The 1980s were a golden age for horror cinema. The decade gave us A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, The Thing and The Evil Dead, and enough sequels to fill video store shelves for years to come. On the other hand, for every successful horror film that went on to become a franchise, there were countless original, inventive, and even ridiculous films that failed to connect with an audience at the time. It was a big decade for monster movies, slashers, and practical effects-filled horror flicks, and some of those were downright bizarre. These movies were often just as memorable for the Gen-X kids who grew up in the horror section of their local video store as the big franchise films. Their VHS covers promised monsters to scare you, violence to shock you, and stories that don’t always make sense. Sometimes the movies delivered, and sometimes the covers were unfortunately the best part. However, there are a few of these forgotten horror films that deserve a second look, especially since practical effects and unapologetically weird storytelling are becoming an increasingly rare commodity.
Monster in the Closet takes one of childhood’s most common fears and turns them into a brilliantly ridiculous horror comedy. The horror comedy from Troma Entertainment follows a string of mysterious deaths where victims are found inside their closets. Richard Clark is a mild-mannered newspaper reporter investigating the killings, and John Carradine is a scientist trying to understand the creature. The biggest joke of the film is Grant’s uncanny resemblance to Christopher Reeve, which the filmmakers exploit when Richard takes off his glasses and becomes irresistible to women. Even the monster is attracted to him. Kevin Peter Hall, who would later play the title alien in Predator, played the creature. Pre-fame Paul Walker and Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie also appear in the film. This is a wonderfully dumb monster movie that takes its ridiculous premise seriously enough that the jokes work. And unlike most horror movies, the solution to the monster problem is a bit more complicated than finding a bigger gun.
What do you get when you cross Gremlins with a classic monster movie marathon? You get Waxwork, a brilliantly silly horror comedy that deserved a much better audience. Best known for his role as Billy Peltzer in Gremlins, Zach Galligan stars as Mark Loftmore, a college student invited to a mysterious wax museum along with several of his friends. Sadly, the exhibits aren’t common wax figures. Each display is a glimpse into a tiny horror movie, and anyone who dares to step inside may become part of the exhibit.
Written and directed by Anthony Hickox, Waxwork fully embraces its premise, introducing vampires, werewolves, mummies, and even the Marquis de Sade. The deliciously sinister David Warner is the owner of the museum, with Deborah Foreman (Valley Girl), future Twin Peaks star Dana Ashbrook, Patrick Macnee (The Avengers) and John Rhys-Davies as a werewolf. It’s basically a bunch of different horror movies crammed into one with gross practical effects and a fantastically messy finale. This was the kind of film that made browsing the horror section of a video store a lot of fun.
Two decades before James Gunn made his directorial debut with Slither, writer-director Fred Dekker delivered a remarkably similar combination of science fiction, zombies, and dark comedy with Night of the Creeps. The movie follows two college students who accidentally release an alien parasite that controls its human hosts while they decay. The best part of the movie is Tom Atkins’ portrayal of Detective Ray Cameron, a gritty cop burdened with an utter disdain for the living dead. The way he delivers his signature line, “Thrill me,” is memorable. While the parallels between Night of the Creeps and Slither are hard to overlook, Gunn has said he was unaware of Dekker’s film prior to creating his own and that both films owe a lot to Cronenberg’s Shivers, with Dekker even naming a character after the director. Regardless of the controversy, Night of the Creeps stands out as one of the decade’s most enjoyable fusions of science fiction and horror.
In The Gate, a group of suburban kids learn that the hole in their backyard is actually a gateway to hell. Years before fighting the daywalker in Blade and voicing a character on Dino-Riders, Stephen Dorff made his feature-film debut as Glen, a teen who accidentally unleashes demonic forces when workers cut down a tree on his family’s property. With his parents out of town, Glen and his friends have to find a way to stop the creatures before the whole neighborhood becomes a portal to something a lot worse.
A straightforward horror film can be genuinely horrifying with the help of inventive practical effects, as seen in The Gate. Using techniques like forced perspective, intricate puppets, and astute camera work, special effects artist Randall William Cook and his colleagues brought the movie’s little demons to life. When the children battling the monsters are actual children and not adults acting like teenagers, it’s even more unsettling to watch the demons creep across a suburban bedroom floor. A seemingly helpful adult is also involved in a disturbing turn of events. We were frightened of the basement, but there was more than enough to keep the lights on at The Gate.
Night of the Comet was the most 80s lens through which you could make a zombie movie. Written and directed by Thom Eberhardt, the movie is a mix of science fiction, horror, and teen comedy. Billed as Valley Girl meets Dawn of the Dead, the movie takes place after a comet has had a close pass by Earth, irradiating the populace and either turning them to dust or into a zombie. The movie follows heroines Regina, a theater employee at the historic El Rey on Wilshire Boulevard, played by The Last Starfighter’s Catherine Mary Stewart, and her cheerleader sister Samantha, played by Kelli Maroney, as they try to navigate the new world while looking for other survivors. The movie included a few straight-out-of-the-80s scenes, like a mid-movie shopping spree and hipster zombie gangs trying to control the wasteland. The movie’s eerie empty LA locations give it a haunting feel, and Regina and Samantha don’t play the role of the typical horror victim. They’re also joined in the film by Robert Beltran, who would go on to play Commander Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager, as fellow survivor Hector Gomez. They are resourceful, sarcastic, and fun to watch while they use automatic weapons. Long before Buffy the Vampire Slayer made wisecracking teenage heroines popular, Night of the Comet knew that surviving the apocalypse didn’t mean you had to stop having fun.
Got a favorite horror movie you think doesn’t get enough love? Let us know in the comments below!
