’80s Horror
18 Episodes
The 1980s were defined by style and excess, and the era’s horror movies were no exception. Innovations in practical effects made the nightmares more vivid than ever, and thanks to the rise of home video, the call was now coming from inside the house. While established talents such as John Carpenter (PRINCE OF DARKNESS), David Cronenberg (SCANNERS), Michael Mann (THE KEEP), and Paul Schrader (CAT PEOPLE) brought terrifying spectacles to the screen, often with the help of Hollywood studios, home video opened up a new market that allowed the independents to take the genre to unexpected and—in the case of the UK’s censorship of infamous “Video Nasties”—controversial new heights. Curated by Clyde Folley, this ghastly tour through the decade of greed features ambitious art-pulp hybrids (WHITE OF THE EYE), a Hitchcock-inspired trucker movie (ROAD GAMES), old-fashioned creature features (Q: THE WINGED SERPENT), and absolutely unclassifiable cult oddities (SOCIETY), bringing together some of the eighties’ most stylish, haunting, and outrageous visions.
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01:05Episode 1
’80s Horror Teaser
Episode 1
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Inferno
Episode 2
Directed by Dario Argento • 1980 • Italy
Starring Leigh McCloskey, Irene Miracle, Eleonora GiorgiA young woman (Irene Miracle) stumbles upon a mysterious diary that reveals the secrets of the “Three Mothers” and unleashes a nightmare world of demonic evil. As the unstoppable horror spreads from...
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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne
Episode 3
Directed by Walerian Borowczyk • 1981 • France, West Germany
Starring Udo Kier, Marina Pierro, Gérard ZalcbergIt’s the engagement party for brilliant young Dr. Henry Jekyll (Udo Kier) and his fiancée, the beautiful Fanny Osbourne (Marina Pierro), attended by various pillars of Victorian society...
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1:34:02Episode 4
Dead & Buried
Episode 4
Directed by Gary Sherman • 1981 • United States
Starring James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack AlbertsonSomething very strange is happening in the quiet coastal village of Potters Bluff, where tourists and transients are warmly welcomed—then brutally murdered. But even more shocking is when th...
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1:26:25Episode 5
The House by the Cemetery
Episode 5
Directed by Lucio Fulci • 1981 • Italy
Starring Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania PieroniIn this outrageous Italian shocker from “Godfather of Gore” Lucio Fulci, a young family moves from their cramped New York City apartment to a spacious new home in New England. But this is no ordinary hous...
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1:41:17Episode 6
Strange Behavior
Episode 6
Directed by Michael Laughlin • 1981 • United States, New Zealand
Starring Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, Dan ShorIn the peaceful town of Galesburg, Illinois, a series of brutal killings target the local teenagers. As the bodies pile up, Sheriff John Brady (Michael Murphy) suspects the killer ...
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Scanners
Episode 7
Directed by David Cronenberg • 1981 • Canada
Starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O’Neill, Michael IronsideWith SCANNERS, David Cronenberg plunges us into one of his most terrifying and thrilling sci-fi worlds. After a man with extraordinary—and frighteningly destructive—telepathic abilities is nabb...
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1:40:40Episode 8
Road Games
Episode 8
Directed by Richard Franklin • 1981 • Australia, United States
Starring Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion EdwardStacy Keach is Pat Quid, a trucker who plays solitary games to keep his sanity on long hauls through the desolate Australian outback. Jamie Lee Curtis is a free-spirited hitchhike...
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1:31:20Episode 9
Basket Case
Episode 9
Directed by Frank Henenlotter • 1982 • United States
Starring Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly BonnerDuane Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck) is a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed, fleshy lump whom he carries around in a wicke...
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1:29:33Episode 10
Next of Kin
Episode 10
Directed by Tony Williams • 1982 • Austrlia, New Zealand
Starring Jacki Kerin, John Jarratt, Alex ScottWhen a young woman (Jacki Kerin) inherits a creaky retirement home, she finds herself plunged into a waking nightmare of murder, madness, and a legacy of evil that may be inescapable. Awash in...
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1:32:48Episode 11
Q: The Winged Serpent
Episode 11
Directed by Larry Cohen • 1982 • United States
Starring Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, David CarradineIts name is Quetzalcoatl, a dragon-like Aztec god that is summoned to modern-day Manhattan by a mysterious cult. But just call it Q—because that is all you’ll be able to say before it tears you...
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1:16:18Episode 12
The Slumber Party Massacre
Episode 12
Directed by Amy Holden Jones • 1982 • United States
Starring Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael VillellaScripted by lesbian feminist author Rita Mae Brown, THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE puts a smart, subversive, and lightly satirical spin on the 1980s slasher formula. When Trish (Michelle Mi...
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1:51:06Episode 13
White of the Eye
Episode 13
Directed by Donald Cammell • 1987 • United Kingdom
Starring David Keith, Cathy Moriarty, Alan RosenbergIn this singularly berserk western-giallo hybrid from Donald Cammell (a Scottish painter turned filmmaker who most famously codirected the cult classic PERFORMANCE with Nicolas Roeg), sound ex...
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1:46:17Episode 14
The Vanishing
Episode 14
Directed by George Sluizer • 1988 • Netherlands
Starring Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter SteegeA young man embarks on an obsessive search for the girlfriend who mysteriously disappeared while the couple were taking a sunny vacation trip, and his three-year investigation dra...
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1:25:45Episode 15
Brain Damage
Episode 15
Directed by Frank Henenlotter • 1988 • United States
Starring Rick Hearst, Jennifer Lowry, Gordon MacDonaldFrom Frank Henenlotter, the man behind such cult favorites as BASKET CASE and FRANKENHOOKER, comes BRAIN DAMAGE—the ultimate horror-comedy head trip. Meet Aylmer. He’s your friendly neighb...
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1:29:28Episode 16
Dream Demon
Episode 16
Directed by Harley Cokeliss • 1988 • United Kingdom
Starring Jemma Redgrave, Kathleen Wilhoite, Timothy SpallA young bride-to-be’s anxieties over her upcoming wedding take on a horrifying, demonic form in this underseen shocker from director Harley Cokeliss. As her marriage to a decorated war h...
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Society
Episode 17
Directed by Brian Yuzna • 1989 • United States
Starring Billy Warlock, Connie Danese, Ben SlackTeenager Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) has always felt like the odd one out in his wealthy, upper-class Beverly Hills family. But his sense of alienation takes a sinister turn when he hears an audio re...
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1:07:17Episode 18
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Episode 18
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto • 1989 • Japan
Starring Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu KanaokaAn ordinary Japanese salaryman undergoes a shocking metamorphosis in Shinya Tsukamoto’s legendary fusion of body horror and cyberpunk expressionism. A strange man known only as the “metal fetishist”...