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Best Horror Movies of the 1980s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
166 horror films from the 1980s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is The Shining (1980), at 8.4 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.2. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The Hitcher, 7.2 on IMDb against 32 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Shining '1980 | Horror / Thriller | 8.4 | 75% | 68 | 8.2 | Stanley Kubrick |
| 2 | The Thing '1982 | Horror / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 8.2 | 85% | 57 | 8.1 | John Carpenter |
| 3 | Come and See '1985 | Drama / War / Horror | 8.3 | 90% | - | 8.2 | Elem Klimov |
| 4 | The Fly '1986 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.6 | 82% | 81 | 7.5 | David Cronenberg |
| 5 | Evil Dead II '1987 | Horror / Comedy / Fantasy | 7.6 | 89% | 72 | 7.5 | Sam Raimi |
| 6 | Michael Jackson's Thriller '1983 | Horror / Musical / Thriller | 8.7 | - | - | 8.3 | John Landis |
| 7 | An American Werewolf in London '1981 | Comedy / Horror | 7.5 | 80% | 55 | 7.4 | John Landis |
| 8 | A Nightmare on Elm Street '1984 | Horror | 7.4 | 93% | 76 | 7.4 | Wes Craven |
| 9 | Poltergeist '1982 | Horror | 7.3 | 89% | 79 | 7.2 | Tobe Hooper |
| 10 | The Evil Dead '1983 | Horror | 7.3 | 85% | 71 | 7.3 | Sam Raimi |
| 11 | Gremlins '1984 | Fantasy / Horror / Comedy | 7.3 | 86% | 70 | 7.1 | Joe Dante |
| 12 | The Lost Boys '1987 | Horror / Comedy / Thriller | 7.2 | 75% | 63 | 7.1 | Joel Schumacher |
| 13 | Videodrome '1983 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Mystery | 7.2 | 83% | 58 | 7.2 | David Cronenberg |
| 14 | Possession '1981 | Horror | 7.2 | 87% | 75 | 7.3 | Andrzej Żuławski |
| 15 | The Return of the Living Dead '1985 | Comedy / Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.3 | 71% | 66 | 7.2 | Dan O'Bannon |
| 16 | Angel Heart '1987 | Horror / Mystery | 7.2 | 82% | 61 | 7.1 | Alan Parker |
| 17 | Manhunter '1986 | Crime / Horror / Thriller | 7.2 | 82% | 75 | 7.0 | Michael Mann |
| 18 | The Hitcher '1986 | Horror / Action / Thriller | 7.2 | 63% | 32 | 7.0 | Robert Harmon |
| 19 | The Dead Zone '1983 | Thriller / Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.1 | 89% | 69 | 7.0 | David Cronenberg |
| 20 | Dead Ringers '1988 | Thriller / Horror | 7.2 | 86% | 86 | 7.1 | David Cronenberg |
| 21 | The Changeling '1980 | Horror | 7.1 | 85% | 70 | 7.0 | Peter Medak |
| 22 | Little Shop of Horrors '1986 | Horror / Comedy | 7.1 | 92% | 81 | 7.0 | Frank Oz |
| 23 | Fright Night '1985 | Comedy / Horror | 7.1 | 83% | 62 | 7.1 | Tom Holland |
| 24 | Day of the Dead '1985 | Horror / Drama / Mystery | 7.1 | 62% | 60 | 7.0 | George A. Romero |
| 25 | Re-Animator '1985 | Sci-Fi / Comedy / Horror | 7.1 | 88% | 73 | 7.1 | Stuart Gordon |
| 26 | Dressed to Kill '1980 | Thriller / Mystery / Horror | 7.0 | 84% | 74 | 6.9 | Brian De Palma |
| 27 | Tenebre '1982 | Horror / Mystery / Thriller | 7.0 | 83% | 83 | 6.8 | Dario Argento |
| 28 | Santa Sangre '1989 | Horror / Drama / Thriller | 7.4 | 88% | - | 7.2 | Alejandro Jodorowsky |
| 29 | Angst '1983 | Thriller / Crime / Horror | 7.1 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Gerald Kargl |
| 30 | Frankenweenie '1984 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Comedy | 7.2 | - | - | 6.9 | Tim Burton |
| 31 | Altered States '1980 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller | 6.9 | 85% | 58 | 6.7 | Ken Russell |
| 32 | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer '1986 | Crime / Horror / Thriller / Drama | 7.0 | 89% | 80 | 6.7 | John McNaughton |
| 33 | White Dog '1982 | Drama / Horror / Thriller | 7.0 | 94% | - | 6.6 | Samuel Fuller |
| 34 | Hellraiser '1987 | Horror / Thriller | 6.9 | 72% | 56 | 6.9 | Clive Barker |
| 35 | The Hidden '1987 | Action / Sci-Fi / Horror | 7.0 | 76% | 69 | 6.9 | Jack Sholder |
| 36 | Near Dark '1987 | Horror | 6.9 | 80% | 78 | 6.8 | Kathryn Bigelow |
| 37 | The Fog '1980 | Horror | 6.8 | 77% | 55 | 6.7 | John Carpenter |
| 38 | Dead & Buried '1981 | Horror / Mystery | 6.5 | 71% | 71 | 6.4 | Gary Sherman |
| 39 | Creepshow '1982 | Horror / Comedy | 6.8 | 66% | 59 | 6.9 | George A. Romero |
| 40 | The Beyond '1981 | Horror | 6.6 | 75% | 38 | 6.9 | Lucio Fulci |
| 41 | Opera '1987 | Horror / Mystery / Thriller | 6.9 | 90% | 68 | 6.7 | Dario Argento |
| 42 | Christine '1983 | Horror | 6.8 | 69% | 57 | 6.9 | John Carpenter |
| 43 | Scanners '1981 | Sci-Fi / Horror | 6.7 | 69% | 60 | 6.7 | David Cronenberg |
| 44 | The Return of Godzilla '1984 | Sci-Fi / Action / Horror | 6.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Koji Hashimoto |
| 45 | Vampire Hunter D '1985 | Animation / Fantasy / Horror | 7.0 | 82% | - | 6.6 | Toyoo Ashida |
| 46 | The Entity '1982 | Horror / Mystery / Thriller | 6.7 | 62% | 35 | 6.9 | Sidney J. Furie |
| 47 | The 'Burbs '1989 | Comedy / Horror / Thriller | 6.8 | 57% | 45 | 6.8 | Joe Dante |
| 48 | Tetsuo: The Iron Man '1989 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | 78% | - | 7.0 | Shinya Tsukamoto |
| 49 | Wicked City '1987 | Animation / Fantasy / Horror | 6.7 | - | - | 6.7 | Yoshiaki Kawajiri |
| 50 | The Stepfather '1987 | Horror / Thriller | 6.7 | 89% | 72 | 6.5 | Joseph Ruben |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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Other genres in the 1980s
Action of the 1980s Animation of the 1980s Comedy of the 1980s Crime of the 1980s Drama of the 1980s Fantasy of the 1980s Mystery of the 1980s Romance of the 1980s Sci-Fi of the 1980s Thriller of the 1980s War of the 1980s
Directors on this list
Stanley Kubrick John Carpenter David Cronenberg Sam Raimi John Landis Wes Craven Tobe Hooper Joe Dante Joel Schumacher Alan Parker Michael Mann Frank Oz
Actors on this list
Jack Nicholson Kurt Russell Wilford Brimley Jeff Goldblum Geena Davis Robert Englund Craig T. Nelson James Woods Sam Neill Mickey Rourke Robert De Niro Rutger Hauer