# Top 40 Horror Movies of the 1980s

> Practical-effects gore, VHS-era slashers and arthouse dread all came out of one decade. Blockbusters share space here with midnight-movie favourites.

*By YPB Team · Published October 26, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-40-horror-movies-of-the-1980s*

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## Current results (1 vote)

1. **The Thing** — score 1000/1000
   John Carpenter's 1982 Antarctic shocker about a shape-shifting alien, famed for Rob Bottin's practical effects.
2. **Sleepaway Camp** — score 561/1000
   Robert Hiltzik's 1983 summer-camp slasher, notorious for one of horror's most shocking final reveals.
3. **The Serpent and the Rainbow** — score 526/1000
   Wes Craven's 1988 Haiti-set voodoo thriller, loosely based on Wade Davis's book about zombification.
4. **Poltergeist** — score 526/1000
   Tobe Hooper's 1982 Spielberg-produced haunted-house hit about a suburban family whose daughter is taken by spirits.
5. **Killer Klowns from Outer Space** — score 526/1000
   The Chiodo Brothers' 1988 cult creature feature about alien clowns cocooning a small town in cotton candy.
6. **Tenebrae** — score 526/1000
   Dario Argento's stylish 1982 giallo about an American crime novelist stalked by a copycat killer in Rome.
7. **The Entity** — score 486/1000
   Sidney J. Furie's 1982 supernatural shocker with Barbara Hershey as a woman tormented by an invisible attacker.
8. **Prince of Darkness** — score 486/1000
   John Carpenter's 1987 apocalyptic chiller about a canister of liquid evil found beneath a church.
9. **The Return of the Living Dead** — score 486/1000
   Dan O'Bannon's 1985 punk zombie comedy that gave the undead their craving for brains.
10. **Possession** — score 486/1000
   Andrzej Żuławski's 1981 Berlin-set nightmare of a marriage falling apart, led by Isabelle Adjani.
11. **Angel Heart** — score 440/1000
   Alan Parker's 1987 occult noir with Mickey Rourke as a detective hired by a mysterious Robert De Niro.
12. **The Shining** — score 440/1000
   Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's novel, with Jack Nicholson unravelling in the snowbound Overlook Hotel.
13. **A Nightmare on Elm Street** — score 440/1000
   Wes Craven's 1984 slasher that introduced Freddy Krueger, a burned killer who strikes in his victims' dreams.
14. **Scanners** — score 440/1000
   David Cronenberg's 1981 thriller about telepaths at war, home to cinema's most famous exploding head.
15. **Videodrome** — score 388/1000
   Cronenberg's 1983 techno-nightmare about a TV executive who stumbles onto a signal that warps reality.
16. **Pet Sematary** — score 388/1000
   Mary Lambert's 1989 Stephen King adaptation about a burial ground that brings the dead back wrong.
17. **Friday the 13th** — score 329/1000
   Sean S. Cunningham's 1980 summer-camp slasher that launched the Crystal Lake franchise and its famous twist.
18. **Night of the Creeps** — score 329/1000
   Fred Dekker's 1986 cult horror comedy about alien slugs turning college students into zombies.
19. **The Howling** — score 329/1000
   Joe Dante's 1981 werewolf film about a TV news anchor sent to a sinister coastal retreat.
20. **Creepshow** — score 329/1000
   George A. Romero and Stephen King's 1982 comic-book anthology of five gruesome tales.
21. **Child's Play** — score 329/1000
   Tom Holland's 1988 slasher in which a dying serial killer's soul ends up inside the Chucky doll.
22. **Hellraiser** — score 329/1000
   Clive Barker's 1987 directorial debut that unleashed Pinhead and the sadomasochistic Cenobites.
23. **Near Dark** — score 329/1000
   Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 vampire western about a nomadic clan of bloodsuckers roaming the Midwest.
24. **Christine** — score 329/1000
   John Carpenter's 1983 Stephen King adaptation about a jealous, possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury.
25. **The Evil Dead** — score 259/1000
   Sam Raimi's 1981 low-budget cabin-in-the-woods debut that made Bruce Campbell a cult hero.
26. **The Blob** — score 259/1000
   Chuck Russell's 1988 remake that turns the 1950s creature feature into a gooey, gory effects showcase.
27. **Cujo** — score 259/1000
   Lewis Teague's 1983 Stephen King adaptation about a mother and son trapped in a car by a rabid St. Bernard.
28. **The Fly** — score 259/1000
   David Cronenberg's 1986 body-horror remake with Jeff Goldblum as a scientist slowly turning into an insect.
29. **The Lost Boys** — score 259/1000
   Joel Schumacher's 1987 teen vampire film set in a California boardwalk town, with Kiefer Sutherland.
30. **The Beyond** — score 259/1000
   Lucio Fulci's surreal 1981 Italian splatter film about a Louisiana hotel built on a gateway to hell.
31. **Day of the Dead** — score 259/1000
   George A. Romero's bleak 1985 zombie film set in an underground military bunker, with Bub the zombie.
32. **An American Werewolf in London** — score 177/1000
   John Landis's 1981 horror comedy, whose Rick Baker transformation scene won the first makeup Oscar.
33. **Gremlins** — score 177/1000
   Joe Dante's 1984 Christmas horror comedy about the mischievous creatures spawned from a cute mogwai.
34. **Beetlejuice** — score 177/1000
   Tim Burton's 1988 horror comedy with Michael Keaton as the anarchic 'bio-exorcist' haunting a new family.
35. **Re-Animator** — score 177/1000
   Stuart Gordon's gory 1985 H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, with Jeffrey Combs as the reckless Herbert West.
36. **The Fog** — score 177/1000
   John Carpenter's 1980 ghost story in which a glowing fog brings vengeful sailors back to a coastal town.
37. **Fright Night** — score 177/1000
   Tom Holland's 1985 horror comedy about a teenager convinced his new neighbour is a vampire.
38. **My Bloody Valentine** — score 177/1000
   George Mihalka's 1981 Canadian slasher about a miner killer stalking a small town's Valentine's dance.
39. **The Changeling** — score 177/1000
   Peter Medak's 1980 ghost story with George C. Scott as a widowed composer in a haunted Seattle mansion.
40. **Evil Dead II** — score 0/1000
   Raimi's 1987 part-remake, part-sequel that turns the demon siege into slapstick splatter.

Tags: movies, 80s, horror, classics