The Bloody Decade

Tracking major theatrical releases, obscure titles, and straight-to-video gems, this series explores the horror movies of the '80s. From Shining to the Nightmare on Elm Street saga and from The Gremlins to The Thing, the era was truly golden for the genre.

Horror movies of the 80s had a propensity to put women in the path of killers and other monsters imagined by Hollywood. Not only were they prime targets, but they were also exposed in nude scenes because it sold. Did these films play a role in the emancipation of women in American society in the 1980s?

Thanks to horror movies, special effects made a considerable qualitative leap. Technicians such as make-up artists pushed the limits long before the invention of CGI. Special effects in horror films became a major selling point that drove the popularity of the genre.

The horror cinema of the 80s loved monsters. It reimagined mythical creatures such as werewolves and vampires but also created its own nightmares, sometimes funny like the Gremlins, sometimes frightening and from elsewhere like the Thing.

Stephen King was the first to immerse children in horror stories. Childhood is always linked to innocence in the collective imagination, and horror movies relished to contrast that with characters like Chucky and other evil dolls. The scriptwriters and directors have subsequently taken a malicious pleasure in perverting things even more to destabilize the spectator.

Christopher Lee or Vincent Price were known for their roles as villains in the 1950s. But in the 80s, horror movie heroes became the victim for the first. It was an archetype that allowed actors like Bruce Campbell and Kurt Russell to shine in the genre.

Horror cinema has also been able to innovate in the field of humour. Using off-beat angles, it can be grating but also burlesque.

The horror movies of the 1980s were able to turn their initial success into a real saga that unfolded over multiple sequels. Thus, were born extensive franchises like Hellraiser, Freddy, Friday the 13th, Halloween and many others.