The 1980s were an outrageous decade, and that more than extended to the kinds of silly horror movies that were being released at the time. The best 80s horror movies manage to balance true spine-chilling terror in ways that have withstood the test of time, not giving in to the more indulgent and ostentatious stylistic choices of the time. However, there’s no denying that for every genius genre-defining horror film of the 80s, there were a slew of movies that were simply too silly to take seriously.
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It’s important to note that these movies didn’t necessarily strike out to become horror comedies. Though they are certainly aware of the goofy ideas they present with a straight face to varying degrees, they’re still traditional horror movies aiming to scare above all else, only to fall prey to their sillier side. Whether their execution leaves something to be desired or their very premises are simply too absurd to salvage into something genuinely frightening, some 80s movies are more beloved for their silliness rather than their scariness.
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10
The Blob
1988
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The 80s were arguably the first decade in which remakes of popular existing horror films truly became commonplace, including 1988’s The Blob. A remake of the 50s sci-fi B movie classic of the same name, The Blob centers on its titular amorphous monster as it oozes its way through a small town.
There’s no escaping the inherent pulp of the campy original movie, with an antagonist as unassuming as a massive shifting piece of pink gum.
Notably, the 80s version opts to anchor the creature’s origin as a government experiment rather than an extraterrestrial life form, crashing down to earth in a satellite rather than a meteor. The Blob certainly has its moments of genuine terror, as the slimy organism melts the faces of its victims as it grows in size, leaving behind only bloody bones.
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The Blob
Horror
Sci-Fi
Thriller
9/10
Release Date
August 5, 1988
Runtime
95 Minutes
Cast
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Shawnee Smith
Meg Penny
-
Kevin Dillon
Brian Flagg
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However, there’s no escaping the inherent pulp of the campy original movie, with an antagonist as unassuming as a massive shifting piece of pink gum. The Blob might try its hand at some political commentary with the counterculture themes and government mistrust the plot hovers over, but it can’t escape the silly nature of its villain.
9
Lifeforce
1985
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Hundreds of horror movies have successfully depicted vampires as genuinely frightening, including 80s classics like The Lost Boys and Fright Night. Similarly, science fiction horror was also in a good spot during the decade, with special effects techniques and film budgets finally catching up to the imaginations of future-minded storytellers. Lifeforce makes an attempt to merge the two subgenres together, and the two mix about as nicely as oil and water.
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Lifeforce
R
Sci-Fi
Horror
Action
Thriller
8.8/10
Release Date
June 21, 1985
Runtime
102 Minutes
Cast
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Steve Railsback
Carlsen
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Peter Firth
Caine
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In Lifeforce, vampires are discovered in (get this) the ship of a spacecraft hidden within the trail of Halley’s Comet. These alien beings are recovered and brought to Earth, where they soon awaken and begin draining humanity of, what else, their very life force. The bizarre, overcomplicated mess of a premise is too puzzling to be genuinely scary, but that’s not to say it isn’t a fun watch, with the intricate worldbuilding and captivating visuals making up for the lack of real scares.
8
Chopping Mall
1986
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As far as the endangered species of killer robot horror movies go, Chopping Mall is about as factory standard as they’re built. The plot, for as much as it can be said to have one, centers on a bustling mall populated with teenage employees who soon find themselves as co-workers with three state-of-the-art cybernetic security droids.
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The so-called “Protectors” end up going haywire, slicing up the hapless teen partiers after the mall closes with lasers, blades, and bolts of electricity. Right down to its pun title, Chopping Mall is indicative of director Jim Wynorski’s other cinematic endeavors, similarly cheap horror movies with names like Piranhaconda and Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre.
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Chopping Mall
R
Comedy
Horror
Sci-Fi
9/10
Release Date
March 14, 1986
Runtime
77 minutes
Cast
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Kelli Maroney
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Tony O’Dell
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The Protectors are somehow sleek and cheap-looking at the same time, never being a frightening thing to look at no matter how many sex-crazed teenagers they manage to chop up. While some have retroactively attributed clever messages surrounding Reagan-era consumerism to the film, Chopping Mall is a hilariously corny clash of flesh and steel.
7
Demons
1985
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With such a straightforward name, one might hope that Demons would continue the long-standing tradition of profane horror movies rooted in the demonic mythology of Christian folklore. Yet Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist 1985’s Demons is not, providing a very different take on devilish incursions. In Demons, a group of moviegoers are assaulted when the horror movie they’re watching starts to come to life, leading each of them to become possessed or killed by violent demons one by one.
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Demons
R
Release Date
October 4, 1985
Runtime
88 minutes
A random group of moviegoers are invited to a screening of a mysterious horror movie. Soon, the spectators find themselves trapped in the theater with voracious demons that will kill or possess them one by one.
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Demons is a great case study for Italian horror spectacle, from its punchy gruesome deaths to its audacious creature designs. The narrative takes a far backseat to the hypnotic imagery, ridiculous dialogue, and over-the-top characters, who are more like exaggerated caricatures than actual people. Demons is proof that gore does not necessarily equate to scariness, and begs to be laughed at as the outrageous visuals take control of the film’s feeble vessel.
6
Maximum Overdrive
1986
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The 80s were rife with adaptations of Stephen King’s work that left much to be desired, leading to King himself to step in and direct his first film, based on his own short story Trucks. In Maximum Overdrive, the lingering magical effects of a comet trail that Earth passes into causes all manner of complicated machinery to come to life and begin to murder humans, leaving a group of survivors huddled in a truck stop in fear.
Stalking them are a group of rabid semi-trucks, led by one with a massive Green Goblin face inexplicably attached to the grille. Despite being directed by King himself, Maximum Overdrive is a beautiful disaster of over-the-top camp, screeching southern accents, and a rocking AC/DC original soundtrack.
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Maximum Overdrive
R
Horror
Comedy
Action
7/10
Release Date
July 25, 1986
Runtime
98 minutes
Cast
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Emilio Estevez
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Laura Harrington
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The trucks and appliances doing the killing are far from scary, but the spectacle they provide is second to none. As fun as it is to watch as a cocaine-fueled time capsule of the mid-80s, the only effective jumpscare in Maximum Overdrive is the sudden appearance of a young pre-fame Giancarlo Esposito in a minor role.
5
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
1988
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Many of the most audaciously silly 80s horror movies can be identified as such by their very title, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space more than follows this idea. The story does indeed center on a group of nightmarishly grotesque alien creatures that look like clowns who invade a small town, using their circus-themed advanced alien technology to wrap up hapless victims in cotton candy cocoons for later consumption. It’s up to a heroic young man to save his town from ruin at the hands of the invaders.
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Killer Klowns from Outer Space
PG-13
Horror
Sci-Fi
Comedy
4/10
Release Date
May 27, 1988
Runtime
88 minutes
Cast
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Suzanne Snyder
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Michael S. Siegel
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Admittedly, Killer Klowns from Outer Space can be a bit unnerving with its endearingly cheap and eerie atmosphere, especially for those with coulrophobia. However, at the end of the day, the clowns are far more silly than they are scary, living up to their name as entertainers befitting of a carnival first and foremost. Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a very special film that’s nevertheless one of the goofiest horror movies ever conceived by its premise alone.
4
Re-Animator
1985
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When it comes to adaptations of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s work, “silly” usually couldn’t be as fundamentally incorrect of a descriptor, with Lovecraftian horror thriving on the unkown and insanity-inducing corners of a dark universe. But Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator stands head and shoulders above the others in this regard, taking the infamous author’s words in a far sillier direction.
INTERESTING FACT: Re-Animator has a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Based off the short story Herbert West- Reanimator, Re-Animator tells the story of the brilliant Herbert West, a gifted student obsessed with curing death via his own homebrewed serum. Despite being almost nauseatingly gory at times and indulging in some disturbing plotlines revolving around romantic obsession, Re-Animator is a top-tier comedy for any horror fan.
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Re-Animator
Unrated
Horror
Sci-Fi
Comedy
9/10
Release Date
October 18, 1985
Runtime
84 minutes
Cast
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Jeffrey Combs
-
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Bruce Abbott
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Jeffrey Combs is hilariously over-the-top as the shrewd Herbert West, slicing up scenery and corpses alike with his fierce cheekbones and glowing green serum. If one can stomach the blood and guts, Re-Animator is amazing in how it manages to turn the work of an author as famously morbid as Lovecraft’s into such a silly romp from beyond the grave.
3
The Stuff
1985
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Another 80s horror movie centered around villainous slime, The Stuff is silly right down to its very title. The satirical science fiction horror film starts when some quarry workers in Georgia discover a mysterious gray substance bubbling up from the Earth, finding it to be a sweet zero-calorie delicacy that they can sell for tremendous profit.
The unintentionally awkward directorial choices the film makes steeps its cast in a bizarre aura that’s impossible to wash off or take seriously.
Of course, the titular Stuff ends up being far more sinister, turning out to be an alien organism that transforms those who eat it into shuffling zombies that eventually turn into more Stuff. Revolving around an inhumanly strange performance from Michael Moriarty of Holocaust fame, The Stuff does at least reach a bit for some thoughtful musings on overconsumption and consumerism in American culture.
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The Stuff
R
Horror
Comedy
Sci-Fi
Release Date
June 14, 1985
Runtime
87 Minutes
Cast
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Michael Moriarty
David
-
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Andrea Marcovicci
Nicole
-
Garrett Morris
Chocolate Charlie
-
Paul Sorvino
Col. Spears
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That being said, the cheesy effects of the gray Play-Doh-like sludge seeping through the eyes and ears of its victims is simply too hilarious to ignore. More than that, the unintentionally awkward directorial choices the film makes steeps its cast in a bizarre aura that’s impossible to wash off or take seriously.
2
Burial Ground
1981
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One of many weird low-budget Italian horror movies, Burial Ground is a film of many alternative titles, including Nights of Terror, Zombi Horror, The Zombie Dead and Zombie 3. As could be guessed, the plot is that of a fairly generic zombie movie, centering on a group of people who are trapped in a mansion in the midst of a zombie siege thanks to the accidental awakening of an ancient magical curse. While the story may be nothing special on-paper, it’s the absurd execution of it that makes Burial Ground a remarkably silly affair.
Burial Ground indulges in all sorts of nonsensical subplots, including a young boy (played by a 25-year-old to circumvent child labor laws) with an Oedipus complex and zombies that are smart enough to use tools and weapons to trap their prey. The shoestring budget shows quite clearly in many places, but the utter lack of story and bizarre zombie breast-feeding scene more than makes up for it. Ending on a title card littered with misspelled English words, Burial Ground is astoundingly goofy and slapdash.
1
Basket Case
1982
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Twins are a common refrain in horror movies, from the creepy spectral siblings of The Shining to the troublemaking German lads at the center of Goodnight Mommy. But no pair of identical brothers can hold a candle to Duane and Belial of Basket Case, one of the most grotesquely hilarious horror movies ever to come out of the 80s.
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The film supposes that the normal-looking Duane is burdened by his formerly-conjoined twin brother Belial, a malformed monster closer in resemblance to a teratoma than a human being. Belial is kept hidden in a basket the majority of the time, with the film’s pun title being indicative of its tone.
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Basket Case
R
Comedy
Horror
Release Date
April 2, 1982
Runtime
91 minutes
Cast
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Kevin Van Hentenryck
-
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Terri Susan Smith
-
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Beverly Bonner
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Robert Vogel
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As Duane attempts to live a normal life, Belial’s evil urges and fierce overprotective jealously begin to seep in further and further, leading to a series of appalling crimes perpetrated by an undeniably silly-looking creature. Though the gonzo gore and sexual violence may be intense at times, Basket Case‘s cheap special effects and hilarious unprepared cast of “actors” make it one of the silliest horror movies in living memory.
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Category: Entertainment