10 Underrated 80's Slashers

Man, I love a good slasher movie. Halloween (1978) is my favorite movie of all time, and it was the original Friday the 13th (1980) that really introduced me to horror films. The practical gore effects, the inspired simplicity, the no-budget can-do aesthetic... Since then, entire stab-a-thon subgenre has held a special place in my heart.

The setup is the most basic blueprint of nearly any genre of cinema. Take a bunch of teens based on high school stereotypes - the jock, the clown, the slut, the virgin - and dump them into a situation with a killer and no way out. The killer, who has some sort of basically passable motivation, picks them off one by one until the aforementioned virgin - aka the final girl - gets the better of them. Cut, print, and make a sequel!

Of course, slashers are a uniquely 80’s phenomenon. Sure, Scream (1996) ignited a millennial wave of proto-satirical wink-wink knock-offs, remakes are a dime-a-dozen, and some of these lumbering killers (such as Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers) have hacked their way through some 21st Century sequels... But they heyday of the mutilating masked mass murderers was most certainly between about 1978 - with the premiere of Halloween - until about 1985, when flustered audiences kind of threw up their hands at Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985), which might be the literal source of the cliche that says these franchises never truly die.

Nowadays, the nostalgia for these frights from the time of “Morning in America” has reached a bit of a renaissance. Even television seems to revel in the past, with the most recent (and arguable one of the best) seasons of FX’s American Horror Story taking on the slasher canon - complete with a summer camp, mythic killer, synth-y soundtrack, and the subtitle 1984. It’s high time we revisited a few of the unsung heroes of the forgotten age of slasher cinema.

Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) are well-worn stalwart franchises. Even if you don’t necessarily like horror films, you’ve probably seen a few of those. Today, we’re shining a creepy spotlight on ten lesser-known selections. No Jason’s, Michael Myers’, or Freddy Kreuger’s here. Without further ado...

 

10 Underrated 80’s Slashers!

 

10) The House on Sorority Row (1983) dir. Mark Rosman

 

We start things off with an entry more recognizable for it’s name than anything else. But a great title was often key in bringing audiences into the theater to see the latest hack-em-up. Here, a horrible, deformed secret that lives in the attic is slowly stabbing it’s way through the members of a local sorority chapter! This film is perhaps the most representative installment in the particular subset of slasher movies that take place on a college campus - such as The Dorm that Dripped Blood (1982), Final Exam (1981), and Pieces (1982). It gives a whole meaning to the concept of student bodies...

 

 

 

9) Slumber Party Massacre (1982) dir. Amy Holden Jones

 

This particular film is often considered the first slasher to be directed by a woman! It’s also, incidentally, also considered the first to send up the genre for satire and parody. More than fifteen years before Scream, director Amy Holden Jones creates a simple tale of a slumber party targeted by a drill-wielding killer that manages to be both scary AND funny. And, of course, there’s a fair amount of requisite gore to boot!

 

 

8) Hell Night (1981) dir. Tom DeSimone

 

Another take on the college campus setting, Hell Night stars the iconic Linda Blair in a grisly tale of fraternity hazing gone awry. Four pledges during rush week are forced to stay over Halloween night in the local ‘haunted’ mansion, unaware of the deadly resident within! Shorter on blood and gore than some of it’s contemporaries, the film opts instead to fuse the stalk-n-slash method with traditional gothic creepiness, resulting a more atmospheric outing. Fans of Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984) will recognize Peter Barton in one of the leading roles as a potential love interest for Blair’s final girl!

 

 

7) Prom Night (1980) dir. Paul Lynch

 

Probably one of the more well-known titles on this list, Prom Night is best remembered for being the other horror film that Jamie Lee Curtis starred in after catapulting to success as Laurie Strode in Halloween. It also features Leslie “Don’t Call Me Shirley” Nielsen, and it’s motivation featuring an old sin is likely the most direct inspiration for later 90’s teen horror shows like I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). Also, it’s soundtrack is almost unbearably retro.

 

 

6) Terror Train (1980) dir. Roger Spottiswoode

 

Okay, okay, so this is the other other slasher starring Jamie Lee Curtis. It also ranks higher than Prom Night (an arguably superior film) simply because the setting is so damned cool. A killer who likes to switch up his masks hacks his way through a college class on New Year’s Eve... on a party train! The locomotive locale ensures that the victims are trapped, but also adds an effective air of claustrophobia to the proceedings. Side note - yet another example of college campus slasher horror.

 

 

5) My Bloody Valentine (1981) dir. George Mihalka

 

One of the signature trends of the slasher movie is an installment for every conceivable holiday (thanks, Halloween). Here, Canada gets in on the action with a romantic comedy... just kidding, there’s blood everywhere. One Valentine’s Day, several miners in a small town are trapped in a mine collapse. One of them, Harry Warden, kills the other survivors to conserve the air. Oh, and he eats a few of them, for good measure. Years later, once again on Valentine’s, townsfolk are getting murdered in grisly fashion. Could it be Harry Warden once more? All sarcasm aside, My Bloody Valentine is one of the better holiday slashers out there, by far outpacing the ham-handed yuletide goofiness of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), or the over-stuffed Thanksgiving offering Blood Rage (1983).

 

 

4) Sleepaway Camp (1983) dir. Robert Hiltzik

 

That ending. Oh Lord, that ending. Summer camps have been the perfect setting for slasher films ever since Friday the 13th started slaughtering nubile young counselors. Sleepaway Camp takes it much farther than the more mainstream-friendly Jason Voorhees ever did. The victims aren’t counselors, they’re campers! And not only that, the campers are played by age-appropriate actors, so each murder just feels that much more icky. And then, of course, there’s that end reveal. No spoilers here if you haven’t seen it, but nothing in slasher flicks has outdone it since.

 

 

3) The Burning (1981) dir. Tony Maylam

 

The first rung of our Top Three is the movie special effects maverick Tom Savini (famous for the first Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead [1978], and all three top spots on this list!) turned down Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) to work on! Another summer camp setting, The Burning is a hack-n-slash take on the spooky campfire stories we grew up loving. It’s also one of the bloodier affairs in a genre known for, well... blood. Savini’s gore effects ooze (read: sprays) the red stuff in a way that reminds us of Japanese samurai films. The movie begins with a group of campers pranking the camp’s caretaker, Cropsey. The joke goes horribly wrong, and leaves the man burned beyond recognition. Years later (as always?) a new group of campers bears the brunt of Cropsey’s revenge! Also of note: the film features the debuts of both Jason Alexander (of Seinfeld) and Holly Hunter. That, and it was the inaugural release for Miramax Pictures!

 

 

2) The Prowler (1981) dir. Joseph Zito

 

Also known as Rosemary’s Killer, this film is one of the best one-off slashers out there. Tom Savini considers his practical gore effects here to be some of his best work, and it’s easy to see why! Pitchforks, bayonets, and even a head-exploding shotgun all take center stage. A local high school is prepping for it’s senior homecoming dance - the first in twenty years since a post-WWII tragedy - but someone with a homicidal streak doesn’t want it to happen! Director Joseph Zito puts 110% into the effort, and it shows. The success of The Prowler resulted in Zito being hired to do another classic slasher: Friday the 13 Part IV: The Final Chapter!

 

 

1) Maniac (1980) dir. William Lustig

 

Finally, we come to the top slot. Maniac can be argued for not being a slasher film, but with Savini’s talents once again on full display - including one of the most realistic and wince-inducing exploding heads ever - I feel confident including it here. Joe Spinell plays Frank Zito, a serial killer with severe mommy issues and a penchant for scalping his victims. More of a character study than an exercise in indestructible killer rampages, Maniac takes the unique approach of placing the audience with the killer instead of the horny teenagers. It’s a gritty, icky piece of film-making that leaves you wanting a shower; but it’s also a masterpiece that demands to be seen at least once by fans of horror cinema.