80s horror movies: 8 with stories stranger than the plot

An 80s horror movie is a horror film made in the 1980s, a decade when many of them reached viewers on VHS instead of in theaters. One film below was labelled a "video nasty" in the UK, and another was shot on videotape for a film transfer that never happened, so it went straight to tape.

Not every 80s horror film came from a studio or a franchise. This list covers eight that came from regional crews, families, stuntmen and directors working with whatever film stock they could afford. Each has a story that is stranger than its poster: a lost director, a lost film, a banned label, a borrowed bestseller.

What makes these 80s horror movies different?

• It was made far from Hollywood. These were shot in Utah, Ohio, Colorado and the Ozarks, and one is set in Texas.
• It was made by the people who needed it to work. Directors raised money, wrote on set and, in one case, cast their own child.
• It often reached viewers on tape. Some skipped theaters for VHS, one was labelled a "video nasty" in the UK, and several were rescued later by small labels.
• It has a story of its own. The behind-the-scenes version is often better than the plot.

Which 80s horror movies are on the list?

Don't Go in the Woods (1981)

James Bryan shot this slasher in the mountains of Utah, and Fangoria's reviewer called the scenery its best asset. Garth Eliassen wrote the script, then Bryan replaced it on set with a handwritten draft. Eliassen says the new version upped the body count.

Fangoria reported that it was shot on short ends and expired stock, with some footage fogged beyond use, and that Bryan avoided onscreen nudity because of attitudes in Utah. In the UK it was labelled a "video nasty." Bryan has said the whole thing was a joke.

Horror

---

Frankenstein Island (1981)

Jerry Warren made this after a fifteen-year break from filmmaking, and it was his last feature. He wrote the screenplay and the score himself, under pseudonyms.

Balloonists land on an island where a Frankenstein descendant has built an army of zombie servants. John Carradine plays the doctor, with Cameron Mitchell and Andrew Duggan in the cast. Katherine Victor, a Warren regular, plays Sheila Frankenstein, and RiffTrax has recorded a commentary for it.

Horror

---

Mongrel (1982)

Robert A. Burns was the art director on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, best known for its house of bones and skin. He also worked on The Hills Have Eyes, The Howling and Re-Animator. Mongrel is the only feature he directed.

It is set in an Austin boarding house where a tenant swears a vicious dog is prowling the halls. Aldo Ray has a brief role as the owner, and Mitch Pileggi, later Skinner on The X-Files, plays the tenant Woody. Moria Reviews calls it Pileggi's first screen performance.

Horror

---

Copperhead (1984)

Leland Payton, a Missouri antique dealer and documentarian, made Copperhead with his wife Crystal and their young son Ross, who appears as an infant. A paranoid man shoots one copperhead in the Ozarks, and a lot more arrive.

It was shot on one-inch videotape meant for a transfer to 35mm that never happened, so it went straight to VHS through VCI Home Video. VCI billed it as "probably the snakiest of all the horror movies ever made." Terror Vision released a Blu-ray in 2023, with new interviews with all three Paytons.

Action/Adventure

---

Spirits of Jupiter Uncut (1984)

Russell Kern shot The Spirits of Jupiter, also known as Planet Gone Mad, in and around Canon City, Colorado. Kern said they shot it in two weeks. Rex Cutter, a former Hollywood stuntman, played the mine owner and was also executive producer.

The idea is that Jupiter's nearness drives a Rocky Mountain town insane. It premiered in Canon City in early March 1984, never got a full US release, and circulated as a grey-market tape. Kern calls the Planet Gone Mad version a bootleg dub. In July 2023 The Spirits of Jupiter: Uncut arrived on Amazon Prime.

Horror

---

Biohazard (1985)

Fred Olen Ray wrote, directed and produced this alien film, with Aldo Ray and Angelique Pettyjohn. A reviewer describes a secret lab in the California desert and only four or five locations. Ray's young son played the creature in a rubber suit.

It opened in August 1985 through 21st Century Film Corporation. Retromedia put out a limited Blu-ray in 2015, with a commentary moderated by David DeCoteau and footage from an unfinished film starring Aldo Ray and Richard Harrison.

Sci-Fi

---

Watchers (1988)

Universal released this adaptation of Dean Koontz's 1987 novel. Koontz's lead is a man in his mid-30s, and the film recasts him as a teenager played by Corey Haim, which turns it into a boy and his dog story. The dog is Einstein, and he is chased by a lab creature called the Oxcom.

It was shot in Vancouver and was reported to be the most expensive American film to use Canadian tax shelter laws. It took about $940,000 at the US box office. Roger Corman's Concorde later made three sequels.

Action/Adventure

---

Robot Ninja (1989)

J. R. Bookwalter made this one in Ohio on 16mm, as a follow-up to The Dead Next Door, for David DeCoteau's VHS label Cinema Home Video. A comic book artist fails to stop a murder, has an inventor build him a suit, and becomes the vigilante he draws.

Burt Ward plays a publisher, and Linnea Quigley has a bit part. The Cinema Home Video tape went out of print and became a collector's item. A 2K restoration from the original 16mm elements came out in 2019.

Horror

Where to go next

• For the older, rougher end of the same business, see Grindhouse Movies.
• For horror from the other end of film history, see Silent Films.