As the days grow shorter, the temperature gets lower, and the nights get longer, one thing is clear; the spooky season is upon us. Now is the time where the goal is to go to bed scared, with visions of maniacs dancing in your head. There's nothing better during the Halloween season than curling up under a blanket with some snacks and watching a few dozen scary movies.
But, with so many amazing choices to scare yourself with, how can someone make sure that they get the best scares for their time? No one wants to spend the night watching a dud, knowing that they missed out on seeing some really creepy stuff just before bedtime. Luckily, when it comes to frighteningly freaky horror villains, the 1980s was chock full of them.
10 Jerry Dandrige
The greatest fear everyone faces sooner or later is the fear of having a bad neighbor. The last thing anyone wants is to be living next door to a real jerk or, even worse, an evil bloodsucking vampire. That's the predicament that poor Charley Brewster found himself facing in 1985's Fright Night.
When Charlie sees his new neighbor, the handsome Jerry Dandrige, murder a woman and drink her blood, he knows it's up to him to stop the vampire but to do it, he'll need the help of horror movie show host Peter Vincent.
9 Audrey II
The only thing eviler than Steve Martin's Orin Scrivello D.D.S. in Little Shop of Horrors is the flesh-eating plant Audrey II. Audrey II's amazing voice is able to sing its way into Seymour Krelborn's heart, leading to a series of deaths and nearly bringing about an alien invasion. Or, if you watch the director's cut, it all comes to an end with mankind being wiped out by evil plants.
Rick Moranis stars as Seymour Krelborn, with Ellen Greene playing the first—and not evil—Audrey in this spooky but fun musical filled with catchy tunes and plenty of murder. While Little Shop of Horrors wasn't a box office hit, it has more than found a fanbase in the more than 30 years since it first hit theaters.
8 Spike
While Gremlins is best remembered for the cute and lovable Gizmo, the movie is actually a funny but very violent and creepy story filled with horrific little monsters, with their leader, Spike, being the nastiest of them all. Pushed as a family film and rated PG, parents groups were so upset over Gremlins that, along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, it helped lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating.
Most notable is the shockingly violent and scary kitchen scene where Lynn Peltzer, played by Frances Lee McCain, fights off a number of gremlins with a butcher knife, a microwave, and a blender.
7 Beetlejuice
Starring Michael Keaton as the "Ghost with the Most," Beetlejuice helped make Winona Ryder a star and Tim Burton an A-list director. The movie, in which the titular Beetlejuice does his best to return to the world of the living by torturing the recently dead Adam and Barbara Maitland while forcing the teenaged Lydia Deetz to marry him, is filled with good-natured frights and great looking ghosts, ghouls, and monsters, but nothing compares to Keaton's Beetlejuice. To this day, fans hold out hope for the long-promised sequel, Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian.
6 Pinhead
From the terrifying mind of horror master Clive Barker, Pinhead first made his on-screen debut in 1987's Hellraiser. As the leader of the demonic Cenobites who come to Earth to retrieve the soul of Frank Cotton, who has escaped from hell, Pinhead has become a symbol of sadomasochistic terror unlike any other horror villain. While he and his fellow Cenobites were never named in the first film, the nails sticking out of Pinhead's head made it easy for audiences to come up with one for him.
Since 1987's Hellraiser, Pinhead and his fellow Cenobites have appeared in 10 films, although the rate of diminishing returns on them is pretty high. Recently, it was announced that HBO is making a Hellraiser series that will continue the continuity of the films.
5 The Thing
While it was a box office and critical bomb when it came out in 1982, John Carpenter's The Thing has become one of the most loved horror movies of all time, and for good reason. Along with amazing performances by Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, and Keith David, the movie features some of the greatest practical effects ever put on film, which were created by Rob Bottin and his team.
Set in Antarctica, The Thing tells the story of a group of research scientists who find themselves trapped with an alien being that can look like any of them. The movie's gory effects are heightened by the way Carpenter ups the tension with every scene, making for one of the most terrifying movies of all time, and leading to one of the most debated endings of any movie.
4 Jack Torrance
While Stephen King may not be a fan of Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining, there's no arguing that the movie has become a horror classic. A large part of the love horror fans have for the movie is due to the way Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance. As an alcoholic failed writer who finds himself driven insane by the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel, Nicholson makes every scene he is in so full of tension that the film becomes nearly unbearable at times.
Add in Kubrick's meticulous framing and willingness to take his time to build to the big moments, and The Shining will give leave even the most hardcore horror fans feeling uneasy for days.
3 Michael Myers
While Michael Myers made his debut in 1978's Halloween, so many of the classic horror movies of the 1980s wouldn't exist without him. Wearing a creepy mask, stalking teens, and never speaking, Michael Myers laid out the blueprint for almost every slasher movie killer of the 1980s and 1990s.
When the franchise tried to move on without the character with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, fans weren't having it, and, sure enough, Michael was back for 1988's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Michael has had his fair shares of ups and downs over the years, but, with the success of 2018's Halloween, he's back from the dead and ruling over the box office again.
2 Jason Voorhees
While the first Friday the 13th came out in 1980, Jason Voorhees didn't make his real debut until 1981's Friday the 13th Part 2, and he didn't get his trademark hockey mask until the next year in Friday the 13th Part III. While Jason hasn't been in a movie since 2009, his legacy lives on in video games as a downloadable character in 2015's Mortal Kombat X and starring in 2017's Friday the 13th: The Game, which was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019.
Jason Voorhees is not just a horror movie icon; he is an icon of the film in general. He's as recognizable as James Bond, Darth Vader, and even Superman, and, for a character who has never spoken a word, Jason's appearances in twelve movies have left an undeniable mark on film history.
1 Freddy Krueger
The most famous horror character of the 1980s, Freddy Krueger, with his burned face and razor glove, slinked into the minds and dreams of movie-goers in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street, leading to nine movies, a TV series, a 1-900 number, and a video game, not to mention comics and books.
Created by Wes Craven, Freddy Krueger started off as one of the scariest characters ever put on film before becoming something of a murderous jokester who loved to make quips while killing teens in their dreams. While his movies were always rated R, Freddy was such a cultural icon of the 1980s that not only did they sell kids costumes for Halloween, but he also had a hit song with the Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, as well as a talking doll.