Favorite Horror Films Of 1981
by shadic_h | created - 12 Sep 2011 | updated - 12 Sep 2011 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,215 | Gross: $2.40M
TRAILER
2. Halloween II (1981)
R | 92 min | Horror
While Dr. Loomis hunts for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, and The Shape is not far behind her.
Director: Rick Rosenthal | Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer
Votes: 101,621 | Gross: $25.53M
TRAILER
3. The Howling (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
After a bizarre and near deadly encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone
Votes: 40,149 | Gross: $17.99M
NO TRAILER
4. My Bloody Valentine (1981)
R | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A decades-old folk tale surrounding a deranged murderer killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day turns out to be true to legend when a group defies the killer's order and people start turning up dead.
Director: George Mihalka | Stars: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, Keith Knight
Votes: 25,075 | Gross: $5.67M
NT
5. Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror (1981)
Unrated | 85 min | Horror
An archaeology professor discovers an ancient crypt which contains living dead corpses. The zombies go on a rampage and attack a group of people which the professor had invited to celebrate his discovery.
Director: Andrea Bianchi | Stars: Karin Well, Gianluigi Chirizzi, Simone Mattioli, Antonella Antinori
Votes: 6,287
T
6. The Burning (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.
Director: Tony Maylam | Stars: Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua
Votes: 22,251
NT
7. Faces of Death II (1981)
85 min | Documentary, Horror
This movie continues in the same vein as F.O.D. 1 with short scenes of death related material. Mortuarys, accidents, police work are filmed by TV crews and home video cameras. Some of the ... See full summary »
Director: John Alan Schwartz | Stars: Michael Carr, James Brady, Mickey Crowe, Thomas K. Delahanty
Votes: 2,095
NT
8. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Horror
Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.
Director: John Landis | Stars: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher, Griffin Dunne
Votes: 120,331 | Gross: $30.57M
NT
9. Scanners (1981)
R | 103 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane
Votes: 61,679 | Gross: $14.23M
NT
10. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
R | 87 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Five years after the events of the first film, a summer camp next to the infamous Camp Crystal Lake is preparing to open, but the legend of Jason is weighing heavy on the proceedings.
Director: Steve Miner | Stars: Betsy Palmer, Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King
Votes: 77,656 | Gross: $21.72M
NT
11. The Funhouse (1981)
R | 96 min | Horror
Four teenagers visit a local carnival for a night of innocent amusement, but soon discover that nothing there is innocent or amusing.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson, Jeanne Austin, Jack McDermott
Votes: 16,260 | Gross: $7.89M
T
12. Dead & Buried (1981)
R | 94 min | Horror, Mystery
Sheriff Dan Gillis investigates eerie deaths in a sleepy coastal town.
Director: Gary Sherman | Stars: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield
Votes: 14,893 | Gross: $0.22M
NT
13. Hell Night (1981)
R | 101 min | Horror, Thriller
Four college pledges are forced to spend the night in a deserted old mansion, where they are stalked by the monstrous survivor of a family massacre years earlier.
Director: Tom DeSimone | Stars: Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten, Peter Barton, Kevin Brophy
Votes: 8,753
NT
14. Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
R | 110 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
At the snobby Crawford Academy, Virginia's group of friends start to go missing years after horrible events that happened to her as a child around her birthday.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane, Sharon Acker
Votes: 11,211
NT
15. Wolfen (1981)
R | 115 min | Horror, Thriller
A New York cop investigates a series of brutal deaths that resemble animal attacks.
Director: Michael Wadleigh | Stars: Albert Finney, Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines
Votes: 11,457 | Gross: $10.63M
NT
16. The Hand (1981)
R | 104 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A comic book artist loses his hand, which in turn takes on a murderous life of its own.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Michael Caine, Andrea Marcovicci, Annie McEnroe, Bruce McGill
Votes: 6,701 | Gross: $2.45M
NT
17. Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror
In a small Southern town, four vigilantes wrongfully execute a mentally-challenged man, but after the court sets them free mysterious "accidents" begin to kill them off one by one.
Director: Frank De Felitta | Stars: Charles Durning, Robert F. Lyons, Claude Earl Jones, Lane Smith
Votes: 8,196
NT
18. Deadly Blessing (1981)
R | 100 min | Horror, Thriller
After her husband dies under mysterious circumstances, a widow becomes increasingly paranoid of the neighboring religious community that may have diabolical plans for her.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Maren Jensen, Sharon Stone, Susan Buckner, Jeff East
Votes: 6,969 | Gross: $8.28M
NT
19. The Prowler (1981)
R | 89 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An unknown killer, clad in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small California town, bent on reliving a 35 year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual graduation dance.
Director: Joseph Zito | Stars: Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney, Farley Granger
Votes: 12,982
NT
20. Just Before Dawn (1981)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
Five young people venture into the backwoods of Oregon to claim a property, and find themselves being stalked by a hulking, machete-wielding psychopath.
Director: Jeff Lieberman | Stars: George Kennedy, Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry
Votes: 7,125
NT
21. Bloody Birthday (1981)
R | 85 min | Horror, Thriller
Three children are born at the height of an eclipse of the sun. Ten years later, they begin to murder the people around them - even their family members.
Director: Ed Hunt | Stars: Lori Lethin, Melinda Cordell, Julie Brown, Joe Penny
Votes: 5,655
NT
22. Venom (1981)
R | 92 min | Horror, Thriller
Terrorists in the process of kidnapping a child get trapped in a house with an extremely deadly snake.
Directors: Piers Haggard, Tobe Hooper | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Nicol Williamson, Sarah Miles
Votes: 3,217 | Gross: $5.23M
NT
23. Eyes of a Stranger (1981)
R | 84 min | Horror, Thriller
A news anchorwoman begins to suspect a man living in the same apartment complex as her to be the serial killer that's been raping and killing women in the Miami area.
Director: Ken Wiederhorn | Stars: Lauren Tewes, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John DiSanti, Peter DuPre
Votes: 3,174 | Gross: $1.12M
NT
24. The Pit (1981)
R | 96 min | Horror, Mystery
A solitary and strange preteen boy wreaks revenge on his harassers when he makes a disturbing discovery in the depth of a forest.
Director: Lew Lehman | Stars: Sammy Snyders, Jeannie Elias, Sonja Smits, Laura Hollingsworth
Votes: 3,516
NT
25. Evilspeak (1981)
R | 97 min | Horror
An outcast military cadet taps into a way to summon demons and cast spells on his tormentors through his computer.
Director: Eric Weston | Stars: Clint Howard, R.G. Armstrong, Joe Cortese, Claude Earl Jones
Votes: 4,879
NT
26. Night School (1981)
R | 88 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Who's been decapitating the innocent girls at a local night school? The police are baffled.
Director: Ken Hughes | Stars: Leonard Mann, Rachel Ward, Drew Snyder, Joseph R. Sicari
Votes: 3,243 | Gross: $1.17M
NT
27. The Boogens (1981)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Otherworldly creatures are released from the bootleg tunnels underneath a small-town mining community, and begin chomping on the locals.
Director: James L. Conway | Stars: Rebecca Balding, Fred McCarren, Anne-Marie Martin, Jeff Harlan
Votes: 3,113
NT
28. Final Exam (1981)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
A psycho killer shows up on college campus to slash up pretty co-eds and dumb jocks.
Director: Jimmy Huston | Stars: Cecile Bagdadi, Joel S. Rice, Ralph Brown, DeAnna Robbins
Votes: 4,614
NT
29. Strange Behavior (1981)
R | 87 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A scientist is experimenting with teenagers and turning them into murderers.
Director: Michael Laughlin | Stars: Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, Dan Shor, Fiona Lewis
Votes: 2,407
NT
30. Scream (1981)
R | 82 min | Horror, Mystery
A group of friends on a rafting trip down a river stop in at an old ghost town to spend the night. Soon their rafts disappear, and then they begin to be eliminated one by one by a mysterious killer.
Director: Byron Quisenberry | Stars: Pepper Martin, Hank Worden, Ethan Wayne, Ann Bronston
Votes: 904 | Gross: $1.08M
NT
31. Life After Life (1981)
88 min | Horror
Puppets are brought to life and terrorize a rural area in medieval China.
Director: Wai-Chuen Yung | Stars: George Lam, Flora Chong-Leen, Mang-Ha Cheng, Sang Cheung
Votes: 71
NT
32. A Day of Judgment (1981)
92 min | Drama, Horror
In the 1920s, a man in black rides into a small Southern town to visit retribution upon the citizens who have strayed from the path of righteousness and religion. He does this, of course, by killing them in various bloody ways.
Director: Charles Reynolds | Stars: William Hicks, Harris Bloodworth, Deborah Bloodworth, Susan Bloodworth
Votes: 313
NT
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