Best Slasher Movies of the 1980s

One of the crazier aspects of my horror upbringing is that I actually saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 before the original! This was directed by Tobe Hooper which is pretty cool and it was released in 1986, several years after the original movie. The first one is regarded as an all-time classic and a genre-defining horror movie. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 still has a lot of blood and gore, but this also has a lot of comedy elements at play too.

Dennis Hopper plays the role of Lieutenant Boude “Lefty” Enright. What is neat about this is that he is the uncle of Sally and Franklin from the first movie. Dennis Hopper is freaking nuts in this movie and the Sawyer family well and truly have met their match here. With so many crazy kills, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 may not be a cinematic classic, but it is a lot of fun and always a wild time!

While Silent Night, Deadly Night may not have been hugely appreciated when it hit theatres in 1984, this is a movie that has built up a real following over the years. And in my house, this is a must-watch during the holiday season! After all what better way to celebrate the season of giving than by watching Billy Chapman go on a killing spree? Silent Night, Deadly Night is the story of that aforementioned young man, who was left traumatized after seeing his folks get slaughtered on Christmas Eve.

Billy has a breakdown and he ends up putting on a Santa Clause suit and going on the most insane rampage. Some may say that this is a movie that lacks substance, but at the end of the day, a slasher movie is all about the kills and the thrills, and Silent Night, Deadly Night certainly has that! They tried remaking this in 2012 and it just lacked all of the charm that the 84 original had.

Released in 1981 and directed by Tony Maylam, The Burning is a classic 80s slasher movie that is a whole lot of fun. We also have to mention that the original theatrical poster for The Burning is awesome and something I would love to have in my home theatre! While some may say that this movie borrows from Friday the 13^th, I have always felt that this does more than enough to stand on its own.

The reason some feel it is close to 1980’s Friday the 13^th is the summer camp setting. The killer here is a former camp caretaker called Cropsy whom the campers were not keen on. A prank goes wrong and Cropsy ends up horribly burned! Once he is “healed” up, he – along with a huge pair of clippers – heads to a summer camp and goes on a rampage! This is just really fun and classic stuff and it had to be on my list of best slasher movies of the 80s! Also, a fun bit of trivia is that The Burning was the film debut of Jason Alexander, better known as George from Seinfeld!

1980’s Maniac is a crazy, over-the-top kind of slasher movie that has a very cool New York setting. This is a real favorite for many slasher/horror fans. The “maniac” in question here is Frank Zito who grew up being abused by his mother, and to say it messed him up is a massive understatement. Frank stalks New York, killing women, scalping them, and adding their hair to his creepy as hell mannequin collection at his home…. Yeah, the title, Maniac is very fitting.

While this is a fun movie for slasher fans, the history of how this was made is just as fun and interesting. It was made on a shoestring budget and they filmed much of it on the go without any proper permits! This is a huge part of why Maniac has such a raw, real, and gritty look and feel to it. There was a remake in 2012 with Elijah Wood and while the original will always be the best, for a remake, it is honestly pretty darn good.

Ok, I have put My Bloody Valentine quite high up on my best slasher movies of the 80s as I love this movie! Released all the way back in 1981, My Bloody Valentine is an absolute classic of the slasher genre. The story is about a small town that is stalked by a killer in a miner’s outfit. While that premise sounds kind of silly, for a slasher movie, this has a pretty solid plot where this small town underwent a tragedy because of a Valentine’s Day dance!

Because of this, the dance was shelved for 20 years, but when a group of teens brought the Valentine’s Day dance back, a killer miner shows back up to look for blood and vengeance. What is so neat about My Bloody Valentine is that we have some fun slasher movie kills here. However, the story is pretty tight and while it does have the teens being killed tropes, we have a bit of a mystery thing going on in regards to who the miner is as well. This is another classic slasher that got a remake, a remake that is not one of the better ones!

Sleepaway Camp is a slasher franchise that is a real favorite of mine. The original movie was written and directed by Robert Hiltzik (who would return to direct one of the later movies) and it was released in 1983. Sleepaway Camp is famous for that final shot of Angela, but this is so much more than that. This is a thrill ride and the first time you watch it, you do not actually have a clue who the killer is, the movie hides it really well.

Set in a classic 80s style summer camp, young Angela is a shy and kind of weird kid who gets bullied pretty badly while attending the camp. Well, people start showing up dead in some pretty messed up ways (that curling iron scene!) and the surviving campers are freaked out and terrified. This is a real classic and no best slasher movies of the 80s list would be complete without this on it. To be honest with you, I also think that all of the sequels have some charm to them as well, all be it some have more charm than others!

I thought long and hard about including the Child’s Play franchise, because is it really a slasher? I personally feel that the series (the first three) do fit more into the slasher category. I love this franchise and to this day, Child’s Play 2 is my favorite. After the traumatic events of the first movie, young Andy Barclay has been put with a foster family, but Chucky has managed to track him down and wants to play a game of Hide the Soul with him.

The original certainly had more horror elements, even though Chucky did have some fun. Child’s Play 2 on the other hand really leans into some epic one liners. Chucky is hilarious in this movie, but he is also pretty brutal with the way he takes some people out. Chucky would become famous for saying amusing things, but I always felt that Child’s Play 2 had humor, but it did not feel as forced as the other movies. The scene with Chucky and Kyle in the car where he yells at her to drive or he will kick her teeth in always has me in hysterics. 

Come on, you cannot talk about the best slasher movies of the 80s and not have a Halloween movie in the conversation! While many may have gone for part 1 or 2, 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers has always been my personal favorite in the franchise. This would be the first of a trilogy of Halloween movies that started here and then concluded with part 6. 

Michael finds out that he has a niece and of course, he has to head back to Haddonfield to kill her! As well as Michael surviving the events of Halloween II, we also find out that Dr. Loomis also survived, and he tries to do all that he can to stop Michael. This is just a super fun Halloween movie and if I am in the mood to watch just one Halloween flick, it 99/100 will be part 4. Michael really feels like much more of an unstoppable “force” here than he did in the first two movies.

I love the Friday the 13^th series, but man do I hate Part V! Friday the 13^th Part VI: Jason Lives, which was released in 1986 fixes, what Part V did wrong. What I love about this movie is that this pretty much has every single Friday the 13^th trope and cliché that the series is known for and it embraces them! It makes for such a fun movie and when I think of Jason Voorhees, it is the way he is here in Part VI that always comes to my mind.

While Jason is awesome and we get to see him be his kill-happy best here, another reason that I love this movie is that we also get a great ending for the character of Tommy Jarvis. The way that Tommy accidentally brings Jason back to life is pretty funny, but seeing Tommy have to step up and do whatever it takes to put Jason down once and for all is fantastic stuff indeed. In all honesty, this could have served as an amazing end to the series, but they had to go to the well a couple more times!

When I started putting together this best slasher movies of the 80s list, I knew right from the start that A Nightmare on Elm Street Part III: Dream Warriors was going to take the top spot. Out of all the classic slasher/horror icons, Freddy has been and always will be my favorite. I was not a huge fan of Part II, but with Part III, Wes Craven was back to help with the script and we also had Heather Langenkamp back as Nancy. Nancy by the way is my favorite final girl of all time!

Nancy now works as a therapist at the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital. Nancy has managed to get a grip on her dreams, but a teenager called Kristen is about to make it so Freddy can come back. Kristen and several other patients at the hospital start to see Freddy in their dreams and it is up to Nancy and Kristen to get these kids to band together to try and put a stop to Freddy once and for all. This is just an awesome movie and the “puppet string kill” is my favorite of all the iconic Freddy kills. Part III would actually be the first in a mini trilogy in the middle of the A Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise. Oh, this movie also gives us some of Freddy’s most fun and iconic sayings!