Editorials
10 Goriest Slashers of the ’80s!
While Halloween was by no means the first slasher film, it was the definitive classic that launched what’s lovingly dubbed as the Golden Age of Slashers, the period from 1978 to the mid-eighties where the slasher sub-genre was at the height of popularity. After that, slasher fatigue set in and most became straight-to-video releases, where they still remained profitable. Why are slashers so popular? One of the reasons is the death scenes; the more creative and memorable the better.
When trying to find the 10 most ruthlessly gory slashers of the ‘80s, a funny discover was made; most of the slashers I remembered as being particularly bloody weren’t so bloody after all. Often, perhaps mostly as a budgetary constraint, kills were off screen or suggestive, cutting away from the kill moment and opting to rely on sound and the power of the viewer’s mind to fill in the blanks. In other cases, the body count was increased by a lot with blood and gore effects on proud display, but the movie itself wasn’t so great. For better or worse, here are the 10 bloodiest slashers from the ‘80s.
The Prowler (1981)
The Prowler is an underrated slasher with some of the most authentically violent looking kills on screen. So it should surprise no one that Tom Savini is the one behind the effects in this underrated slasher. The killer, dressed in vintage Army fatigues, stalks and kills college co-eds during the annual spring dance. Though his appearance isn’t exactly iconic, his kills certainly are. The killer’s preferred weapon is a pitchfork, though he makes excellent use of knifes, shotguns, and even a bayonet. The most brutal death occurs when the Prowler shoves his bayonet through a victim’s skull so hard that it emerges through the throat. It’s so realistic looking that I tend to agree with Savini’s assessment that The Prowler showcases his best work.
The Burning (1981)
A summer camp slasher with remarkable similarities to Friday the 13th, filmed and released in close proximity to one another, this slasher has the edge in terms of blood and gore. Tom Savini’s special effects are fantastic, and the bloodbath on a raft is a highlight. It earned notoriety on the Video Nasty list due to a very graphic death involving a prostitute being impaled with scissors, but even the American MPAA had issues with the gore. It wasn’t until a 2007 DVD release that the cut scenes of gore were restored. Cropsy was an iconic killer, based on an urban legend, which never quite received the attention he deserved.
The Mutilator (1985)
Originally titled Fall Break, this goofy slasher even has its own theme song, albeit one that’s jarringly out of place in its upbeat tone. That’s just one of the many campy qualities that makes The Mutilator so endearingly bad. This slasher is a weird whodunit type, in that it’s only the victims that don’t know who the identity of the killer. The acting is bad and the dialogue is laughable, and yet that only enhances the entertainment value. Most importantly, though, is the gore. The killer’s use of a fishing gaff is bloody and brilliant, but it’s final showdown between lead protagonist Ed Jr. and the killer that solidifies its splatter reputation, spilled guts and all.
Hack-O-Lantern (1988)
If the pun title isn’t already an indication, this slasher is Halloween themed. It’s also very, very strange. With a plot about a Grandpa who oversees a cult that sacrifices victims on Halloween, this low budget slasher takes a sort of kitchen sink approach. An insane amount of nudity, Satanism, a female demon that shoots lasers from her eyes, and hair metal bands are just some of the weird inclusions in this slasher. It’s a cheese fest, for sure, but it least it delivers on the blood and gore. Decapitation by pitchfork is especially great, but there’s no shortage of blood at all here. Hack-O-Lantern is not a holiday classic, but it is one of the bloodiest slashers.
Nightmare (1981)
Also known as Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, or the movie Tom Savini sued to have his name removed from the credits, stating he only served as a consultant on the effects and nothing more. It also marks the only instance where a distributor served time in prison for refusing to release a film uncut during the Department of Public Prosecutions persecution of films deemed too obscene, relegating them to the Video Nasty list. As a slasher film, it tends to drag in the middle while slowly doling out its plot, which sees a mental patient escape from his hospital and stalk a family in Florida all while stacking up a body count in the neighborhood. The climax is worth the wait with the killer finally entering the house and unleashing terror while donning a creepy mask. What really makes this worthy of the list, though, is the over the top, extremely bloody flashback sequence that’s shown in part during the film’s opening before unveiling its entirety during the final act. Between Tom Savini’s influence and it being an Italian production, it’s extreme.
Intruder (1989)
The guy who went to school with Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell and co-wrote Evil Dead II, Scott Spiegel, should surprise no one that he understands gore. This slasher sees a killer stalk and slaughter the overnight crew of a local grocery store. The setting alone makes for some of the most inventive, gruesome deaths in slasher memory. Both Sam and Ted Raimi have lengthy roles as two of the grocery store’s employees, and even Bruce Campbell makes a brief cameo. Spiegel holds nothing back, capturing every detail of the kills. The meat slicer to the face is particularly great, but no death here disappoints. Intruder is one of my absolute favorite slashers of all time. In terms of fun and gore, this one is tough to beat.
Evil Dead Trap (1988)
This Japanese slasher draws a lot of obvious influence from Dario Argento, including a Goblin-like score, and gore master Lucio Fulci. The plot centers on a TV crew that explores an abandoned warehouse where a snuff film was purportedly filmed. Of course, they get more than they bargained for when they get picked off one by one. There’s a very sleazy aesthetic to this film that lingers long after, and the amount of plot twists involved are impressive. But it doesn’t hold a candle to the death sequences. So. Much. Blood. Those with a distaste for eye trauma beware; there’s a slow close-up of eye slicing so painfully gross that it’s a tough watch for even the most hardened of horror lovers. The killer’s identity is so bizarre; I’ll leave that discovery for you.
Maniac (1980)
This William Lustig directed slasher sees Joe Spinell’s Frank Zito loose in New York, killing women and collecting their scalps as trophies. The plot alone is ripe for glorious splatter, and Tom Savini’s effects really make this something special. The opening kill that sees copious amounts of blood washing ashore sets the tone, and it never lets up. Stabbings, throat garroting, head ripping, and Tom Savini’s head being blown off in one memorable scene all prove to be some of Savini’s finest work. No one offers realistic gore like he does. Maniac is sleazy, exploitive, and full of violent gore, landing it among the top in terms of the bloodiest slashers ever.
Violent Shit (1989)
German filmmaker Andreas Schnaas aims to truly offend with his aptly titled slasher. The plot is as simple as it gets, with Karl the Butcher (aka K. the Butcher Shitter) goes on an extremely gory killing spree after killing the police. Not only is this slasher violent, but, well, it’s also shit. This low budget slasher seeks to serve no other purpose but to showcase the most brutal death sequences. That may sound great, but it somehow manages to get boring in its repetitiveness quickly. Feces eating, dismemberment, disembowelings, castrations, and more, Violent Shit is a vicious assault on the senses. As a gory slasher, it earns its place on this list in every way. Beyond that, though, it’s terrible.
Pieces (1982)
An Italian interpretation of an American slasher that sees a killer murdering college co-eds in an attempt to put their body parts together to form a human jigsaw puzzle is every bit as gory as the plot would make it seem. It also happens to be nonsensical in plot, making this a definitive cult classic. The film opens with a boy violently axing his mother to death upon her discovery that he’s assembling a puzzle of a naked woman. Inexplicably, he decides to go on a spree 40 years later without explanation for what triggered him. That’s really the least of things that can’t be explained plot-wise. So bad it’s funny dialogue and a random violent kung fu teacher makes this film hover in a constant state of “WTF?” More importantly, the gore is rampant. The killer’s chainsaw rips through limbs with the most amazing frequency, delivering a never-ending torrent of blood.
We’re now officially in the back half of 2026 now that July is here, but what a year it’s been for horror so far. The sequels and reboots are still holding strong at the box office with films like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, but it’s also been a year where new voices are shattering records in unexpected ways.
Markiplier eschewed conventional production and distribution channels with his feature adaptation of Iron Lung, for example. We’re also still in the midst of Backrooms and Obsession-mania, with the former back in theaters with bonus footage and the latter extending its box office reign. Liminal horror has exploded, and low-budget indie horror is seeing just as much, and sometimes even more, success as big studio-backed fare.
All of which to say that 2026 has been a hell of a year so far for the genre, and it’s only getting warmed up. Still on the way are Evil Dead Burn, Insidious: Out of the Further, Resident Evil, Clayface, Whalefall, and Werwulf, just to name a few.
Also catch up with the Best Horror Books and Best Horror Games of the year so far.
Here are the ten best horror movies of the year (so far).
10) Chime
Horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with one of his most haunting yet, though one that’d likely be higher on this list if it were more accessible. The 45-minute feature was initially produced and distributed as an NFT before receiving a theatrical run earlier this year, with no plans to distribute digitally or on home media. It spins a somewhat cryptic tale, introducing a culinary teacher, Takuji Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka, Never After Dark), whose classroom becomes disrupted by a strange sound that leads to violence. It’s a quiet but haunting unraveling, one that leaves no aspect of Matsuoka’s life untouched, in true Kiyoshi Kurosawa style. That it defies any easy explanation also ensures Chime embeds itself under your skin.
9) Send Help
Sam Raimi’s splatstick return to form is a delightfully deranged two-hander that doubles as infectious catharsis for anyone who’s ever had a bad boss. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) face off when their characters are shipwrecked on an island, prompting a bid for survival in more ways than one. While O’Brien often matches her, It’s McAdams who shines as she deftly handles everything that Raimi, working from a script by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason), throws at her. Send Help is full of vibrant personality, packed with all of Raimi’s signatures, making for one of the most entertaining films of the year.
8) Mārama
New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard’s gothic tale begins in familiar fashion, with Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) arriving in Yorkshire upon invitation to learn more about her parents, only to find the remote manor haunted. Just when Stappard’s period horror story feels doomed to succumb to familiar gothic trappings and jump scares, though, its true horror emerges. The more Mary uncovers about her heritage and her Māori culture, the clearer it becomes that this grim home is built on violence and exploitation. Stappard’s vision comes into its own when it leaves behind its gothic influences and embraces its Māori identity; few scenes are as powerful as when Osborne’s Mary performs a haka in response to her vile oppressors, heralding in a righteous bloodbath.
7) Touch Me
Writer/Director Addison Heimann draws from retro Japanese horror, exploitation cinema, and perhaps even hentai for his campy, psychosexual sophomore feature. A toxic friendship plagued by trauma, codependency, and addiction gets tested to the extreme when Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), a hip-hop-loving, tracksuit-sporting alien, gets between them. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris have an easy rapport and play off each other well as directionless, depressed Millennial besties prone to ignoring their problems until they become insurmountable. But it’s Pucci’s inspired, childlike take on the chicken nugget-loving extraterrestrial with tentacled secrets of his own that steals the show. Heimann has a lot on his mind with his sophomore feature and neatly condenses it all into a quirky, eccentric psychosexual camp odyssey that leans heavily into humor.
6) Backrooms
Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, one that instills existential dread with its atmospheric horror and narrative. The ‘ 90s-set horror movie introduces a protagonist with a serious chip on his shoulder over life’s many disappointments, who then discovers his furniture store harbors a hidden door that leads to an endless labyrinth. It’s not just the incredible production design that instills a disorienting sense of doom and terror, but the lead characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Parsons exudes impressive confidence and control as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight. While Backrooms does deflate by the film’s cryptic, cliffhanger-y end, it’s arguably the most effective and scariest yet at capturing the uncanny valley of generative AI.
5) Leviticus
Writer/Director Adrian Chiarella uses an It Follows-like supernatural entity that relentlessly stalks its prey as a launchpad to immerse audiences in the horror of constantly living in fear for simply existing. A conversion therapy ritual among a deeply conservative community plunges a pair of erstwhile lovers into a nightmarish bid for survival when it summons a force that takes the shape of those whom the afflicted desires most. Chiarella refines the horror mechanics and metaphor with much sharper precision, ensuring that the scares and emotional gravity of the young couple’s terrifying predicament reach their intended impact. It’s the central layered performances by Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Stacy Clausen (Thrash) that clinch emotional investment in their heartbreaking plight, ensuring that the social horror cuts deep.
4) Redux Redux
The McManus Brothers, writer/director duo Matthew and Kevin McManus (The Block Island Sound), dials up the intensity of a classic revenge story by setting it within a multiverse, where Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus) seeks to snuff out every single iteration of her daughter’s murderer, Neville (Jeremy Holm). The more she stalks and slays every world’s Neville, the more she risks losing her humanity entirely. Through a narrative foil in Mia (Stella Marcus), Redux Redux smartly bypasses repetition as it explores the moral complexities and vulnerabilities of Irene’s extremely violent quest. Holm becomes utterly terrifying in the climax, ensuring that no matter whether Irene loses herself to vengeance for good or not, it’s justified if it means ridding the world of this sick maniac.
3) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins in the second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle’s trilogy, picking up from the previous conclusion that saw Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the infected straight into the welcoming arms of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). From here, DaCosta presents a stark contrast between humanity’s best and worst. The former sees the tender studies of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) make poignant strides toward humankind’s future, while the latter unleashes more pain and bloodshed courtesy of the Jimmies. The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity. Yet it’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most, teeing up one epic conclusion to this trilogy.
2) Obsession
Sketch comedian turned horror filmmaker Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) wrings blood-curdling terror from a classic Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment scenario in a way that no one could have ever anticipated. To say that it’s taken the box office by storm would be a massive understatement; Obsession is the top horror movie of the year in terms of gross. It’s not hard to see why, either. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. What truly sets it apart, though, is leads Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette as the central pair undone by one vicious wish. Expect to see a lot more from breakout Navarette.
1) Hokum
A surly, traumatized writer must break free from his self-imposed shackles of guilt when confronted by a wicked witch haunting a quaint Irish inn in the latest by writer/director Damian McCarthy (Oddity). Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for an atypical but rewarding protagonist, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Channeling Stephen King, this creeper plays like a traditional campfire tale in mood and style, infusing genuine scares with a sense of magic and heart.
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