The Best Horror Movies of 1981

Updated September 23, 2019 1.9k votes 131 voters 2.0k views95 items

List of the best 1981 horror movies, ranked by how many upvotes they've received by other fans of the genre. All types of scary movies are represented below, including thrillers, slashers, gore, psychological horror films and more. These are all the horror movies that defined the year 1981, so vote for your favorites and help them rise to the top. This poll is also a great resource for finding new movies that you haven't already seen, especially since you can watch trailers for each film right on this page. To make sure this list is as accurate as possible, please don't downvote a movie if you haven't seen it.

List features movies like The Evil Dead, Halloween II, and many more This isn't necessarily a list of all horror movies from 1981, but it does contain all the ones worth watching.

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Scanners
1981
Actors: Michael Ironside, Patrick McGoohan, Jennifer O'Neill, Lawrence Dane, Robert A. Silverman
Directed by: David Cronenberg
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#64 of 88 The Goriest Movies Ever Made#90 of 102 The 100+ Best Movies Streaming On The Criterion Channel
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An American Werewolf in London
1981
Actors: Jenny Agutter, Frank Oz, Rik Mayall, David Naughton, Griffin Dunne
Directed by: John Landis
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#591 of 1,189 Every Oscar Winning Film Ever#150 of 314 The Funniest '80s Movies
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Friday the 13th Part 2
1981
Actors: Betsy Palmer, Lauren-Marie Taylor, Warrington Gillette, Rex Everhart, Ari Lehman
Directed by: Steve Miner
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#11 of 105 The Best Horror Movie Sequels#217 of 372 'Old' Movies Every Young Person Needs To Watch In Their Lifetime
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The Evil Dead
1981
Actors: Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, Ted Raimi, Scott Spiegel, Ellen Sandweiss
Directed by: Sam Raimi
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#849 of 1,540 The Most Rewatchable Movies#485 of 925 The All-Time Greatest Comedy Films
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Dark Night of the Scarecrow
1981
Actors: Charles Durning, Lane Smith, Larry Drake, Robert F. Lyons, Jocelyn Brando
Directed by: Frank De Felitta
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#15 of 23 Underrated Halloween Movies You Should Watch This Year#21 of 56 The Best Horror Movies That Take Place On Halloween
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The Howling
1981
Actors: Dee Wallace, John Sayles, Slim Pickens, Patrick Macnee, John Carradine
Directed by: Joe Dante
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#310 of 541 The Greatest Guilty Pleasure Movies#76 of 114 The Best Horror Movie Franchises
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Halloween II
1981
Actors: Jamie Lee Curtis, Dana Carvey, Kyle Richards, Donald Pleasence, Ana Alicia
Directed by: Rick Rosenthal

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My Bloody Valentine
1981
Actors: Don Francks, Cynthia Dale, Helene Udy, Keith Knight, Alf Humphreys
Directed by: George Mihalka
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#24 of 70 The Best Teen Slasher Movies#8 of 15 Pretty Good Romance Horror Movies For Your Dark Heart
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Evilspeak
1981
Actors: Clint Howard, R. G. Armstrong, Haywood Nelson, Joseph Cortese, Claude Earl Jones
Directed by: Eric Weston
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The Prowler
1981
Actors: Farley Granger, Lawrence Tierney, Christopher Goutman, Thom Bray, Lisa Dunsheath
Directed by: Joseph Zito
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Absurd
1981
Actors: Edmund Purdom, Ted Rusoff, George Eastman, Annie Belle, Carolyn De Fonseca
Directed by: Joe D'Amato
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Just Before Dawn
1981
Actors: George Kennedy, Jamie Rose, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry, Mike Kellin
Directed by: Jeff Lieberman
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The Burning
1981
Actors: Holly Hunter, Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer
Directed by: Tony Maylam
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#21 of 33 The Scariest Cabin Horror Movies#13 of 30 The Best Horror Movies Set During Summer
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The Funhouse
1981
Actors: Elizabeth Berridge, Kevin Conway, Frank Grimes, Sherman Bergman, Sylvia Miles
Directed by: Tobe Hooper
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The Beyond
1981
Actors: David Warbeck, Veronica Lazăr, Catriona MacColl, Antoine Saint-John, Al Cliver
Directed by: Lucio Fulci
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#129 of 144 The Best Zombie Movies Of All Time#10 of 25 All The Brilliant Horror And Suspense Movie Homages In 'American Horror Story'
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Possession
1981
Actors: Sam Neill, Isabelle Adjani, Heinz Bennent, Margit Carstensen, Carl Duering
Directed by: Andrzej Żuławski
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#257 of 720 The Best Horror Movies Of All Time#18 of 20 20 Shocking Horror Movie Endings That Took You by Surprise
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Galaxy of Terror
1981
Actors: Robert Englund, Erin Moran, Sid Haig, Ray Walston, Edward Albert
Directed by: Bruce D. Clark
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Night Terrors
1981
Actors: Robert Englund, Chandra West, Ray Baker, Juliano Mer-Khamis, William Finley
Directed by: Tobe Hooper, Romano Scavolini
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Deadly Blessing
1981
Actors: Sharon Stone, Ernest Borgnine, Lisa Hartman Black, Maren Jensen, Lois Nettleton
Directed by: Wes Craven
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#107 of 114 The Best Intelligent Horror Movies#173 of 181 The Best Horror Movies Of The 1980s
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Saturday the 14th
1981
Actors: Jeffrey Tambor, Paula Prentiss, Richard Benjamin, Rosemary DeCamp, Severn Darden
Directed by: Howard R. Cohen
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Bloody Birthday
1981
Actors: José Ferrer, Michael Dudikoff, Julie Brown, Susan Strasberg, Joe Penny
Directed by: Edward Hunt
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Ghost Story
1981
Actors: Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Patricia Neal, John Houseman
Directed by: John Irvin
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Night School
1981
Actors: Rachel Ward, Leonard Mann
Directed by: Ken Hughes
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The Nesting
1981
Actors: John Carradine, Gloria Grahame, Michael Lally, James Hayden, James Saxon
Directed by: Armand Weston
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Eyes of a Stranger
1981
Actors: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Luke Halpin, Lauren Tewes, John DiSanti, Dan Fitzgerald
Directed by: Ken Wiederhorn