1981 in Horror!

I decided to do a deep dive into each year of the 1980's beginning, logically enough, with 1980! This post is dedicated to the year 1981 and the horror movies I've seen thus far (note I'm basing the release date on what Letterboxd tells me).

So far I've seen 45 horror movies from 1981!

Here is Letterboxd list of horror movies from 1981... Link.

*note I have filters applied already because I'm lazy.

*Citation! All information came from Letterboxd. The reviews are my own.

*Will be updates as I watch more!

Shout out to two none quite horror, horror, movies Roar (the lion movie with Noel Marshall, Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffith, and many injuries) and Shock Treatment (the Rocky Horror Picture Show sequel)

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The highest rated horror movie (on Letterboxd) from 1981 is: Possession!

• Directed by Andrzej Zulawski (The Devil)

• Staring: Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill

• Subgenre: divorce horror

• "Inhuman ecstasy fulfilled."

• My review: a masterpiece of performance

The lowest rated horror movie (on Letterboxd) from 1981 is Zombie Lake!

• Directed by Jean Rollin and Julian de Laserna

• Subgenre: ... French zombie film... Exploitation to the French extreme!

• "God help us if they rise again!"

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One of the most influential horror films from 1981 is: The Evil Dead!

• Directed + Written by Sam Raimi (you know who he is).

• Staring: Bruce Campbell and other red shirts.

• Subgenre: ghost-demons in the haunted woods

• "The ultimate experience in grueling terror."

• My review: a low budget, essentially student-film, made by horror fans and their persistence. Is the story great, no. Is the acting great, no. Is this a memorable, creative, entry into the horror genre that earned it's place as one of the best? Hell yeah baby!

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SEQUELS! Alright we're in the 80's so lets talk slasher sequels! 1981 produced two slasher sequels from the slashers that started the subgenre! Halloween and Friday the 13th respectively.

Halloween II

• Directed by Rick Rosenthal (he also directed Halloween: Resurrection)

• Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill

• Cinematography: Dean Cundy

• Staring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Lance Guest, and Dick Warlock as Michael Myers.

• Subgenre: Slasher sequel, let's make them related! edition.

• "The nightmare isn't over!"

Friday the 13th part 2

• Directed by Steve Miner who produced the first film, he also directed part 3, Halloween H20, House, Warlock, Lake Placid, Big Bully, and Forever Young.

• Subgenre: just remake the first movie all over but with a bigger budget and tighter script!

• "The body count continues..."

• My review: you've seen this movie. it is weird that the dead son is actually alive. I have follow up questions...

The Omen III: The Final Conflict

• Directed by Graham Baker

• Staring: Sam Neill

• Subgenre: satanic panic!

• "The power of evil is no longer in the hands of a child."

• My review: of course Same Neill delivers in his role as the adult version of Damien Thorn. I just wish the script had not chosen to make him so blind sided with fear that his actions became utterly stupid. And... not to be ridiculous but this is the third film we've followed Damien, every other installment he's survived to get where he is now. He should be intimidating and powerful. Yet, Jesus is reborn and wins? Really? It's a horror movie guys! the Anti-Christ should win.

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Some major horror directors put in some installments for their filmography in 1981.

Deadly Blessing

• Directed by Wes Craven

• Composer: James Horner (ya know the dude who did the music for little films like Titanic, Avatar, Aliens, Jumanji, Braveheart, Casper, Land Before Time, Field of Dreams, Commando, Willow, The Perfect Storm, The Hand + Wolfen, ect)

• Staring: Sharon Stone, Michael Berryman, ect

• Subgenre: religious horror - transphobic weird non-sense.

• "Pray you're not blessed"

Scanners

• Directed and written by David Cronenberg

• Makeup by: Dick Smith, Chris Walas, and others

• Composer: Howard Shore (he's done other Cronenberg films, The Lord of the Rings, The Aviator, and many other Scorsese movies, ect)

• Staring: Michael Ironside and more

• "10 seconds: The pain begins. 15 seconds: You can't breathe. 20 seconds: You explode."

• My review: I legitimately cannot tell you what happens in this movie before or after the famous head explosion scene... is it a good movie? I'm actually asking.

The Funhouse

• Directed by Tobe Hooper

• Make up: Rick Baker and others

• Subgenre: disappointments room

• "Pay to get in. Pray to get out."

• My review: this could have been a modern adaptation of Todd Browning's Freaks, but it ends up being odd, deformed, Othered, carnies are evil and kill a ground of teens. It's ableist, status quo- bs and I don't like it. Do better. Be weirder.

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Time to talk werewolf movies! By 1981 we're fully into the slasher golden-era. The 80's is very well known for the ridiculous number of slasher sequels. But, horror sequels were nothing new. Not by a long shot. They go back to the Universal monster movies of the 30s and 40s, and their sequels are just as numerous and convoluted. It's interesting as the slasher subgenre is on the rise, 1981 brought us four werewolf movies, as a throwback to the 40's monster movies. So... let's see what this updated retro-subgenre changes.

An American Werewolf in London

• Directed and directed by John Landis

• Make up by Rick Baker who won the first Academy Award for make up for this

• Staring: David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, with a cameo by Frank Oz

• Subgenre: horror-comedy werewolf movie with rotting ghost buddies.

• "Beware the moon."

• My review: I love this film. It's still a tragic story about an innocent man who is cursed and suffering subsequently. The added haunting by his best friend and victims all urging him to unalive himself is deeply effective. The romance is unnecessary. The humor and scares both work perfectly, and work together, making it a rare combination.

The Howling

• Directed by Joe Dante

• based on a novel by Gary Brandner from 1977

• Make up by Rob Bottin (with some help by Rick Baker)

• Subgenre: sexy werewolf pack

• Staring: Dee Wallace, John Carradine, with an appearance by Dick Miller

• "Imagine your worst fear a reality."

• My review: Children of the Full Moon, a Hammer tv-movie, is the first film that I know of that featured a werewolf pack, which is odd given how easily the werewolf lends itself to community... yet until The Howling we really see them as depressed lone-wolves. While I don't love this movie, I adore this idea, and I do think Dante's execution is great... but woof the sequels.

Wolfen

• Directed by Michael Wadleigh

• Composer: James Horner

• Subgenre: gritty NYC slasher but it's a werewolf

• "They can hear a cloud pass overhead, the rhythm of your blood. They can track you by yesterday's shadow. They can tear the scream from your throat."

Full Moon High

• Directed and written by Larry Cohen (The Stuff, Q, It's Alive, Special Effects, Return to Salem's Lot, ect)

• Staring: Adam Arkin, Alan Arkin, and more

• Subgenre: parody of 50's werewolf movies... or tries to be

• "He's today's teenage werewolf... only the rules have changed."

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Other Parody films from 1981

Saturday the 14th

• Directed by Howard R. Cohen

• Staring: Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss, Jeffrey Tambor, and more

• Subgenre: monster movie parody

• "Just when you thought it was safe to look at the calendar again."

• My review: I found this parody of monster movies really forgettably. Also it's odd that the title riffs a slasher but is a throwback to the monster movies of the 30s and 40s.

Student Bodies

• Directed and written by Mickey Rose

• Staring: Kristen Riter and others

• Subgenre: Slasher parody

• "At last the world's first comedy horror movie."

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Camp Horror because Friday the 13th is popular and the woods really are scary. Of course Evil Dead is included in this subgenre too.

The Burning

• Directed by Tony Maylam

• Make up by Tom Savini

• Staring a young Jason Alexander

• Subgenre: prank gone wrong

• "A legend of terror isn't a campfire story anymore!"

Madman

• Directed by Joe Giannone

• Subgenre: evil hillbilly in the woods?

• "They thought they were alone."

• My review: I swear the killer is making the same sound effect from Suburban Sasquatch. This movie is a campfire story set up with a fun folky campfire song, Madman Marz. The song is the best part of the movie. The characters and story are ultimately forgettable to me.

Don't Go Into the Woods

• Directed by James Bryan

• Subgenre: I think the title explains it

• "Everyone has nightmares about the ugliest way to die."

• My review; audio? editing? characters?... in frame and focus? score? plot? story? We don't know what those are. What we do know is that we got one of them movie-cameras and some film! So many repeat lines! Too many fake outs! And that Hammer blood! What was the deal with the dude in the wheelchair... why!?! Woof this movie is not fun. It was just boring.

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Now for Holiday Horror! Man 1981 has a lot to offer. Of course Halloween II and Friday the 13th part 2 are both in here as well as:

Bloody Birthday

• Directed by Ed Hunt (The Brain)

• Staring: Elizabeth Hoy (in Hospital Massacre)

• Subgenre: evil kids (kinda Village of the Damned)

• "The nightmare begins with the kids next door."

Happy Birthday to Me

• Directed by J. Lee Thompson (og Cape Fear and a few Planet of the Ape sequels)

• Subgenre: overly convoluted slasher set on a birthday

• "Six of the most bizarre murders you will ever see."

• My review: such a memorable poster for such a forgettable film

Madhouse

• Directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis (he also did Beyond the Door).

• Subgenre: Italian slasher set on a birthday....

• "Many people visit... no one ever leaves."

• My review: this movie, Happy Birthday to Me, and Sweet Sixteen are oddly similar. No movie deserved to be a Video Nasty as much as this, in my humble gore loving opinion. Why? let me spare you a trip to doesthedogdie. I love Rottweilers, and dogs in general. The movie uses a Rottie to go on a killing spree to exact revenge on behalf of their owner, then is killed by being drilled in the head. It's a hard no for me.

Home Sweet Home

• Directed by Nettie Pena (hey, a woman directed horror movie!)

• Produced Don Edmonds (director of Terror on Tour)

• Subgenre: ...slasher?

• "This year, it's not the turkey being carved for Thanksgiving."

• My review: this movie just made me realize we need a retro 80s stylized slasher where the final girl is a mime just using Mime-Shenanigans to outsmart the killer like Shaggy. That is not this movie. Sadly for Mistake.

Hospital Massacre aka X-Ray

• Directed by Boaz Davidson

• Staring: Barbi Benton, Elizabeth Hoy

• Subgenre: A valentine's day slasher in a hospital

• "Bad medicine."

• My review: I swear Elizabeth Hoy (little girl from Bloody Birthday) must have had some kind of birthday cake mandate in her contract. Weird. I did not expect this to be a Valentine's Day movie or as fun as it is. It's a thrill. I totally enjoyed it and it's almost Lynchian characters. This movie's plot and characters are so wold I got fully caught up in this woman basically being abducted by this Twin Peaks hospital that I completely forgot there was a killer. Really, it's a perfect metaphor for trying to go through the medical system in the US... that's the true horror.

My Bloody Valentine

• Directed by George Mihalka

• Subgenre: valentine's day revenge slasher in a cave

• "Cross your heart... and hope to die."

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Other Slashers:

The Prowler

• Directed by Joseph Zito (Friday the 13th pt 4 and Invasion USA)

• Make up by Tom Savini

• Subgenre: another slasher

• "It will freeze your blood."

• My review: do you ever watch an 80s horror movie and know, without looking it up that Tom Savini did the effects for it? As far as early 80's slashers go, this is a pretty good one. I do kind of confuse this with My Bloody Valentine... it's worth a watch but it does kind of just blend in.

Graduation Day

• Directed by Herb Freed

• Staring: Christopher George, Linnea Quigley, ect

• Subgenre: sports revenge!

• "The class of '81 is running out of time!"

• My review: this film's editing is baffling. Not bad... not good... just wildly unique. It's as if the editor was like, 'how do I make as much work for myself as possible?' I always love a surprise Linnea Quigley and an actor who looks like they're a member of AARP playing a high school student. Fun times indeed!

Final Exam

• Directed by Jimmy Huston (My Best Friend is a Vampire)

• Subgenre: slasher, with a hazing

• "Some may pass the test... God help the rest."

• My review: Radish ran so that Randy Meeks could nerd, RIP, you were a real one. I like that we get literally no information about the kller. He just shows up and kills.

Hell Night

• Directed by Tom DeSimone

• Staring: Linda Blair and others

• Subgenre: disappointment's room

• "Scream and You're Dead!"

• My review: Marti was not a good final girl, worse still, she's a boring character. Jeff or Seth should have been the survivor. Further, I think it would have been WAY better if the story at the beginning wasn't accurate. Seth should have been 'Andrew', and he's out killing people for using his family home and tragedy as a joke. That would have given the movie more depth and made a better motivation beyond 'deformed dudes gunna kill cuz deformed', which I personally just am not a fan of.

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Other Horror movies that I can't fit into a category...

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker

• Directed by William Asher (tv and beach party movies)

• Cinematography: Jan de Bont!?! (Die Hard, Basic Instinct, Cujo, Flatliners, Jewel of the Nile, Hunt for Red October)

• Staring: Jimmy McNichol and Susan Tyrrell, with a cameo by a very young Bill Paxton.

• Subgenre: angry incest aunt vs homophobic cop! Who's the villain!?! You decide!

• "She was lonely. He was all she had. No-one would take him from her - and live..."

• My review: Weird title that has nothing to do with the movie aside, this film is. a ride! Does is make sense? I don't know but I'll watch it again.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow

• Directed by Frank de Felitta

• Staring: Charles Durning, Larry Drake (aka Dr Giggles), Lane Smith, Claude Earl Jones, ect

• Subgenre: mob justice has consequences

• "The original classic"

• My review: this movie is entirely skippable. An mob of angry men kill someone innocent because bigots gunna bigot. Then said mob of men start to get killed off.

Fear No Evil

• Directed and written by Frank La Loggia (Lady in White)

• Staring: Stefan Arngrim, Elizabeth Hoffman (Dante's Peak)

• Subgenre: queer teen Lucifer in high school! what could go wrong.

• "Alexandria high... class of '81 - all the students are going to hell, except Andrew... he sent them there!"

• My review: I've never seen a movie that was so boring while being simultaneously so unhinged. I see the comparisons to The Omen but I raise you Carrie. Enter Andrew! He is a sweet, quiet, queer?, teen... oh and he's also literally Satan reborn. Poor teen Lucifer is just trying to get through the worst thing man has ever created... High School P.E., and it's not going well. Then all hell breaks loose. The film ends with an explosion of flashing rainbow glitter lights... make of that what you will.

• Does the dog die? I have a hard time recommending this movie for the very intense scene of a dog dying where (from my research) used a sedated dog. It's incredibly visceral and hard to watch.

Evilspeak

• Directed by Eric Weston

• Staring: Clint Howard, Claude Earl Jones, ect

• Subgenre: bullied kid powers up thanks to demons...

• "Remember the little kid you used to pick on? Well, he's a big boy now."

• My review: they killed the puppy! WTAF! Worst bullies in film. And pigs... why'd it have to be pigs!?!

Frightmare

• Directed and written by Norman Thaddeus Vane

• Studio: released by Troma

• Subgenre: don't rob graves

• Staring: a bunch of people and hey there is a Jeffrey Combs

• "To the limit..."

Nightmare

• Directed and written by Romano Scavolini

• Subgenre: mentally ill man killing people because he's haunted by memories of seeing his dad have sex - f*cking Freud...

• "The dream you can't escape alive!"

• My review: "No he's out there killing people... and we can't have that." So... this movie is trying. it has potential. Ultimately to me if comes off as very stereotypical in the most negative, ableist way. If the characters weren't so absurdly unlikeable and annoying I would forgive it. But, MAN, that family is insufferable. If I was George (the killed), I'd have a breakdown too. In the end I felt bad for George and his psychiatrist... dude was really trying. George really is a pitiable man.

Dead and Buried

• Directed by Gary Sherman (Poltergeist III)

• One of the writers was Dan O'Bannon

• Staring: a lot of people and Robert Englund

• Subgenre: mad scientist makes zombie town

• "It will take your breath away. All of it."

Road Games

• Directed by Richard Franklin (Psycho II, Cloak and Dagger, ect)

• Staring: Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis

• Subgenre: Rear Window but Australian

• "On the World's Loneliest Highway it's not a game - it's murder!"

• My review: oddly methodical and boring, but totally watchable.

Night of the Horror

• Directed by Tony Malanowski

• Subgenre: ghost story...?

• "When four people are stranded on what was once an ancient battlefield, one of them is haunted by a voice from the past, as she tries to answer their call for help, a chilling nightmare unfolds... thus begins the "Night of Horror"."

• My review: this might be one of the worst quality (audio/visual) movie that I've seen. it's worse than Home Sweet Home and Terror on Tour. It's impressively bad. It's like an expired Polaroid photo of an old Polaroid was a movie. I respect the effort they put into the dialogue, this was really trying to be a movie. And that movie is the Legend of Boggy Creek... which is a choice! The biggest issue is they want you to feel back for a Confederate ghost. Ok guys... what is it with Confederate ghosts and vampires? You know having them be Yankees can tip the audience off to their time period just as much. Let's stop trying to empathize with the clearly racist, wrong side. But OMG, the 8 and a half minute, Gordon Lightfoot-esque music video over the footage of a Civil War reenactment was freaking wild. What drugs were they on? 8 and a half minutes! WHY?!?

The Pit

• Directed by Lew Lehman

• Subgenre: annoying child turned evil by monsters

• "Jamie wouldn't kill anyone... unless Teddy told him to!"

• My review: ok the tagline and poster make it seem like the kid's teddy bear is evil. It's not. The movie might have been cooler if it was. MAN this kid is insufferable and the plot is boring. Hard pass.

The Boogens

• Directed by James L. Conway

• Subgenre: man. vs nature in a cave

• "Some things shouldn't be disturbed..."

• My Review: The dwarves dug too deep into the mines. ofMoria and unleashed ancient evils known as Belrogs, wait wrong story, same plot though. Ok the acting sold me on the bad puppet. The script is pretty good. There is one big gaping issue, those people we're supposed to like are SO MEAN to their doggy. I honestly have to root for the puppy to team up with the Boogens to take them out. Tiger (the dog) deserved better!

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Foreign Horror:

Mystics in Bali

• Directed by H. Tjut Djalil

• "She sold her soul to possess the secrets of black magic..."

• My review: Woman doing research on... a witch? becomes the witches apprentice! And by that I mean she becomes a floating disembodied head and organs vampire thingy that sucks the baby out of a pregnant woman using her vagina like a straw.

Kung Fu Zombie

• Directed by Haw Shan

• Subgenre: 80's Hong Kong horror

• "How do you kill something that's already dead!"

Night of the Werewolf

• Directed and written by Paul Naschy (Howl of the Devil)

• Staring Paul Naschy

• Subgenre: sexy vampire ladies vs hot hairy werewolf man

• "It used to only be a myth"

• My review: this movie is about sexy vampires entering rooms in a moody and atmospheric way... OH! and there is a werewolf who has such a great beard that he's almost indistinguishable from his wolfman counterpart.

The Last Shark

• Directed by Enzo G. Castellari

• Staring: Vic Marrow and others

• Subgenre: Italian Jaws

• "You're what's for dinner."

• My review: you've seen Jaws, watch the discount version... with a better working shark.

Cannibal Ferox

• Directed by Umberto Lenzi. (Ghosthouse. Nightmare Beach. Nightmare City)

• Subgenre: racist Italian cannibal movie

• "They raped and murdered his sister while he watched helplessly. Now it's his turn to make them die slowly."

• My review: just because you acknowledge the issue doesn't alleviate you from the responsibility from still showing it. But, it does try to at least fault racist-colonizers so there is that. Anyway, MAN, that one guy who's name I don't remember was awful. So glad he died. And, I'm happy the lady survived and got her doctorates degree. What some people will do for their thesis, ya know.

The Beyond

• Directed by Lucio Fulci

• "Beyond death... beyond evil... beyond the dreaded gates of hell."

• My review: this is the one with the blind girl who is killed by her German Sheppard, weird ethereal flashbacks, and basement to hell.

The House by the Cemetery

• Directed by Lucio Fulci

• "Read the fine print. You may have just mortgaged your life."

• My review: f*cking BOB! (Manhattan Baby, A Blade in the Dark, and Demons) Bob might be the most insufferable child in film. The Babadook kid isn't as bad as Bob.

The Black Cat

• Directed by Lucio Fulci

• Subgenre: evil kitty

• "When you hear this car breathing down your neck... start praying... before you finish your amen... you're dead!"

• My review: this movie about a killer black cat has no right to be this good. The cinematography (Sergio Salvati) is stellar.
  

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