Check out these great horror movies from the 1980s during your Halloween movie marathon
We continue our review of scary Halloween movie fare with a look at some classics from the 1980s, a time where directors started using their imaginations to terrify audiences, all while capitalizing on themes like isolation.
Here's the next installment in our binge list from the last half-century of great horror flicks:
The Shining (1980)
Based on Stephen King’s 1977 novel, the movie adaptation is unnerving.
The young Danny Torrance has frightening visions of two girls asking him to come play with them, “forever, and ever, and ever” — while simultaneously seeing that they’ve been brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, the father, Jack Torrance, becomes increasingly unstable as he succumbs to the effects of cabin fever with the family being isolated at a creepy hotel deep in a harsh Colorado mountain winter — something the legendary Jack Nicholson taps into for his character performance.
The combination of the paranormal and what isolation can do to one’s mind make this one scary.
The Thing (1982)
Trapped in Antarctica, a team of researchers encounter a parasitic alien that can take the form of any living being — and not just humans.
The forms by which the alien manifests itself are gnarly, which stands as a testament to director John Carpenter’s willingness to build on his directorial masterpiece “Halloween” and take that next step to terrify people.
This flick, the first of two remakes of the 1951 classic, is freaky, twisted and illustrates how one’s psychological limits are tested.
The visual effects do more than enough to make one a bit queasy.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
This horror film has a frightening theme: You die in the dream world, and you die in the real world.
Freddy Krueger, the deformed killer wearing a hand-made glove with four blades, chases after teenagers.
He gets them, then the teens wake up. But the teens quickly discover something much worse about these nightmares: they wake up with the same scratches and torn clothing they endure while asleep.
The teens are vulnerable while asleep, as well as in their attempts to stay sane, let alone awake.
Being in fear of something every living being does, every night, that’s scary.
MORE:Here are some 1970s horror films to watch for your October movie marathon
Matt Hollinshead covers sports for the Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4577 and on Twitter at @MattH_717.
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