Punk #2, Bowie at his iciest cool, and Catherine Deneuve's brief but "Holy crap!" graphic sex romp with Susan Sarandon.
Edited by Art Decade - 10/1/11 at 10:58am

45. Psycho II (dir. Richard Franklin, 1983)

Yes, the original is an untouchable classic. But, Psycho II managed to class up the joint in 1983 by making Norman Bates sympathetic and proceeded to put him through the psychological grinder.

Just a thought, but I vote we rename this thread "Chewers top 100 horror films of the 80s" or something similar ("100 Scariest" is a bit misleading at this point). But in the meantime:

 

46. Threads

 

 

 

Because there's escapist horror movie scary, and then there's real world "this isn't fun anymore!" scary. That tagline on the DVD cover says it all. Given the times there were several similarly themed films in the 80s, but this was the most devastating of them all.

Threads...Christ...that movie makes The Exorcist & Cannibal Holocaust look like Singin' In The Rain & On The Town, respectively. It's the perfect film for people who enjoy being left a petrified, hollow-eyed & weeping, urine soaked ball on the floor.

47.  Of Unknown Origin (1983)  (dir. George P. Cosmatos)

 

 

 

It's probably faint praise to call this the best "killer rat" movie ever made, but I'll go with that anyway.  Peter Weller is a hot-shit corporate guy who just wants to enjoy a weekend to himself while his family is on vacation.  Unfortunately, a foot-long rat has other ideas.  It's a slow burn as the rivalry escalates from annoyance to vendetta to all-out war between Weller and the insidious rat.  If you have any icky feelings about vermin, this will have you checking your floors and listening to creaks in your walls all night.  The film also works as a blunt metaphor for yuppie greed, gentrification, etc.  Highly recommended.

     Quote:

 

I actually prefer going with "Scariest". The 70s list had movies that weren't traditional horror, but I think deserved to be on there. (ex: Deliverance, Taxi Driver, China Syndrome)

 

The same could be said of the 80s. For example...

 

48. Star 80 (1983)

 

Say what you will about some of the dreck Eric Roberts has appeared in over the years, he keeps getting work for a reason. And I use Star 80 as exhibit A.

 

Directed by Bob Fosse, Star 80 is a docudrama that examines the volatile relationship between Paul Snider and Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten. There is something very unsettling about Roberts' performance as Snider. I think it is because you see someone who leeches off the success of others, but offers nothing meaningful in return. When Stratten wants to cut ties with her husband, things get very dark. There is good work from Mariel Hemingway, Cliff Robertson and Roger Rees, but Roberts owns this movie. 

 

49. Pet Sematary



(dir. Mary Lambert, 1989)

First I play with Judd, then Mommy came, and I play with Mommy. We play Daddy! We had a awfully good time! Now, I want to play with YOU!

I thought this film excelled in the squirm and creep factor when I originally saw it. What with the fate of Gage and his playful return. But now with my son about the age of Gage, I have even more empathy with the actions of Louis Creed. My son loves to play rough, but it is because of this movie I keep him away from my ankles.

And don’t forget Zelda.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c101/vincemcclain/l_620a7002e65ff59229ba6d10eb5d777c.gif

50. Henry



Scary because it's the fantastic Michael Rooker playing one of the most fucked up psychopaths that ever lived, and the disturbingly believable Tom Towles as his best bud/partner. Even scarier, McNaughton successfully plays with how you feel towards this sick fuck.

LOL wasn't that awesome how Henry smashed the TV over that one douchebag's head! Think that was cool? HOW ABOUT NOW, MOTHERFUCKER.

51. INFERNO (1980) dir. Dario Argento

 

Argento takes the nightmare atmosphere of SUSPIRIA even farther, pushing it to its (il)logical  extreme. Sure, there's a vague semblance of plot, but mostly this movie feels like you're wandering through a series of other people's feverish bad dreams. The sojourn into the decrepit basement and underwater room is a particularly unforgettable sequence, but the whole film cultivates a mood of surreal unease and dread, aided by the garish Bava-esque lighting, set design, and effects (which an uncredited Mario Bava helped create).

52. HELLRAISER (1987) dir. Clive Barker

 

Jesus wept.

 

A wonderfully twisted and moody tale filled with great concepts that are perfectly visualized with some marvelous practical effects (with Frank's partial resurrection being a stand-out moment of gross beauty). Doug Bradley is iconic in his portrayal of Pinhead (or Lead Cenobite) and gets to utter some fantastic lines and Sean Chapman does an equally great job as the manipulative and demented Frank.

 

Alas, the film is not flawless, but the imperfections (such as Ashley Laurence's acting that, while not horrible, does not reach the heights of her surrouding cast-members) are easily overshadowed by the superior parts of the film.

Quote:

Quote:

Christ Jesus, I just ruined my weekend watching that.  The Road is Pippy Longstockings compared to that 2 hours nightmare.

 

Oh, you poor, poor bastard. It's gonna be a rough month for you, my friend.

It might take longer.  How did Mick Jackson go from directing that to The Bodyguard, fucking Volcano and cunting Tuesdays with Morrie?!

That last question brings to mind the director of Wrath Of Khan & the film he followed up his 1982 classic with:

53. The Day After
dir. Nicholas Meyer, 1984

It's unknown if or how Threads might've affected the views of British & European politicians when it aired on the BBC in 1984, but in 1983, Nicholas Meyer's highly watched TV movie was a phenomenon of fear that shook, not only America's public to the core, but it's policymakers as well. From wiki: "President Ronald Reagan watched the film several days before its screening, on 5 November 1983. He wrote in his diary that the film was "very effective and left me greatly depressed," and that it changed his mind on the prevailing policy on a "nuclear war".

In an attempt to escape apocalyptic terror, I would like to submit

54: The Fog

 

It's not the best of John Carpenter's film but it's got great atmosphere and the Bam!..Bam!...Bam! of the hooks on doors scared the shit out of me when I first saw it.  It pretty much falls apart in the second half when there becomes an attempt to explain what is going on but, for those first 45 minutes where you've got no clue as to the motive or beings behind the fog & the murders, you're drawn in to a good old fashioned ghost story.

 

Edit: And yes, I'm aware I'm opening myself up for a whole lot of apocalyptic whoop ass by invoking Carpenter in the '80s.

Edit 2: Nevermind.

Edited by avoideverything - 9/30/11 at 8:52pm

Fixed

Fuckin' Threads.

55. Dressed To Kill (1980) d. Brian DePalma

 

The pinnacle of Depalma's Hitchcock period, and my favorite of Michael Caine's early 80's crazy run. I love this movie. There's an extended tracking shot in the museum sequence that will make any movie lover geek out.  A la PSYCHO, the movie brutally kills off its movie star heroine unexpectedly, telling the audience that anything can happen.  This is a masterly directed thriller that is as intense as the best of the Italian Giallos (and worthy to be put up with the thrillers of the grand master, Hitch, himself).

 

 

56. POSSESSION (1981) dir. Andrzej Zulawski

 

The psychological and emotional intensity with which it portrays a collapsing marriage, the gloriously unhinged lead performances by Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, and the undercurrent of Cold War paranoia would all probably be enough to qualify this film for the list. And then the grotesque tentacle creature shows up, and things get a little weird.

57. The Dead Zone (dir. David Cronenberg, 1983)

Christopher Walken likely has never been more sympathetic as a doomed psychic. And the slasher subplot in the midst is as good as it gets in the '80s with a heck of an ending.

At least someone was there to save us from the apocalypse.

58. Burial Ground

This might not be as well made as some of the other movies on the list, but I stand by it as one of the most memorable zombie films from the era. There's a sickness to the Mom/kid relationship that's grosser than any of the living dead.

59. The House By The Cemetery (1981) d. Lucio Fulci

 

This disturbingly surreal, nightmarish haunted house movie is my favorite Fulci. I think it's his scariest. And as weird and bizarrely nonsensical as its narrative structure is, it is still stands as the most accessible of his "Gates of Hell" trilogy. Delightfully gory

60. SOCIETY

 

What if early period David Cronenberg made "The O.C."?

 

There is shit in this movie I will never unsee.

61. Dead Ringers (1988) dir. David Cronenberg

 

 

Continuing with Cronenberg, I think we've listed just about everything he did in the 80s, you've got Jeremy Irons carrying the pseudo-sexual ritualism of twin brother OBGYNs. The thing that's always hung with me about Cronenberg is the aforementioned sense of ritualism in almost everything he's done and the color red. Irons does a fair job of playing brothers that couldn't be any less alike in how they deal with their profession and women. Two sides of the same coin. The obvious push at duality and what it is to be both yourself and someone else when you look in the mirror doesn't seem like something the director's abandoned to this day. It isn't his strongest outing but there's something about the opening and the ending of the movie that creeps me out. As a storyteller he's got a way of taking something like the "embarrassing" sexual curiosity of youth and making it ring true.

 

Looking at my post I really feel like we could devote an entire thread to David Cronenberg and OCD/Ritual behavior in his films. Amazing guy. We need a CHUD interview now! Alright enough spamming.

62. ALLIGATOR (1980)

 

Another of John Sayles' witty genre screenplays, I actually prefer it to THE HOWLING. Equal parts funny and scary, with Robert Forster's delightfully offbeat hero lamenting hair loss and vowing to kick alligator ass. Featuring the great Henry Silva (hilarious) as a lecherous big game hunter.

Edited by Malmordo - 10/1/11 at 1:29pm

63. Men Behind the Sun (1988)

I've seen Cannibal Holocaust, Martyrs, Inside, A Serbian Film, Aftermath, and even some of the more ghastly and unwatchable video detritus like Guinea Pig, but no movie has disturbed me more than this one. The animals in Unit 731 made Mengele look like Mr. Belvedere. Unlike some of those other movies I listed, MBTS is generally well crafted and thoughtful, but it's such a painful endurance test that I almost can't recommend it, at least outside of chud.

I second that. Although even within CHUD, people averse to actual animal cruelty should avoid at all costs.

I've always been curious about THE MEN BEHIND THE SUN. Maybe it's time.

 

Sorta surprised this one hasn't already made the list:

 

64. DAY OF THE DEAD (1985) dir. George A. Romero

 

Sure, it's not groundbreaking like NIGHT or as outright excellent as DAWN, but it's damn fine and arguably the most grim of Romero's zombie films. Just bleak, ugly, grotesque, bleak stuff. I remember watching it once in high school, probably the first or second time I saw it, and just feeling depressed and a little sick afterward. Really has that feeling of these being the last few humans left and they're just losing it, falling apart with hate, madness, depression, etc. Did I mention bleakness? It also has some of the greatest, grossest effects and gore of all time, two of the great iconic movie zombies (one of which is a legitimately good character and performance), and of course JOE FUCKING PILATO

 

"CHOKE ON EM"

65. The Vanishing (1988) d. George Sluizer

 

Well-crafted film about a man obsessed with finding out what happened to his missing girlfriend. An ending you will never, ever forget.

66.  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre pt. 2 (1986) d. Tobe Hooper

 

 

A totally different animal from the first one and gets nowhere near as much love, but I've always been a big fan of its queasy mixture of over-the-top brutality and black comedy.  The poster has always been one of my favorites too, parody posters get no better.

 

also, Threads really is the most harrowing film you might ever see, especially if you grew up when full out nuke war seemed like a definite possiblity.  

Day Of The Dead makes for a good double feature with this next pick:

67.

dir. Thom Eberhardt, 1984

Two "Cyndi Lauper video leftovers" survive the near-eradication of humanity after the planet passes through the tale of a comet that disintegrates 5.5 billion people overnight. Under an L.A. skyline choked red by the dust of it's dead, the two teen girls wander through the city's empty streets & shopping malls, raiding clothing racks while surviving violent clashes with partially zombified survivors, eventually ending up in an underground base run by mad, dying scientists.

Originally sold as sci-fi teen comedy when released, Night Of The Comet's intended humor was greatly overshadowed by it's uniquely creepy premise/execution and, today, the film stands as a bizarre relic of 80s B-movie doomsday horror.
Edited by Art Decade - 10/1/11 at 7:35pm

68. My Bloody Valentine (1981) d. George Mihalka

 

My personal favorite slasher of them all. It still stands up today because of some great atmosphere and suspense, the cool look of the killer, and, with the recent extended cut of the film, some amazing gore. And this lovely ditty:

69. The Prowler (1981) d. Joseph Zito

 

One of the most atmospheric Slashers of the Golden Age, with great gore effects by Savini. Very underrated.

70. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) d. Wes Craven

 

Probably one of the best movies to treat voodoo and zombies from a serious (well semi-serious) perspective.  Definitely has its moments and Wes Craven really gets a lot of atmospheric mileage out of the Haitian (and Dominican Republic) locations.

71. Dead and Buried

...another film in which the zombies are ACTUALLY the victims... 

Quote:

 

"I'm going to light up you whole body, Karen"
 

So fucking creepy!  Anyway....

 

72. Pumpkinhead (1988)

dir. Stan Winston

 

 

 

Great story!  Great FX!  Dripping with atmosphere!  Lance Henriksen in the lead!  What's not to love?  This underrated gem can never get enough attention as far as I am concerned!  It also has the perfect tone for this time of year.

"Let me give you a PIECE of my MIND..."
 

 

Leave it to FX legend Rob Bottin to turn this....

 

 

 

 

 

into this....

 

 

 

 

 

In my opinion, Robert Picardo has never received enough love for his genre work (outside of Star Trek and Stargate)....

 

- The Howling (1981)

- Legend (1985)

- Explorers (1985)

- Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)

- Innerspace (1987)

- Total Recall (1990)

- Gremlins II: The New Batch (1990)

- "Supernatural" (2010)

Yeah, Picardo is simply amazing in that movie, one of the best cinematic killer creeps of all time. I'm another one who likes The Howling just a tiny bit more than AWIL.


73. The Woman in Black





THIS is how ghost stories should be told. Perfect atmosphere, unhurried non Hollywood pace (this is not a "spook a blast"), then BANG it hits you. Note: image is not from the 1989 TV movie, but instead from the cover to one of the many editions of the original novel by Susan Hill... Just thought it was cool.

If you haven't seen it yet, get in before the Harry Potter remake creates what is sure to be an inferior first impression for you. Or watch the legendary stage play if it's on near you. Tis the season to be scared shitless!

74. Cannibal Ferox ('81)

If you're only going to watch one Cannibal movie, let Cannibal Ferox be the one. The Animal stuff still squicks me out big time, but the story's so much more coherent than Lenzi's other stuff. Obviously not for the squeamish.

75.

dir. Joseph Ruben, 1984

Directed by the guy who would later direct The Stepfather, the film is about a psychic (Dennis Quaid) who's unknowingly recruited to become a "dream assassin" by the government. He later discovers that another psychic, an earlier participant in the government's program (an utterly terrifying David Patrick Kelly), has been driven mad by the nightmares of a child & is planning to assassinate the President in his dreams.

An amalgam of Altered States, Dead Zone, and Cronenberg, the film was originally released with a Struzan poster that made it appear to audiences that it was an "Indiana Jones In Dreams!" family sci-fi adventure. But it quickly became clear, in that late summer of 1984, that Dreamscape was little more than "100 proof nightmare fuel".
Edited by Art Decade - 10/2/11 at 9:22am