Helen Udy and Peter Cowper in 'My Bloody Valentine'.© Lionsgate
Horror in the the first half of the '80s was defined by slashers like Friday the 13th, Prom Night and A Nightmare on Elm Street, while the latter half tended to take a more lighthearted look at the genre, mixing in comic elements in films like The Return of the Living Dead, Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator and House. Throughout the '80s, Stephen King's fingerprints were felt, as adaptations of his books littered the decade, from The Shining to Pet Sematary. Fatal Attraction, meanwhile, spawned a series of "stalker thrillers," but despite the efforts of newcomers like Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins) and Tom Holland (Fright Night, Child's Play), horror's box office might had subsided by the end of the '80s.
1980: Cannibal Holocaust
1980: Prom Night
1980: The Shining
1980: Friday the 13th
1981: An American Werewolf in London
1981: The Beyond
1981: The Evil Dead
1981: The Howling
1981: My Bloody Valentine
1981: Scanners
1982: Cat People
1982: Creepshow
1982: Poltergeist
1983: The Hunger
1984: Ghostbusters
1984: Gremlins
1984: A Nightmare on Elm Street
1984: Silent Night, Deadly Night
1985: Demons
1985: Fright Night
1985: Mr. Vampire
1985: Re-Animator
1985: The Return of the Living Dead
1985: The Toxic Avenger
1986: Aliens
1986: House
1986: Manhunter
1987: A Chinese Ghost Story
1987: Evil Dead 2
1987: Fatal Attraction
1987: Hellraiser
1987: The Lost Boys
1987: Near Dark
1987: Predator
1988: Child's Play
1988: Night of the Demons
1988: Pumpkinhead
1988: The Vanishing
1989: Pet Sematary
