Casey Chong presents seven bizarre 80s horror movies you might have missed…
The 1980s marked a tremendous decade for the horror genre, thanks in no small part to practical effects, which allowed filmmakers to incorporate extensive use of gore, latex makeup, and animatronics, regardless of budget levels, not to mention the rise of VHS opens the floodgate for filmmakers working outside the studio system to experiment with their low-budget horrors. Whereas the decade brought us iconic horror franchises – for better or worse – from the Halloween sequels and Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street films, to notable classics such as The Howling and Poltergeist, there is so much more worth delving further, particularly if you are a fan of the genre. Take, for instance, some of the bizarre horror movies that flew under the radar upon release, or have largely become forgotten in the decades that followed; with that in mind, here are seven bizarre 80s horror movies you might have missed…
Society (1989)
Imagine having rich parents, but you somehow tell your therapist that you don’t trust them. That’s exactly what happens to Bill (Billy Warlock), a teenage boy who becomes increasingly paranoid about his parents and even his sister. This is especially true after the latter’s ex-boyfriend (Tim Bartell) has an audio tape that recorded the sound of Bill’s family seemingly having fun, engaging in a weird, incest-fuelled orgy.
Society marked the directorial debut of Brian Yuzna, famously known for producing B-movie cult classics, including Re-Animator and From Beyond, in the mid-80s. He cleverly blends dark comedy and social satire, detailing the otherwise picture-perfect wealthy family, and the overall high society hides a dark secret. The secret itself is deliberately unveiled in a slow-burn approach, mirroring Bill’s paranoia that makes him grows increasingly anxious as he delves deeper into the truth.
Yuzna also incorporates body-horror elements, particularly during the surreal yet grotesque third act. The climactic “shunting” ritual is best described as a depraved nightmare that doesn’t shy away from its provocative imagery as Yuzna uses body horror not only for embracing the genre itself, but also for indulging the metaphor of how exploitative and dominant a wealthy, upper-class elite can be on an absurd level.
The Lift (1983)
Dutch filmmaker Dick Maas adds a distinctly European feel to the American-style sci-fi horror in The Lift. The title in question refers to the elevator in the high-rise building in Amsterdam – three of them, to be exact – which acts as a murderous entity. It kills anyone in various ways, which at one point, an unfortunate victim gets his head stuck between the elevator door before suffering from decapitation.
Despite the outlandish premise, Maas keeps it restrained by focusing more on the ominous atmosphere with sparse use of gore and violence. He even keeps his story deliberately paced like a murder mystery, with Huub Stapel’s Felix Adelaar playing the dedicated lift technician trying to figure out what causes the mysterious deaths that take the elevator. Interestingly, The Lift also delves into the allegorical subtext of technological error and corporate greed, while it helps that Maas doesn’t take his subject too seriously, thanks to his balancing act of incorporating a mix of deadpan and dark comedy elements.
The Lift has since become a cult classic, and in 2001, Maas returned with an American remake titled Down a.k.a The Shaft, starring James Marshall and pre-fame Naomi Watts.
Video Violence (1987)
Way before the V/H/S horror anthology series made its mark in genre cinema, Gary Cohen’s low-budget Video Violence experimented with the use of a VHS camcorder to exploit the obsession of media consumption. The story centers on a video store owner, who finds something is off about the locals in the small town, evidently with their interest in renting gory horror films rather than mainstream-friendly genres like comedies. When he discovers someone drops a videotape that doesn’t belong to the store, the footage turns out to be a homemade snuff video. More snuff videos gradually surface as the movie progresses, while Cohen doubles down on the paranoia seen from the video store owner’s increasingly perplexing state.
The grainy VHS imagery evokes a deeply unsettling look and feel, complete with added gore and violence. The movie is understandably rough around the edges, while credit also goes to Cohen for his surrealistic mix of B-movie exploitation horror, pitch-black comedy, and social critique over the violent media exposure triggers corrupted minds and desensitization to real-world violence.
The Laughing Dead (1989)
Writer-director Somtow Sucharitkul – credited as S. P. Somtow in the movie – goes gonzo in The Laughing Dead, a surreal mix of supernatural and exploitation horror crossed with Evil Dead-like vibes. The story follows a group of people led by the disgraced priest, Father O’Sullivan (Tim Sullivan), on an archaeological trip by bus to Mexico, only to find themselves crossing paths with the deranged Dr. Um-tzec (Somtow himself, in a gleefully unhinged mode) looking to unleash hell through occult rituals.
The movie is filled with colorful characters, among them are a pair of geeky New Age students, played by Larry Kagen and Krista Keim. The horror is unabashedly over-the-top, loaded with enough blood and gore to satisfy the genre fans. Memorable imagery includes an unlikely “basketball” scene, and at one point, a climactic all-hell-breaks-loose finale, complete with cartoonishly freakish visuals that you must see to be believed.
Pledge Night (1988)
What if National Lampoon’s Animal House was given a zany, slasher-horror twist? From the minds of director Paul Ziller and writer-producer Joyce Snyder, Pledge Night is like a tale of two halves. One half focuses on the extended stretch of six pledges going through a series of hazing rituals during a gruelling Hell Week in the fraternity house in the most humiliating ways possible. The pranks are as sadistic and mean-spirited as they come. The frat brothers are equally mean-spirited and unsympathetic, emphasizing outrageous fun over everything else before Pledge Night takes a radical turn in the second half.
What begins as an Animal House-style anarchic physical humor turns into a splatterfest, where Ziller has a field day unleashing hell by introducing an undead from the past nicknamed Acid Sid, played to gleeful perfection by Will Kempe. He’s out for vengeance, particularly aiming to kill the frat boys and girls in an absurd, gruesome fashion. Sid even possesses one of the frat boys, turning him into a maniacal killer who can’t stop laughing hysterically.
The Boogey Man (1980)
The Boogey Man in question isn’t the typical ominous figure or monster, say someone like Michael Myers in the Halloween films. Instead, the manifestation of evil comes in the unlikely form of a mirror. Written and directed by Ulli Lommel, the movie opens with an ominous prologue where young siblings Willy and Lacey witness their mother making love with her boyfriend, who has a weird fetish of putting on a nylon stocking over his face. A murder soon takes place, and decades later, Willy (Nicholas Love) and Lacey (Suzanna Love) have grown into adults. While her brother barely spoken a word ever since the incident, Lacey is often traumatized by a series of disorienting nightmares.
Lommel uses a deliberate style of supernatural horror to his advantage, favoring atmospheric and psychological dread over traditional gore. The mirror is used as a recurring image of fear, paranoia, and death, while it represents an entity – in this case, the ghost of their mother’s late boyfriend – trapped within the reflection. The story tends to veer into a suspension of disbelief, but kudos still go to Lommel’s assured direction for turning this little-seen horror film uniquely his own.
Ragewar a.k.a The Dungeonmaster (1984)
This genre-bending anthology film mixes horror, sci-fi, and fantasy as the multihyphenate Charles Band, along with six other directors lending their creativity into seven interconnected segments. These segments are led by Paul Bradford (a perfectly deadpan Jeffrey Byron), a tech whiz who must undergo demonic wizard Mestema’s (a scenery-chewing Richard Moll) challenges to save his girlfriend (Leslie Wing).
These challenges allow the directors to experiment with different concepts from watching Paul encountering zombies, monsters, an inanimate stone giant, and at one point, a vehicular chase scene in the post-apocalyptic environment straight out of Mad Max. The movie also throws in sword-and-sorcery elements and even heavy metal rock for good measure, embracing the anything-goes B-movie oddity that isn’t afraid to drastically shifting one tone to another. Think of it like a campy, rollercoaster dream that defines the 1980s cult horror.
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Casey Chong
