5 Forgotten '80s Horror Movies That Still Hold Up Today

The 1980s were a golden age of horror films. The renewal of the genre in the 1970s meant that more filmmakers were trying their hand at scary movies than ever before, and the VHS revolution meant that, by the end of the decade, there were more options than any horror fan had ever previously enjoyed. There are a lot of great horror movies from the '80s, and that means that some are bound to fall between the cracks.

If you've dipped your toe into 1980s horror, you've probably seen movies like "Friday the 13th," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and "Gremlins" — but what if you want to go deeper? What if you're in search of those '80s gems that never reached blockbuster status, but still hold a special place in the hearts of diehard horror fans? Here are five forgotten '80s horror movies to get you started, from hidden gem slashers to weird sci-fi horror.

Released in 1981 amid the slasher movie boom that followed "Halloween" in 1978, "Hell Night" begins with one of horror cinema's most tried-and-true setups. The film follows a group of college students who are tasked with spending the night in a supposedly haunted local house as part of their sorority and fraternity initiation. Naturally, as the kids settle in for the night, the upperclassmen set out to prank them with all sorts of nasty scares, unaware that very real horrors are lurking in the house's dark past — and they're ready to come to light.

Arguably the best of Linda Blair's (who plays Marti) post-"Exorcist" horror roles, "Hell Night" begins as a slow-burn fraternity hazing gone wrong, ratcheting up both dramatic tension and a degree of budding romance that gets you invested quickly. When the horror ramps up and the monsters — both human and beyond — come out to play, the film quickly morphs into a thrill ride, culminating in a setpiece finale that sets it apart from many other slashers of its era. If you love slasher movies and you still haven't seen this one, "Hell Night" has a lot to offer.

Speaking of slashers with a lot to offer, there's this 1982 release from the same period of the subgenre, when filmmakers everywhere were trying different levels of gore, humor, and madness to perfect the slasher's appeal. "Pieces" is a film that benefits greatly from this kind of experimentation, though it's not for those with a weak stomach.

Built on the tongue-in-cheek tagline "It's exactly what you think it is," the film takes place in and around a college campus, where young women are attacked by a chainsaw-wielding madman who collects their body parts as pieces in an elaborate jigsaw puzzle he's building. It's not exactly a whodunit, because the solution to the mystery of the killer is telegraphed in the opening sequence, but it is a raucous, violent, often darkly comic journey into one man's psychosexual hangups and how they manifest in copious gore. This movie is a precursor to modern slasher success stories like "Terrifier;" and while the gore is what gets audiences to take notice in the first place, that's far from the only thing at play here.

"One Dark Night" is a movie which throws you off balance almost immediately, setting the stage for one kind of film before morphing into something else, then bringing everything back together for one of the most unhinged finales in all of '80s horror. It's quite a ride, and like "Hell Night," it's rooted in a hazing ritual.

Julie (Meg Tilly) wants to be part of a club of high school girls called "the Sisters," but in order to get in, the members tell her she has to take on a challenge of their choice. So, one night, the other Sisters drop Julie off at the local mortuary and mausoleum and tell her she has to spend the night among the crypts. It's an initiation ritual, yes, but it's also a chance for one of the girls to get back at Julie for seemingly stealing her boyfriend.

Julie settles in, and the Sisters prepare to find ways to scare her; but soon, all of the teens involved in this little hazing drama are swept up in supernatural madness connected to a recently deceased psychic with otherworldly powers. It's a somewhat predictable mashing up of these two storylines, but two things make the film stand out. The first is Tilly, who gives a remarkable performance as a young woman trying to keep her sanity as her very concept of reality is challenged. The second is the film's finale, which releases every ounce of tension that it has accrued over the preceding 89 minutes. It just explodes with horror energy, delivering a relentless conclusion that'll stay in your brain long after you've finished it.

The world wasn't really ready for "Night of the Creeps" when it hit theaters in 1986. Written and directed by Fred Dekker (who also directed "The Monster Squad" and "RoboCop 3"), it's a film that attempts to pay genuine, loving homage to the sci-fi horror B movies of the 1950s. Its plot is often deliberately a bit over-the-top, corny, and intentionally funny. It wasn't a hit at the time, but today it stands as a masterpiece of horror comedy, and one of the best hidden gems of the '80s.

The setup is simple: In the 1950s, a weird alien slug monster — which has the power to possess human host bodies and turn them into mindless killers — crash landed on Earth. In the present day, it escapes, and begins possessing and terrorizing local college students just trying to get dates. With the threat growing, it's up to a smooth-talking local cop (Tom Atkins) to solve the case and save the day.

Atkins, equipped with his character's iconic catch phrase "Thrill me," is the beating heart of "Night of the Creeps" — but he's not the only reason to check the film out. It's a love letter to the kinds of schlocky horror films that got many of the finest horror filmmakers of the '80s into the genre in the first place. It's genuinely funny, and it has got some wonderful creature work. If you want a midnight movie to watch with friends, look no further.

"Scarecrows" spent a good chunk of the 1980s in limbo. It was filmed in 1984, but didn't actually get a release until 1988 due to issues with its original distributor; by then, it was limited to the home video market. Still, it found an audience, according to producer Cami Winikoff in a 2015 Blu-ray commentary for the film. While it has never been one of the most mainstream '80s horror movies, it deserves a bigger following.

Set in and around an abandoned rural farmhouse, the movie follows a group of thieves trying to escape with a stash of money they've just stolen. Along the way, they hole up in the farmhouse after realizing that one of their members has betrayed them, and what starts as a frustrating night in search of the missing cash soon gets much darker. The scarecrows surrounding the property, it turns out, are much more than just relics from the people who used to work the land.

This is a very strange setup for a film, as "Scarecrows" begins in the action heist genre and soon pivots into slasher territory, verging on all-out folk horror. The design of the title "Scarecrows" is instantly memorable, and the eerie way the supernatural slowly creeps into the story will set you on edge. It's a deceptively simple premise, but the more you watch, the more you see the depth at play in "Scarecrows" and the terror of the world it builds.