The Slasher Decade: 1985

Between the years of 1980 through 1989, there were nearly 290 slasher films released. Averaged out, that equals two releases a month for the entire decade - an extremely impressive figure. There's a reason why the 1980's will always be famous for having slasher films galore.


Looking back on the decade that now seems like a foreign time, these slasher films help capture a certain nostalgia that certain moviegoers (such as myself) crave. While slasher fans definitely love a good villain, some scary stalking sequences, and creative kills, they also undoubtedly yearn for the 1980's culture - from the big hair to the heavy metal music.


Here is a list of the complete 1980's slasher movie guide (and I might even be leaving some out! Please let me know if I have). Enjoy!


The Leftovers of 1985...


All in all, 1985 was a less-than remarkable year for slashers. 1984 had marked the end of the Golden Age of Slasher Films, an era of horror films that ran from 1978 through 1984. And much like you would expect, 1985 put out a limited number of releases in the slasher market, most of them being leftovers made before the fall of the Golden Age.


While A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge proved that a new franchise had launched in popularity, the rest of the movies released in 1985 failed to capitalize on the market. Even the year's other major sequel, Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, saw a steep decline in revenue from the previous entries, and this decline would only continue for the series. The year's other sequel, The Hills Have Eyes Part II came eight years after the cult classic original, and showed itself as not only a cheesier effort, but also a less-inspired one.


1985 saw the growing success of straight-to-video releases. The straight-to-video trend had not really taken off, although other straight-to-video slashers had been released beforehand. Made for about as low-budget as possible, films like Blood Cult and The Ripper were modest home video hits, making it clear that the market for slashers was shifting from the big screen to home distribution. Canadian television station CHCH-TV once again released a slasher film, "Blue Murder". 


Some movies were holdovers from the Golden Age, but they were also tired entries. Too Scared to Scream, Deadly Intruder, Bits and Pieces, and The Mutilator all suffered because they were dated - these seemed like they should have been released two or three years earlier. Movies like Night Train to Terror, Victims!, Blood Tracks, Future Kill, and The Nail Gun Massacre edged for a nastier tone, promising more violence than what had be done before, but their theater lives were short lived and they became mostly viewed on home video. And movies like Appointment with Fear and Horror House on Highway Five were both just plain bizarre and too much for a general audience to handle, or understand. 


Aside from the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge, the year's big surprises came from Italy: Phenomena was such a global success that it re-energized the long dying giallo thriller genre for a brief period in the late 1980s. Another giallo success, Formula for a Murder, was not as big in the United States as Phenomena was but nonetheless was a huge foreign film. Without a doubt, Freddy Krueger and the Italians came out on top in 1985. So here are the slashers of 1985.

Appointment with Fear - After knifing a woman to death with his spirit, a comatose serial killer tries to find the woman's infant son - now staying with one of her friends - to kill as a sacrifice to the ancient Egyptian tree-god who gives him his powers.

Blood Cult - A mysterious series of grisly murders at an Oklahoma campus lead a grizzled police detective to suspect that a Satanic cult is responsible, and his own daughter may be involved. Straight to video. Available on DVD. 

Blood Tracks - While shooting a rock music video at an abandoned factory, a film crew becomes stranded when an avalanche strands them and a murderous family living in the factory attacks them.

"Blue Murder" - A reporter attempts to track down the maniac that is killing porn stars. Originally a television movie on CHCH-TV. 

Bits and Pieces - As a psychopath wanders the streets of the city, beautiful young women fall victim to his deadly mother fixation. 

The Deadly Intruder - After escaping a mental hospital and evading the police officer hot on his trail, a murderous psychopath begins a relationship with a woman he's obsessed with. 

Formula for a Murder - A victim of child abuse grows up physically handicapped and is subsequently terrorized by her childhood attacker she long thought dead. 

Friday the 13^th Part V: A New Beginning - Still haunted by his gruesome past, Tommy Jarvis wonders if somehow he is connected to brutal slayings occurring in and around the secluded halfway house where he now lives. Available on DVD. 

Future Kill - Fraternity boys are held responsible for the accidental death of a Dallas gang leader and must flee through the hostile city while a psychopathic gang member seeks revenge for his leader. Available on DVD. 

The Hills Have Eyes Part II - Years after the first massacre, traumatized survivors return to the hills with a biker team and once again must fend off hungry savages as they reemerge from the hills! Available on Blu-ray and also on DVD. 

Horror House on Highway Five - While doing a research project, a van of students stumbles across a psychotic family; one a Nazi doctor, one a necrophile, and one a murderer wearing a Richard Nixon mask. Available on DVD. 

The Mutilator - A decade after accidentally committing matricide, a teenager brings his friends to his beach house for spring break, unaware that his now-crazed father plans a bloody revenge. 

Nail Gun Massacre - After a young woman is assaulted by a gang of construction workers, the rapists begin turning up nailed to trees and walls. Available on DVD. 

Night Train to Terror - God and Satan discuss the dark fates of three unforunate souls, including a twisted womanizer who harvests human organs, a man who falls for a porn star belonging to a death club, and a pretty slave to Satan. Available on DVD. 

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge - When his family moves to Elm Street, a teenager begins having nightmares of the diabolical Freddy Krueger, who is trying to possess him through his dreams. Available on Blu-ray and also on DVD. 

Phenomena - Possessing the unique gift of communicating with insects a young girl becomes a valuable asset in tracking a serial killer targeting the boarders at her school. Available on Blu-ray and also on DVD. 

The Ripper - A college professor finds a ring that resembles one found at the scene of Jack the Ripper's last murder. But when he wears it, brutal slashings occur in the small town. Straight to Video. Available on DVD. 

Too Scared to Scream - A veteran police detective recruits a rookie female officer to help catch a killer murdering tenets in one of New York's high-rise apartment complexes. 

Victims! - Four teenage girls on a camping trip in the woods are systematically stalked and killed by a demented pair of crazed men.

The Slasher Decade: 1984

Between the years of 1980 through 1989, there were nearly 290 slasher films released. Averaged out, that equals two releases a month for the entire decade - an extremely impressive figure. There's a reason why the 1980's will always be famous for having slasher films galore.

Looking back on the decade that now seems like a foreign time, these slasher films help capture a certain nostalgia that certain moviegoers (such as myself) crave. While slasher fans definitely love a good villain, some scary stalking sequences, and creative kills, they also undoubtedly yearn for the 1980's culture - from the big hair to the heavy metal music.

Here is a list of the complete 1980's slasher movie guide (and I might even be leaving some out! Please let me know if I have). Enjoy!

The End of an Era in 1984...

This is the year most commonly called "the end" of the Golden Age of Slasher Films. After 1984, nothing was the same as before - the tones were different, the popularity was strictly found in sequels and straight-to-video entries, and the budgets either grew tremendously or dropped completely. While the "death" of Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter certainly marked the end of an era, there were two other slashers that single-handedly doomed the Golden Age. Both released on November 9, 1984: Silent Night, Deadly Night and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The box office failure and public backlash against marketing of Silent Night, Deadly Night proved that the public was sick of generic slashers in their theaters, and the fans wanted something original. However, A Nightmare on Elm Street was a sleeper hit that changed the game in a very similar way to how HALLOWEEN had: now, horror movies needed to have a spectacular feel, with bigger budgets and special effects that would draw the MTV generation. That's right, Freddy Krueger's first kill was the Golden Age of Slasher Films!

Due to the declining box office of 1982 and 1983, not as many slashers were released in 1984. And those that were - aside from Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and A Nightmare on Elm Street - were met with little excitement. The biggest reason was that fans had seen these stories many times before, in other movies from recent years, and were looking for something new and fresh like A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Movies like Fatal Games, The Initiation, and Splatter University all blended together too easily with movies like PROM NIGHT and GRADUATION DAY. Don't Open Till Christmas not only counter-marketed Silent Night, Deadly Night, but it also wasn't able to differentiate itself enough from CHRISTMAS EVIL or BLACK CHRISTMAS. The Prey and Silent Madness looked like any other FRIDAY THE 13TH knock-off. Unethical protagonists in Deadline and Satan's Blade didn't help matters, either. 

Some of the year's more original attempts fell into that crowd of un-originality, unfortunately. Rocktober Blood couldn't find a decent enough distributor, resulting in an almost instant home video release (this trend would become incredibly common in the following years for most slasher movies). The made-for-home video film, Day of the Reaper, was not met with the same excitement as 1983's home videos were. Scream for Help and They're Playing with Fire saw the lack-of interest in slasher movies, and marketed themselves more as psychological thrillers, with varying degrees of success. Horror-maestro Lucio Fulci made Murder Rock: Dancing Dead, a movie that, like Rocktober Blood, tried to sell itself to the MTV generation's hopes for musical numbers.

While 1984 may be the final year in the Golden Age of Slasher Films, it is by no means a bad year of slashers - and some of the all-time favorites have emerged as cult favorites. So here's what the slasher world had to offer in 1984.

"Calendar Girl Murders" - A millionaire finds his life falling apart when the models of his widely successful calendar are being killed one by one. Originally an ABC television movie. Available on DVD. 

Day of the Reaper - A hooded cannibal stalks five women vacationing in Florida. Straight to video. 

Deadline - As he ruminates on his place in the world and loses his grip, a struggling screenwriter also loses his family's respect, and critics tear him apart, leading to a mental breakdown of terrifying consequences. 

Don’t Open ‘Till Christmas - A Scotland Yard Inspector and a reporter work together to track down a serial killer, who is offing men dressed as Santa Clause in various gruesome ways. Available on DVD. 

Fatal Games - At the Falcon Academy of Athletics, dedicated teenaged athletes are brutally murdered by a javelin-throwing madman.

Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter - Jason miraculously revives himself at the local morgue and sets out on another rampage, this time targeting the Jarvis family and a house full of hitherto teens. Available on DVD. 

The Initiation - A sorority ceremony becomes a real hell night as four girlfriends play one final prank by breaking into the department store building, as a killer tracks their every move. Available on DVD. 

Murder Rock: Dancing Death - A mysterious dance hall directress is assisted by a shady male model in revealing who the killer is that's murdering her top dancers with a giant pin. Available on DVD.  

A Nightmare on Elm Street - Spectral child killer Fred Krueger haunts the dreams of Elm Street teens, targeting the children of the lynch mob parents that killed him years ago. Available on Blu-ray and also on DVD. 

The Prey - Six campers jaunt off to a scenic spot in the woods, where they're promptly stalked by a ghoulish killer searching for that perfect mate. 

Rocktober Blood - The lead singer of a rock group is executed after he is found guilty of murder, and two years later he returns from the dead to stalk the singer that testified against him. 

Satan's Blade - Police on the hunt for a crew of ruthless bank robbers are horrified when they discover the criminals have been slaughtered at a ski lodge, and that is only the beginning.

Scream for Help - No one believes a teenage girl when she starts to realize that her stepfather is trying to kill her and her mother! Straight to video.

Silent Madness - Due to a computer error, a psychopath is released from a mental institution and returns to the site of his original killing spree where he stalks a set of sorority sisters on a camping trip. Available on DVD. 

Silent Night, Deadly Night - Traumatized by his parents Christmas Eve murders and the sadistic orphanage nuns that raised him, Billy Chapman grows up to dress as Santa punish the naughty. Available on DVD. 

Splatter University - Students at an Ivy League campus are thrown into total panic by a gruesome series of murders committed by a horribly twisted psychopath escaped from an asylum. Available on DVD. 

They’re Playing with Fire - A lusty college professor who seduces a naïve student as part of a sordid plot to frame him for the murder of her wealthy in-laws. Available on DVD. 

The Slasher Decade: 1983

Between the years of 1980 through 1989, there were nearly 290 slasher films released. Averaged out, that equals two releases a month for the entire decade - an extremely impressive figure. There's a reason why the 1980's will always be famous for having slasher films galore.

Looking back on the decade that now seems like a foreign time, these slasher films help capture a certain nostalgia that certain moviegoers (such as myself) crave. While slasher fans definitely love a good villain, some scary stalking sequences, and creative kills, they also undoubtedly yearn for the 1980's culture - from the big hair to the heavy metal music.

Here is a list of the complete 1980's slasher movie guide (and I might even be leaving some out! Please let me know if I have). Enjoy!

The Beginning of the End of an Era in 1983... 

By the time 1983 rolled around, the Golden Age of Slasher Films was about five years in, and the movies had a devoted cult fanbase. 1983 marks the only year of the decade that did not feature a HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH, or A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET film, and had it not been for Psycho II's Norman Bates, no widely known killers would have made an appearance. The year's most well-known entries, The House on Sorority Row and Sleepaway Camp, never reaches the mainstream success to make their antagonists true pop-culture horror icons.

While the mass appeal of slashers was fading, there was still a market to show them at Grindhouses and drive-ins. This churned out more sleazy features, including American Nightmare, Angst, City of Blood, and Double Exposure.

Perhaps 1983's most important entries are Blood Beat and Sledgehammer, the first straight to video slashers. Sledgehammer's success would spawn a number of extremely low-budget, straight to video slashers in the following years that would in part be a reason why the Golden Age of Slasher Films ended in 1984.

What is most interesting about 1983 is that, unlike the previous years in the Golden Age, many of these films have become incredibly obscure! Of all the movies released, the made for television movie "Deadly Lessons", the Swedish slasher Blödaren and the British slasher The Last Night have grown into completely obscurity - anyone who can track a copy down of either of these films has incredible skills (or just plain luck!). Even genre favorites like Curtains and Night Warning eventually faded away, and both still await a DVD release. Movies like Sweet Sixteen and The Final Terror, both of which have been revived by DVD in the later years, are now once again rarities.

Some of the 1983 slashers to stand the test of the time are, of course, the goriest. The trash-classic Scalps has grown a devoted cult fanbase due to its graphic violence. The same can be said about the critically reviled A Night to Dismember. Even bigger-budgeted affairs like the Charles Bronson vehicle 10 to Midnight had a decent amount of sleaze.

There is a lot to say about some of the oddities that came out of 1983 - Frightmare, Mausoleum, and Skullduggery are all absurd and wacky entries in the genre. Still, some movies like Disconnected tried to retain the classic "whodunit" appeal of slashers, while films like Mortuary took more inspiration from the Italian giallo films of the 1970s than actual Italian slasher movies like A Blade in the Dark did. So here are the slashers of 1983...

10 to Midnight - A cynical Los Angeles cop on the trail of a homicidal maniac who turns rejection from beautiful women into the ultimate revenge leads to a bloody showdown between the two men. Available on DVD. View Trailer (Explicit). 

American Nightmare - A wealthy pianist searches for his runaway sister in the city, uncovering a string of prostitution, incest, blackmail, and murder. 

Angst - After breaking out of prison, a homicidal murderer with severe mother issues lands at a rural home, where he terrorizes a young woman caring for her ailing mother and handicapped brother. Available on DVD. 

A Blade in the Dark - Bruno, a horror movie composer, rents an isolated villa to concentrate on his work, but the deaths of several young women distract him. Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

Blödaren - While on tour in Sweden, an all-girl rock band becomes stranded in no-man's land and quickly fall prey to the Bleeder, whose sole intent is to kill them. 

Blood Beat - The spirit of a vengeful Japanese warrior possesses a woman in rural Wisconsin, making her kill with a Samurai sword. Straight to video. View Home Video Trailer. 

Boogeyman II - A slick movie producer plans to cash-in on the story of shaken survivor of the last film but when the cursed mirror shards reappear, the murders begin anew. Available on DVD. View Home Video Trailer. 

City of Blood - After several prostitute murders go unsolved, a medical examiner discovers the culprit is an ancient tribal witch doctor brought back to life. 

Curtains - While lead actress Samantha prepares for her latest role in a psych ward, the director secretly brings six other candidates to a secluded mansion to auditions. Soon, a deranged murderer starts killing off the competition. Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

"Deadly Lessons" - The privileged students at an all-girls school are stalked by a psychopathic killer. Originally an ABC television movie. View TV Spot. 

Disconnected - Alicia and her twin sister Barbara befriend the ominous Franklin, and soon murders occur. Police suspect Franklin, but Alicia's been receiving strange phone calls while at work...

Double Exposure - A magazine photographer suffers from recurring dreams where he kills his models in gruesome ways. When the city is terrorized by a killer, he begins to suspect himself as the culprit! Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

The Final Terror - A group of friends head out for a vacation of hiking and camping but when a backwoods mama finds them on her turf, it becomes a survival nightmare. Available on DVD. View TV Spot. 

Frightmare - After robbing the grave of a their favorite actor and bringing his body to a local theater, several thespian students are haunted by his vengeful spirit. Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

The House on Sorority Row - Sorority sisters who are days away from graduation commit a gruesome accident that is witnessed by a hideous fiend, which triggers a rampage of death and destruction. Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

The Last Night - After escaping prison, two psychopaths take cover in a theater where a performance is currently taking place and proceed to humiliate, torture, assault, and murder the theater troupe. 

Mausoleum - A beautiful heiress falls to a family curse where she is possessed by the face of evil that leads her life into a nightmare of lust, terror, and murder. Available on DVD. View TV Spot. 

Mortuary - When nightmares of her father's death lead her to believe it was murder, a young woman and her boyfriend set out to discover the truth, while evading terrifying hooded figures that want to harm them. Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

A Night to Dismember - Having fallen subject to the "family curse", a young woman is released from a mental institution and heads home, and thats when mutilated bodies start appearing. Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

Night Warning - Years after his parents died in a bizarre accident, a teenager tells his overbearing, incestuous aunt that he's going to college, but she will do anything - including commit murder - to make sure he doesn't leave her. 

Psycho II - Released from a mental hospital after 22 years, Norman Bates returns to the Bates motel where he's tormented by memories of "mother." And when the murders start up gain, Norman is the obvious suspect. Available on DVD. View Trailer.

Scalps - Impending doom is in store for college students digging in cursed Indian burial ground, where an evil spirit lies in wait to possess the living and cut a bloody swath of vengeance across the land! Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

Skullduggery - Five anxious players gather for a medieval board game that quickly escalates into an evil that manipulates a cursed player to go on a killing spree. Available on DVD. 

Sledgehammer - A group of friends comes to party at a backwoods house where a legacy of brutality awaits in the hands of a shape-shifting killer! Straight to video. Available on DVD. 

Sleepaway Camp - Painfully shy and sensitive Angela Baker and her raucous cousin Ricky are at the center of a mystery where Teenagers at summer camp are dying mysteriously. Available on DVD. View Trailer. 

Sweet Sixteen - As beautiful new girl Melissa plans for her 16th birthday party, all the boys she's romantically involved with end up dead. Available on DVD. View Trailer.