Serial killers are awful creatures, but there are many people interested in how they function. Why they do what they do, what compels them, why they have their certain methods of death and destruction. It's a trainwreck, but somehow people a re addicted and wanting to know more.
Plenty of movies, especially in the horror genre, have been made about serial killers, fictional and based upon real-life killers. The 1980s boasts some of the scariest in serial killer movie history. That said, here are 10 of the best serial killer movies of the 80s.
10 Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986)
The film stars Michael Rooker as Henry and Tom Towles as his buddy Otis, both killers in their own right. Their killing spree, despite being massive, goes on without punishment.
Henry himself even murders Otis and dismembers him. If that is what he does to his friends, we would hate to think of what he does to his enemies. Henry and Otis are loosely based on the real-life convicted killers Ottis Toole and Henry Lee Lucas.
9 Angst (1983)
This Austrian horror film has received praise for its innovative camera work. It follows a serial killer recently released from prison, who is eager to return to killing, having obviously not changed his ways after his time in prison.
He manages to kill a few people before he is again apprehended by police, but he appears to take joy in the fear etched upon people's faces as they see his victims and what he has done to them.
8 Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Perhaps one of the most disturbing killers of the 1980s was Angela Baker (Felissa Rose), who basically killed anyone that had done wrong to her or somehow interfered. She is beyond messed up, and her methods of inflicting death are painful and brutal.
To top it all off, it is revealed that Angela is really a boy, Peter. Angela was his sister that was killed in an accident, and after Peter was taken in by his aunt, she raised him as the daughter she never had but always wanted.
7 Cruising (1980)
This movie was ahead of its time simply by featuring gay men. Unfortunately, the movie uses gay men as targets of a serial killer in New York City. Al Pacino stars as Steve Burns, a cop that goes undercover to investigate the killings and flush out the killer.
Steve befriends Ted, his neighbor who also happens to be gay, and later stands up for the gay community to his superiors. To find out how everything turns out, it's worth watching, especially to see Al Pacino in a role other than Scarface.
6 Child's Play (1988)
In life, Charles Lee Ray was a nasty serial killer. As he is dying after being shot by a cop, he uses a spell to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll. Unfortunately, this particular doll housing the soul of a serial killer winds up in the possession of a little boy, and "Chucky" leaves bodies in his wake and tries to possess the little boy so he can continue to live and avoid life as a doll forever.
This 1988 film has a cult following and is the first film in the Child's Play franchise.
5 Friday The 13th (1980)
During the first Friday the 13th, Jason Voorhees isn't the killer, it is his mother, Pamela. Pamela kills everyone one by one, grieving over the loss of her son who drowned at Camp Crystal Lake and blamed the counselors who were supposed to be watching him for his death. After the first film, it is Jason himself wreaking havoc and mercilessly killing anyone that crosses paths with him.
Pamela is beyond delusional and the fact that she is a woman makes her stand out among serial killers portrayed in the 1980s.
4 The Hitcher (1986)
This movie will make you think twice before you pick up any hitchhikers. Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) is just delivering a car from Chicago to San Diego when he gets entangled with a serial killer out on the road.
He manages to save himself but ends up trying to stop the serial killer as he continues his killing spree. The killer does get his wish in the end: Jim stopped him.
3 The Stepfather (1987)
More of a mass murderer than a serial killer, Jerry Blake (Terry O'Quinn) is a demented man who killed his family and married into a new one, planning to kill them also when his stepdaughter begins to suspect him and uncover evidence that he is not who he says he is. The film is loosely based on the life of real-life killer John List.
For Stephanie, her inability to get along with her new stepfather is warranted in this horror film given he killed his last family and tries covering up that fact as she investigates. Thankfully, the good guys win in this movie. The Stepfather went on to have two sequels and a remake.
2 A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) is a child murderer in this 1980s slasher film. In life, he was a child murderer released on a technicality. Angry parents reacted by burning him alive as a form of vigilante justice. Except, that didn't quite end Freddy's killing.
He returns to kill children in their dreams, forcing them to stay awake to remain alive, and making it hard for the kids to distinguish between dreams and reality. His razor-sharp blades and disfigured face make him particularly gross and frightening to look at, adding to the film's overall horror.
1 10 To Midnight (1983)
Charles Bronson stars as Leo Kessler in this 1983 film chasing after a serial killer named Warren Stacy (Gene Davis) who goes after the women who reject his advances. Stacy is disturbed and creepy, which is the primary reason for his frequent rejections.
He kills women while naked, apart from latex gloves so as not to leave fingerprints behind, in an attempt to remove any potential evidence. Vindictive and dangerous, Stacy makes a big mistake by going after Kessler's daughter, and Kessler himself takes things too far by planting evidence, even if it's for the good cause of ensuring Stacy goes to prison.
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