Back In The Day: The 10 Best Horror Movies From The 80s

9) Friday The 13th (1980)

Kicking off one of the longest running horror film series to ever grace the big screen is this blood-soaked shocker from director Sean S. Cunningham. Spurred by the success of John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher masterpiece Halloween, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. aimed to capitalize on the new, burgeoning low-budget slasher subgenre. Their decision paid dividends, as the Friday The 13th series would go on to become a multi-million dollar media franchise that would span across twelve movies, a TV show and two video games (we’re sure we haven’t seen the last from this iconic madman, either).

Though Jason Voorhees’ legendary hockey mask doesn’t make an appearance until the third installment, the original Friday The 13th will be forever burned into our memories as the gory introduction to one of cinema’s most fierce and unrelenting teen-slasher villains.

8) Hellraiser (1987)

We can’t think of many baddies that look as aesthetically terrifying as Pinhead and his ramshackle gang of cenobites (these guys would be a shoo-in for a best dressed award at any Halloween costume competition!).

From the creative mind of visionary British horror author Clive Barker – in his directorial debut, no less – comes Hellraiser; a dark and twisted journey that delves into themes of obsession, despair, betrayal and the blurred lines between pleasure and pain.

Barker’s hellish opus focuses on a mysterious Pandora’s box that opens up a portal to the labyrinthian dreamscapes of the underworld, and releases a myriad of disturbing creatures that terrorize whomever’s unlucky enough to open it. With some hauntingly pitch-dark imagery and a choice assortment of excellently delivered dialogue – who can forget: “We’ll tear your soul aparrrrt!”? – Hellraiser stands out as one of the finest British horror flicks to come out from the ’80s.