Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Best Slashers of the 1980's Part 1


I have been thinking about this for a while and I have been compiling the movies that I feel deserve to be regarded as the best slasher movies of the 1980's. I have chosen my favourites and I have obviously left out plenty of others that I felt would not be slasher movies so if you think that I am ignoring those great films, I am not, it is just that I want to concentrate on the killing teens, knife wielding psycho movies that I love.


In 1980, along came one of the best slasher movies ever made. It was called Friday the 13th and it is about a place called Camp Crystal Lake where some youngsters are heading for the summer. The camp counsellors are in for a shock when they begin to be stalked and murdered by a psychopath. This is a classic slasher movie and it has all of the elements that are essential for a great slasher flick. Another good movie is Prom Night. Jamie Lee Curtis stars in this little gem about a group of high school kids who are being killed by an unknown murderer..This movie had a good cast and it was one of the better slashers of the era. Terror Train was another Jamie Lee movie and had a similar plot to Prom Night. It was entertaining though. Maniac was another slasher but not a brilliant one. He Knows You're Alone is a made for TV movie from 1980 and it is about a killer who stalks and kills brides to be. A Christmas slasher was You Better Watch Out and it was good fun for the festive season!


1981 was a very good year for the slasher movie. Friday the 13th Part 2 set the ball rolling and Jason emerged for the first time. Halloween 2 saw Michael Myers return and kill again and again. My Bloody Valentine was a great slasher and it was about a group of friends who are spooked when a killer returns to the town of Valentine Bluffs. People drop like flies as the killer works his way though the group. Happy Birthday to Me is a decent slasher about a group of high school kids who find out that there is a killer among them. The deaths are all inventive and bizarre. The ending has a twist too. Hell Night was about a group of kids who go to a haunted house as a sorority stunt and find that there is a killer in there! Linda Blair stars in this. The Burning is another addition to the slasher hall of fame and it is famous for being a video nasty in the UK. It is about a caretaker who is an alcoholic. Some kids play a trick on him and he is burned and disfigured. He comes back to take revenge on them! Three other decent slashers are The Prowler, The Funhouse and Graduation Day.


That is part 1 of my slashers of the 1980's . I know that I could have left out some movies you like, so if you know of any slashers from 1980 and 1981, let me know !

1 comments:

James Gracey said...

I LOVE a good slasher movie. Some of the titles you've included in your list are amongst my favourites, too. Post-Halloween (my fave), I especially liked Friday the 13th I and II, Hell Night and My Bloody Valentine.

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