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 1980 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 36 horror movies from 1980!
The highest rated horror movie (on Letterboxd) of 1980 is: The Shining!
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
'Based' on a novel by Stephen King
Staring Shelley Duvall, Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers.
Location: The Overlook Hotel
Subgenre: Haunted House + Winter Isolation
"He came as the caretaker, but this hotel had its own guardians - who'd been there a long time."
The lowest rated horror movie (on Letterboxd) of 1980 is: The Day Time Ended!
Directed by John 'Bud' Cardos - who also directed Night Shadows aka Mutant!
Oddly it was edited by Ted Nicolaou... huh
It's a Charles Band Production (ok the Nicolaou thing tracks).
Subgenre: Aliens + Time Travle
"Their lives became a living hell... when past, present, and future collided!"
One of the most influential horror films from 1980 is: Friday the 13th!
Directed by Sean S. Cunningham
Produced by Sean S. Cunningham and Steve Miner
Staring a lot of non-teens and introducing Kevin Bacon!
Special Effects by Tom Savini
Music by Harry Manfredini
It was distributed by Paramount making it one of the widest released slashers - and the slasher that cemented The Rules (not Halloween).
Subgenre: Slasher + Camp + Good For Her
"They were warned... they were doomed... and on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them."
The Scream Queen herself Jamie Lee Curtis was in three horror movies this year... girl.
John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis teamed up again for The Fog!
Directed + Composed by John Carpenter
Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill
Make up by Rob Bottin and others.
(Dean Cundey did the cinematography and Tommy Lee Wallace was also involved).
Staring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Buck Flower, ect.
Location: Antonio Bay
Subgenre: Ghosts
"Lock your doors. Bolt your windows. There's something in the fog!"
Jamie Lee Curtis' next horror film this year is Prom Night:
Directed by Paul Lynch
Staring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, and many others I don't know
Subgenre: Slasher
"If you're not back by midnight... you won't be coming home!"
Jamie Lee Curtis' last outing this year is Terror Train!
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode (of Turner and Hootch fame)
Staring: Jamie Lee Curtis, and with an appearance by David Copperfield...
Subgenre: Slasher
"The Boys and girls of Sigma Phi. Some will live. Some will die."
I'd like to shout out Carne the train conductor for being great.
A comment on serious films! And by serious I mean gritty NYC movies...
Dressed to Kill
Directed + Written by Brian de Palma
Staring: Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon and many more
Subgenre: Transphobic Slasher
Windows
Directed by Gordon Willis... a DP known for the Godfather, All the President's Men, Annie Hall and many more.
Staring Talia Shire and Elizabeth Ashley.
Subgenre: Homophobic lesbian stalker thriller...
"There is no privacy... there is no safety... the terror will follow you home."
Maniac
Directed by William Lustig (of Maniac Cop fame)
Staring: Joe Spinell and others
Make up by Tom Savini and Rob Bottin
Subgenre: New York Sleazy Exploitation + Slasher
"I warned you not to go out tonight!"
Cruising
Directed + Written by William Friedkin (the Exorcist guy!)
Staring: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Joe Spinell, Ed O'Neill, William Russ, Mike Starr, so man people you'll recognize. Oh and I guess Karen Allen was in it...
Subgenre: wants to be Giallo, so it's a leather slasher.
"Al Pacino is cruising for a killer."
The 9th Configuration - my favorite movie of the year.
Directed + Written by William Peter Blatty (writer of The Exorcist)
Staring: Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders, Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell, Tom Atkins, ect.
Subgenre: Existential dread
"How do you fight a war called madness?"
The Changeling
Directed by Peter Medak
Staring: George C Scott and more
Subgenre: Ghosts
"Whatever you do... don't go into the attic."
Altered States
Directed by Ken Russell (who did Lair of the White Worm, Gothic, Tommy, ect)
Make up by Dick Smith and Rick Baker
Staring: William Hunt and more
Subgenre: .... I actually have no idea.... Man v Science?
"When he heard his cry for help it wasn't human!"
Alligator
Directed by Lewis Teague
Subgenre: Monster Movie
"It lives 50 feet beneath the city. It's 36 feet long. It weighs 2,000 pounds... and it's about to break out!"
Without Warning
Directed by Greydon Clark (who also directed Uninvited).
Cinematography by Dean Cundy
Staring Jack Palance and Martin Landau who were in Alone the Dark together.
Subgenre: Aliens
"It preys on human fear. It feeds on human flesh."
My review: Greg was a cutie, he deserved better! Only issue is all the old men kind of look and act the same, it gets a tad confusing. They all have the same moral: PTSD is one hell of a drug!
The Children
Directed by Max Kalmanowicz (he also did Dreams Come True)
Composer: Harry Manfredini
Subgenre: Nuclear Waste Zombie Kids...
"...thank god they're somebody else's!"
My review: this whole movie is about killing zombie kids, and I love it!
Fade to Black
Directed + Written by by Vernon Zimmerman
Staring: Dennis Christopher and more
Subgenre: Slasher?
"Eric Binford lives for the movies... sometimes he kills for them too!"
My review: this movie has heavy commentary on violence in films affecting mentally ill people while simultaneously paying homage to the old movie monsters and creates a bridge from the horror films of the past to where the genre is going - towards slashers.
The Boogey Man
Directed by Ulli Lommel
Staring: Suzanna + Nicholas Love, John Carradine and more!
Subgenre: Nightmare Ghost...?
"The most terrifying nightmare of childhood is about to return!"
My review: on this entry of Amityville Horror - Reflections! Yup this one is about haunted mirrors. No really they chose to use a house that looks just like the one from the film, complete with the same windows. Come on now.
Shout out to Willy who I assume isn't supposed to be an autistic icon but that's how I choose to read him.
Death Ship
Directed by Alvin Rakoff
Subgenre: Nazi Ghost Ship
"Those who survive the ghost ship are better off dead!"
Humanoids From the Deep
Directed by Barbara Peeters.... r*pe reshoots by Jimmy T Murakami... hey a female director! and a weird behind the scenes story, yikes!
Produced by Roger Corman
Make Up by Rob Bottin
Subgenre: Monster Movie
"From the ocean depths they strike... to terrorize... to make... and to kill!"
My review: This is a solid monster movie - honestly it's better than it should be while still being Corman levels of trashy (that is to say not Troma leves). There is a message in here about bigotry that deepens the films themes... by actually adding a theme. lol.
Blood Beach
Directed by Jeffrey Bloom
Subgenre: .... Jaw ripoff...? Monster?
"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water - you can't get to it."
The Unseen
Directed by Danny Steinmann (of Friday the 13th pt V and Savage Streets fame.)
Staring: Sydney Lassick (of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Subgenre: Incest + Disappointments Room + Slasher?
"The ultimate hidden terror."
Funeral Home aka Cries in the Night
Directed by William Fruet
Subgenre: Psycho rip-off
"They were warned, they were all warned... 'Don't go down to the cellar!'"
My review: the characters are set up oddly well despite the terrible dialogue. The ending is straight from Psycho but the clearly mentally ill killer is treated well and with respect which is rare.
Motel Hell
Directed by Kevin Connor
Staring: Rory Calhoun and others....
Subgenre: Cannibal + Slasher.... farm horror?
"It takes all kinds of critters to make farmer Vincent Fritters!"
My review: nothing could have prepared me for Rory Calhoun coming out of the back room in a severed pig's head while wielding a chainsaw. It's a gross movie, but one I'd watch again, unlike a few others on this list.
Children of the Full Moon
A Hammer Film Productions TV movie
Directed by Tom Clegg.
Subgenre: werewolf cult
My review: is that werewolf going to ____ that woman to create a pack of werewolf pups? Oh yes that is what's happening... ok.
Our Rocksploitation of the year is!: Terror on Tour
Directed by Don Edmonds
Music by: The Names
Subgenre: Slasher + Rocksploitation
"Terror strikes as the music begins."
My review: Was the terror on tour because the band sure wasn't. Also, everyone man in this movie looks the same, PLUS they wear matching KISS-esque makeup. So, I literally have no idea who the killer is in the end. And why did they end on a freeze frame of the killer scream (what I think is) "STOP!"
Holiday Horror Movies! - which does include Friday the 13th, Terror Train and these gems:
My least favorite film of this year: Mother's Day
Directed by Charles Kaufman
Subgenre: hillbilly family
"If you go down to the woods today..."
My review: deeply and profoundly un-fun. Just devoid of entertainment value to me. I truly dislike this movie from beginning to end.
New Years Evil
Directed by Emmett Alston
Produced by Cannon!
Subgenre: Holiday Horror + Slasher
"Don't dare make New Year's resolutions... unless you plan to live!"
Christmas Evil
Directed + Written by by Lewis Jackson
Subgenre: Holiday Horror + Slasher
"Better watch out... better not cry... or you may die!"
To All a Goodnight
Directed by David Hess
Make up by Mark Shostrom
Subgenre: Holiday Horror + Sorority Horror + Slasher
"You'll scream 'till dawn."
My review: if you combine Black Christmas and Prom Night but made them boring.
Hex
Directed by Kuei Chih-Hung (who also did Boxer's Omen)
It's a Shaw Brothers production - so it's from Hong Kong
Subgenre: umm mystical *stares into the abyss* yeah... mystical
My review: it starts out as Shaw Brothers doing their version of Diabolique (1955), then turns into a... ghost/vampire revenge story... I think?
Italian Horror films include:
Cannibal Holocaust - The 'og' Found Footage movie?
Directed by Ruggero Deodato
Subgenre: Found Footage + racism
"Can a movie go too far?"
Night of the Zombies
Directed by Bruno Mattei... [Cruel Jaws, Rats, Shocking Dark...]
Subgenre: Zombies
"When the creeping dead devour the living flesh."
My review: let me stand here and get eaten by the slowest of zombies.
City of the Living Dead
Directed by Lucio Fulci... [The Beyond, House by the Cemetery - New York Ripper, Zombie, The Black Cat...]
Subgenre: ? It's Fulci...
"And the dead shall rise and walk the Earth!"
My review: f*ck I can never remember which Fulci film is which.
Inferno
Directed + Written by Dario Argento... [Susperia, Tenebrae, Deep Red, Opera, Phenomena]
Subgenre: I have no idea....
"Before Tenebrae, beyond Suspiria, there is Inferno!"
My review: what is this movie about?
Macabre
Directed by Lamberto Bava... [Demons + A Blade in the Dark]
Subgenre: ..?...
"Prepare yourself for the shock of a lifetime! Once she kept a lover on the side. But that's nothing compared to what she's keeping in the freezer."
My review: WAIT! I actually like this Italian horror movie. A first for me. Robert deserved better. Hell Jane deserved better. Life lesson here, give your kid attention.
Citation! All information came from Letterboxd. The reviews are my own.
Will be updates as I watch more!
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