Skip to Main Content
Horrorometer LogoHorrorometer Mobile LogoHorrorometer - Home
Home
Movies
TV Shows
Books
Rankings
Skip to main content
  1. Home/
  2. Movies/
  3. By Decade/
  4. 1980s

Horror Movies of the 1980s

The highest-rated horror movies from the 1980s, curated and ranked by horror fans on Horrorometer. Discover classics, cult favorites, and forgotten gems from the decade.

61 titles ranked by community ratings.

Poster for Aliens

Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.

Aliens

MOVIE•1986
9.0(1)
Poster for The Thing

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

The Thing

MOVIE•1982
9.0(1)
Poster for Hellraiser

A hedonistic man finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons a group of gruesome beings known as the Cenobites. These otherworldly entities open the doors to a dominion where pain and pleasure are indivisible.

Hellraiser

MOVIE•1987
8.0(1)
Poster for Predator

A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.

Predator

MOVIE•1987
8.0(1)
Poster for The Fly

When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.

The Fly

MOVIE•1986
8.0(1)
Poster for A Nightmare on Elm Street

Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...

A Nightmare on Elm Street

MOVIE•1984
8.0(1)
Poster for Poltergeist

The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.

Poltergeist

MOVIE•1982
8.0(1)
Poster for The Shining

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

The Shining

MOVIE•1980
7.0(2)
Poster for The Terminator

In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?

The Terminator

MOVIE•1984
7.0(1)
Poster for Pet Sematary

After the Creed family's cat is accidentally killed, a friendly neighbor advises its burial in a mysterious nearby cemetery.

Pet Sematary

MOVIE•1989
6.0(1)
Poster for Near Dark

A farm boy reluctantly becomes a member of the undead when a girl he meets turns out to be part of a band of vampires who roam the highways in stolen cars.

Near Dark

MOVIE•1987
Poster for Cannibal Holocaust

A New York University professor returns from a rescue mission to the Amazon rainforest with the footage shot by a lost team of documentarians who were making a film about the area's local cannibal tribes.

Cannibal Holocaust

MOVIE•1980
Poster for UFO Abduction

On October 8th, 1983, the Van Heese family gathered together to celebrate the 5th birthday of Michelle, the littlest member of their household. Everything was captured on VHS by Michael McPherson and his new camcorder — including the alien invasion.

UFO Abduction

MOVIE•1989
Poster for A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child

The pregnant Alice finds Freddy Krueger striking through the sleeping mind of her unborn child, hoping to be reborn into the real world.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child

MOVIE•1989
Poster for Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

After lying in a coma for a year, Michael Myers awakens and stalks his way back to his small hometown in Illinois, intent on killing his niece, Jamie, who has been confined to a mental institution since his last attempt to slay her.

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

MOVIE•1989
Poster for The Fly II

Martin Brundle, born of the human/fly, is adopted by his father's place of employment (Bartok Inc.) while the employees simply wait for his mutant chromosomes to come out of their dormant state.

The Fly II

MOVIE•1989
Poster for Leviathan

Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results. The crew of the mining base must fight to survive against a genetic mutation that hunts them down one by one.

Leviathan

MOVIE•1989
Poster for Amityville: The Evil Escapes

After moving into their matriarch's gothic seaside mansion, the Evans family soon becomes host to an uninvited demonic force in the form of a mysterious lamp that once resided in the Amityville house.

Amityville: The Evil Escapes

MOVIE•1989
Poster for Society

Bill Whitney is worried that he is different to his sister and parents. They mix with other upper-class people while Bill is more down to earth. Even his girlfriend seems a bit odd. All is revealed when Bill returns home to find a party in full swing.

Society

MOVIE•1989
Poster for Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland

Psychotic Angela is itching to do what she does best: slaughter dozens of teenage campers. As luck would have it, the previous site of her murders has been renamed and converted into an experimental summer camp meant to bring together privileged and lower-class teens. On the day the youths are boarding the buses to camp, Angela runs over a potential camper with a garbage truck and assumes her identity. Once she has infiltrated the camp, the real terror begins.

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland

MOVIE•1989
Poster for Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

Jason ships out aboard a teen-filled "love boat" bound for New York, which he soon transforms into the ultimate voyage of the damned.

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

MOVIE•1989
Poster for Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

Ten years after his original massacre, the invalid Michael Myers awakens on Halloween Eve and returns to Haddonfield to kill his seven-year-old niece.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

MOVIE•1988
Poster for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may be able to defeat him for good.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

MOVIE•1988
Poster for Poltergeist III

Carol Anne has been sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle in an effort to hide her from the clutches of the ghostly Reverend Kane, but he tracks her down and terrorises her in her relatives' appartment in a tall glass building. Will he finally achieve his target and capture Carol Anne again, or will Tangina be able, yet again, to thwart him?

Poltergeist III

MOVIE•1988
Page 1 of 3Next

Explore more

All Horror MoviesMovies by Genre

Community Feedback

Something on your mind? Your feedback shapes Horrorometer.

Report a Problem
Feedback

Explore

HomeMoviesTV ShowsBooksRankingsApps

Legal

Privacy PolicyCookie PolicyTerms of ServiceContact

Support

About UsFAQsSupport
The Movie Database (TMDB)

This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

Horrorometer

© 2025 All rights reserved.