Horror: 244

The film Creepshow (1982), directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, marked King’s first foray into screenwriting. After young Billy Hopkins is caught reading the horror comic of the same name, his abusive father Stan disciplines him and throws the comic in the trash. As Billy sits upstairs, wishing his father ill will, he suddenly hears a noise at the window. The source of the sound is revealed to be none other than the Creep, beckoning Billy closer and removing the lid from the trash can.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) is an American science fiction horror film and the third in the Halloween series. Unlike its predecessors, this installment was written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, but the familiar faces of John Carpenter and Debra Hill remain as producers. Set in Northern California on October 23rd, we witness shop owner Harry Grimbridge being pursued by unknown men while holding a jack-o-lantern mask. He seeks refuge at Walter Jones’ shop, where he eventually passes out. ...

Friday the 13th: Part III (1982) follows the events of Part 2, as the infamous Jason Voorhees seeks a change of clothes at a lakefront store. In his destructive path, he brutally murders Harold and his wife Edna. Meanwhile, Chris Higgins and her companions make their way to her old home on Crystal Lake for a weekend getaway. The group consists of pregnant Debbie, her boyfriend Andy, prankster Shelly, his blind date Vera (who is not interested in him), and stoners Chuck and Chili. On their journey, they are warned by a man named Abel to turn back before reuniting with Chris’ boyfriend Rick at their final destination.

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) is an American slasher film, produced and directed by Steve Miner in his directorial debut, and written by Ron Kurz. Two months after surviving a massacre at Camp Crystal Lake, Alice Hardy is recovering from her traumatic experience. However, she meets an untimely demise in her own apartment when an unknown intruder attacks her with an ice pick while she is feeding her cat. Five years later, Paul Holt opens a school for camp counselors on the same grounds. Among the trainees are Sandra, Jeff, Scott, Terry, Mark, Vickie, Ted, and Ginny – ...

Halloween II (1981) is an American slasher film directed by Rick Rosenthal. It marks his first time as a director and was written and produced by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. On October 31, 1978, Michael Myers is shot and falls off a balcony by his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis. Despite his injuries, he manages to flee into the night. While wandering through alleys, he comes across an elderly couple from whom he steals a kitchen knife. He then proceeds to murder a teenage girl next door. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode, who ...

Friday the 13th (1980) is an American independent slasher film produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, written by Victor Miller. At Camp Crystal Lake in 1958, two counselors are killed by an unseen assailant while they sneak into a cabin to have sex. In present day, camp counselor and cook Annie Phillips is driven halfway to the reopened camp by truck driver Enos, who warns her about its troubled past stemming from a drowning in 1957. After being dropped off, Annie hitches another ride from someone who ultimately slashes her throat. At the camp, owner Steve Christy ...

The Shining (1980), a psychological horror film, was produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick in collaboration with novelist Diane Johnson. Adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same title published in 1977, the movie follows Jack Torrance as he takes on a winter caretaking job at the remote Overlook Hotel nestled within the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The hotel, which shuts down every winter season, has a dark history revealed to Jack by manager Stuart Ullman upon his arrival – that of a previous caretaker named ...

Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O’Bannon, is a science fiction horror film. The story was co-authored by Ronald Shusett. The seven-member crew of the commercial space tug Nostromo, including Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, Warrant Officer Ripley, Navigator Lambert, Science Officer Ash, and engineers Parker and Brett, are in stasis as they return to Earth. Upon receiving a transmission from a nearby moon, Mother awakens the crew. In accordance with protocol to investigate any potential ...

Dawn of the Dead (1978) is a zombie horror film that follows a group of survivors in the midst of a mysterious plague. The outbreak has ravaged the United States, turning recently-dead individuals into flesh-eating zombies. Reports indicate that millions have already perished and risen again as undead creatures. As society crumbles and the government’s efforts prove futile, rural communities with natural defenses like Johnstown are able to hold off the zombie attacks. However, cities like Philadelphia descend into chaos. Amongst this chaos, WGON-TV’s traffic reporter Stephen Andrews and his pregnant girlfriend Fran Parker hatch a plan to escape via the ...

Halloween (1978) is a classic slasher film directed, co-written, and scored by the talented John Carpenter. In 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers committed a heinous act, stabbing his teenage sister Judith to death with a kitchen knife on Halloween night. Years later, his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis accompanies nurse Marion Chambers to the sanitarium where Michael is held for a court hearing. However, things take a terrifying turn when Michael takes advantage of an opportunity and escapes in Marion’s car. He heads back to his hometown of Haddonfield, where he continues his murderous rampage. Along the way, he ...

Jaws 2 (1978), directed by Jeannot Szwarc and co-written by Carl Gottlieb, is an American thriller film. As a new hotel opens on Amity Island, tragedy strikes when a great white shark kills two scuba divers who were photographing the wreckage of the Orca. Fortunately, their camera captures the attack before it sinks to the ocean floor. In a separate incident, a water skier also falls victim to the predator. Despite her attempts at self-defense using a gas tank and flare gun, the boat explodes, killing her instantly. The discovery of a killer whale carcass on the beach ...

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) is an American science fiction horror film helmed by director Don Taylor. It is the second English-language adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1896 novel of the same name. The story follows three men who are stranded in the Pacific Ocean after the sinking of their ship, the Lady Vain. One man perishes at sea and after seventeen days, the remaining two reach an island where they encounter dangerous animals. Braddock, one of the survivors and an engineer from the Lady Vain, is taken in by a compound run by a scientist known as ‘Dr. ...

Written and directed by George A. Romero, Martin (1977) is an American horror film about a young man who goes by the same name. On an overnight train from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh, he sedates a woman with a syringe filled with narcotics and proceeds to harm her forearm using a razor blade. The next morning, his elderly cousin Tateh Cuda meets him at the train station and accompanies him on another train headed for Braddock, Pennsylvania. Despite his youthful appearance, Martin insists that he is much older. He experiences vivid monochrome visions of religious figures, seductive vampires, and angry mobs carrying ...

The American horror film, The Hills Have Eyes (1977), was written, directed, and edited by Wes Craven. During their vacation to Los Angeles, the suburban Carter family is traveling with a trailer towed behind their car. Driving are parents Bob and Ethel, accompanied by teenage children Bobby and Brenda. Also in the car are eldest daughter Lynne, her husband Doug, and their baby daughter Catherine, as well as family dogs Beauty and Beast. While fueling up at Fred’s Oasis in Nevada, Fred warns them to stay on the main road before his truck unexpectedly explodes. Despite Fred’s strange warning, the Carters ...

Carrie (1976) is an American supernatural horror film directed by Brian De Palma from a screenplay written by Lawrence D. Cohen, adapted from Stephen King’s 1974 epistolary novel of the same name. The film follows sixteen-year-old Carrie White, a shy teenager who lives with her fanatically religious and unstable mother, Margaret. Carrie is a loner and constantly bullied by her peers. One day, while at school, Carrie experiences her first period but panics as she was never taught about menstruation. Her classmates find ...

Jaws (1975), an American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley, tells the story of a New England beach town called Amity Island. During a late-night beach party, a young woman decides to go for a swim in the ocean but is viciously attacked and pulled underwater by an unseen force. Tragically, her remains are discovered on the shore the next morning. The medical examiner determines it to be a shark attack, prompting newly hired police chief Martin Brody to close the beaches. However, Mayor Larry Vaughn urges him to ...

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) is an American horror film produced, co-composed, and directed by Tobe Hooper, who also co-wrote it with Kim Henkel. In the early hours of August 18, 1973, a grave robber steals several remains from a nearby cemetery in Muerto County, Texas. The disturbing scene is spotted by a local resident at sunrise. As five young people travel through the area in a van – Sally Hardesty, Jerry, Pam, Kirk, and Franklin, Sally’s disabled brother- they make a stop at the cemetery to check on their grandfather’s grave. To their relief, ...

The Corruption of Chris Miller (1973) is a Spanish psychological horror film directed by Juan Antonio Bardem. Set in a rural mountain community in Spain, it follows the story of a woman who allows a temporary guest to stay in her home while her husband is away. The man, wearing a Charlie Chaplin mask from the home, turns violent when she asks him to leave and stabs her to death. Meanwhile, teenage Christine ‘Chris’ Miller has recently been discharged from a psychiatric institution after suffering a violent rape and abandonment by her father. She goes to live with her stepmother Ruth in their large country ...

The Crazies (1973) is an American science fiction horror film written and directed by George A. Romero. In a small town in Pennsylvania, a man commits a heinous act before his farmhouse burns to the ground. Firefighters David and Clank, both veterans of the Vietnam War, respond to the scene. Meanwhile, David’s pregnant girlfriend Judy, a nurse, is summoned to assist Dr. Brookmyre with treating the arsonist’s children who have suffered burns. However, when heavily armed U.S. troops led by Major Ryder take over the office, chaos ensues. It is revealed that days earlier, an Army plane carrying a deadly virus ...

Sisters (1972) is a psychological horror film by American director Brian De Palma. Advertising salesman Philip Woode earns a dinner for two at a Manhattan restaurant on a Candid Camera-style TV show. During the prank, he is charmed by Danielle Breton, a young French Canadian model and aspiring actress, who he agrees to take as his date. After their dinner, they head back to her Staten Island apartment for intimacy. The following morning, she reveals that her twin sister Dominique has arrived to celebrate their birthday. At her request, Philip runs to the drug store and picks up a birthday cake on his way back. However, ...