In the 1980s horror movies, there were always all kinds of brain holes, dolls turned into murderers; werewolves made a big fuss in the city center; cute pets gave birth to little demons...
These stories seem to be worthless and too common today, but if there is no crazy creation of the predecessors, I think that the world of movies will always be less crazy and fantasy.
In this issue, we continue to take stock of classic horror films of the 1980s. Bold, timid...
[American Werewolf in London]
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Director: John Landis
Starring: David Norton / Jenny Eggart / Griffin Dunn
Producer: USA/UK
Release date: 21.8.1981
Duration: 97 minutes
This is a tragic werewolf comedy movie, and the kind young man David becomes a crazy bloodthirsty werewolf.
The dead souls urged him to commit suicide, but he never had the courage.
So David rushed out of the movie theater, causing a serious traffic accident and collapsing naked in a pool of blood.
The most classic scene in the film is David's transformation scene at home, and his screams, accompanied by a romantic and melodious soundtrack, create a wonderful audiovisual experience.
Dexterous editing, realistic model special effects, watching the male protagonist's hair become more and more vigorous, limbs gradually deformed, even the head is extended, causing people to hurt joints.
Makeup artist Rick Baker also won the Following year's Academy Award for Best Makeup and Styling.
As shown in this transformation scene, the whole film is not deliberately creating an atmosphere that is uncomfortable or frightening.
Rather, it is necessary to show bluntly what the werewolf faces, and in this way express the individual's powerlessness in the face of loss of control and disorder.
The film skillfully balances the two elements of horror and comedy, not only mature and restrained, but also exudes a moving light.
In the end, the budget of 10 million earned $62 million at the box office, and there was a lot of praise from critics.
This work has also naturally become one of the most classic werewolf movies in film history.
In a 2008 ranking by Empire magazine, it ranked 107th among the best in film history. (The remake will meet us soon)
[Space Zombies]
Night of the Creeps (1986)
Director: Fred Decker
Starring: Jason Lively/Tom Atkins/Steve Marshall
Produced by: Usa
Release date: 22 August 1986
Duration: 88 minutes
The first shot of the film is very interesting, black and white shooting, with five black treasures of "Smoke Mist Your Eyes", the romantic fifties returned to the audience's eyes.
However, as soon as the painting style changed, 30 years later, two deadly stunned young people released the space experiment sample, which triggered a zombie war.
Director Fred Dunk initially wanted to make the entire film black and white, but the producers persuaded him for commercial reasons.
Now that I think about it, if it is a pure black and white zombie horror movie, it seems to be a good choice.
Although the plot of the film is all the usual routine, Fred said that he paid tribute to many films in the film.
I'm not sure, but the way this alien creature that can turn people into zombies jumps into its mouth has a very [alien] taste.
And the picture of the brain cracking is reminiscent of [strange shape].
Look at the names of the characters in the play, Romero, Carpenter, Cronenberg...
Director, aren't you really being funny?
But then again, although the director looks unorthodox, he also handed over a satisfactory answer.
The whole movie is very watchable, and the atmosphere and suspense in many places are very good and full of tension.
Especially when the girl in the house opens the door for Brad, he seems to have turned into a zombie, and the camera pans forward with the girl, nervous and funny.
I thought to myself, director, you still have two brushes!
[Pokemon]
Gremlins 1984
Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Phoebe Cates / Hoyt Axeston n / Lu Xiqi / Don Steele
Release date: 1984.6.8
Duration: 106 minutes
"Daddy sent you a little elf today, but you have to remember:
First, you cannot see the light, and you can see the light and die;
Second, it cannot be wet and will replicate itself;
Third, you can't feed in the middle of the night, you will turn into a monster. ”
This is Hollywood's most clichéd, yet most eye-catching routine.
Set the conditions that can promote the development of the plot interpretation.
As soon as the audience listened, this must be turning into a lot of monsters.
However, the highlight of this movie is that it does not completely blacken the elves, and the protagonist is accompanied by a kind little friend.
At the end, when the monster stayed at the water's edge and continued to expand, it was also this little one who rushed forward and opened the curtains, ending the life of the big boss.
Speaking of which, the image setting of this little elf is really not very good-looking, brown and white, or a horizontal development type, wide.
But the beginning and end of the good villain story is still natural, and the ornamentation is very strong.
Spielberg was the executive producer of the film, and the story of [The Elf] was not intended to be made into a movie, but was bought by Spielberg at a glance.
As a result, there are also critics who see the film as another version of [E.T. Alien].
The only difference is that the small creatures inside lurk in crisis.
Still, having to admire Spielberg's eyesight, the film ended up with a huge commercial success.
The cost of $11 million was exchanged for $153 million at the box office, and the critics continued to praise it.
The following year, the Saturn Award for Best Director, Horror Film, Music, Visual Effects and Supporting Actress was awarded to it.
At the same time, [The Elf] influenced many of the films that followed, and the creatures in [The Goblin] (1986), The Toilet Monster (1985), The Dwarf (1986), and The Naughty Ghost (1988) are all thought to have been inspired by it.
[High Society]
Society (1989)
Director: Brian Juzner
Starring: Billy Voloko / Ivan Richard / Patricia Jennings
Release Date: 1989.5.13 (Cannes Film Festival) / 1992.6.11 (USA)
Runtime: 99 minutes
The film takes a full hour to set the mood for the story, blowing out in the final half hour.
Until the audience's three views were destroyed, they leaned back, fell in their nosebleeds, convulsed and died...
[The upper class] exposes the evil nature of capitalism, which conspires to exploit the people at the bottom and prevails in the unhealthy trend of extravagance and fornication.
It is like eating a living person alive, insensitive, alienated into a demon.
Doctors, judges, and policemen, who symbolize health, justice, and safety, have become monsters that exploit the living.
And his beloved family is also a farmer in the slaughterhouse, cultivating his own flesh and bones and sending it to the table of the magnates.
In the final section of the movie, there is not only the vulgar bridge section of the chrysanthemum as the mouth, but also the scene of the fist reaching into the chrysanthemum and then sticking out of the mouth.
After the launch of the film, it achieved good results in Europe.
But in the United States, it has been completely and utterly coldly received, and the reasons for this are intriguing.
The film is too far ahead of its time.
In the following 30 years, it gradually showed the "magic of fans" and became a cult classic in the hearts of fans.
London's Timeout magazine called a poll of many authors, directors and critics in horror circles in 2010.
The film ranks 78th among the world's top 100 horror films.
[Ghost Baby Return]
Child's Play (1988)
Director: Tom Holland
Starring: Catherine Hex / Chris Sarandon / Alex Vincent
Release date: 1988.11.9
Duration: 87 minutes
Murderous maniac movies are an essential branch of horror movies.
Several murderous maniacs who appeared on the screen in the 1980s have become nightmares in the history of film.
They wander through their respective series of films, basically killing a few innocents "in front of the audience" every year to frighten them.
Over time, however, the audience has long been immune to these humanoid demons.
The horror effect is gone, but the entertainment and funny features have reached a perfect score.
In order to solve this situation and restore the dignity of the murderous horror film, an updated version was born.
It is no longer the mentally ill or the creepy neighbors and gods who kill.
It becomes a commodity that you can buy anytime, anywhere, and it's in your home.
Tom Holland also tells you that it's the doll you gave to your child!
This setting of [Ghost Baby Returns] enriches the dry story and routine plot of the murderous maniac movie.
Without relying on the strange environment, it renders a terrifying effect, and the innocent appearance and evil heart of the doll killer Chachi seem to be opposite, but in fact they are unified.
When you buy a doll that scolds you and you want to remove its battery and find that there is none, will you feel a little cold on your back?
[Moonlight Panic 2]
HalloweenⅡ (1981)
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis / Donald Presons / Charles Syvers
Release date: 1981.10.30
Duration: 92 minutes
[Moonlight Panic] is considered by Carpenter to be a very complete work, and there is no need for a sequel.
However, producers who make a lot of money don't think so.
Three years later, they assembled the original team and filmed [Moonlight Panic 2].
Carpenter said no, but his body was very honest, and even though he refused the director, he still completed the script for the sequel.
The film didn't disappoint.
It inherits the virtues of the first "Moonlight Panic" and carries forward the characteristics of the horror movies of the eighties.
The subjective long shot of the murderer at the beginning of 1979's "Moonlight Panic" stunned the audience.
In this sequel, the iconic subjective long shots still run through the film, combined with Carpenter's unique music, creating a perfect suspenseful atmosphere.
On the other hand, the rise of slash-and-slash movies in the eighties made direct homicide scenes popular.
The murder shot of [Moonlight Panic 2] embodies the creativity of "Death is coming".
If in the first part Michael was still a murderer.
Then in this sequel where he can't beat or kick, his Terminator-like setting makes him a complete "god of death".
[Ghost Playman]
The Evil Dead (1981)
Directed by: Sam Remy
Starring: Bruce Campbell/Ellen Sandwith/Beck
Release date: 1981.10.15
Duration: 85 minutes
At the time of the filming of [Ghostbusters], Sam Remy was only 21 years old.
But it was this hairy boy's debut that became one of the most important works in the history of horror cinema.
The film cost horribly low, and Remy used the cheapest camera when filming.
Even years later, when Remy came to remake it when it became famous, its picture was still full of noise.
But it is also this movie that proves to everyone with real examples:
As long as you have a full imagination, the creator can scare you with even the most rudimentary props.
The story of [Ghost Playman] is very simple, and it is still a routine for a group of young people who are not afraid of death to open their bodies in abandoned wooden houses in the wild.
But horror movies don't care about the story, and in every horror section, [Ghost Playman] is extremely creative.
Even if the cost is extremely low, do not skimp on ketchup.
Remy's bold camera movement brings this pure plasma film to life.
In addition, Remy has not forgotten the unique sense of humor and sexual impulses of young people.
Under such a mixture of horror, humor, and eroticism, [ghost playing people] became the gods in the minds of young people at that time.
It has also become the most representative low-budget horror film.
[Soul Search]
Altered States (1980)
Director: Ken Russell
Starring: William Hurt / Blair Brown / Bob Balaban
Release date: 1980.12.25
Duration: 102 minutes
While most horror movies were obsessed with spraying large amounts of ketchup to get the audience happy, Ken Russell had already gone to the other side.
Legend has it that Kubrick's [2001: A Space Odyssey] sold well because hippies in the sixties liked to smoke marijuana while watching the film's final space shuttle.
Well, if [Soul Search] were released in the sixties, it would have created the highest box office in film history.
The screenplay for the film is adapted from a novel by Chayevsky, the screenwriter of [TV Storm].
Originally a satire on the hypocrisy of scientists, it became a horrible stick in Russell's hands.
Scientists study the heterogeneous space of human consciousness, eventually sinking deeper and deeper, even at the expense of finding the most powerful potion to achieve the best results.
Russell didn't want to explain too much in the realm of consciousness, and threw a "love" word at the end
His mind was all devoted to how to manifest the heterogeneous space of consciousness.
When scientists finally knock on the door of consciousness, the film shows images that directly exceed your visual threshold, bringing you not only emotional fear, but also physical direct stimulation.
You will tremble with fear, and then some desire will arise in your heart:
No, I'm going to watch that paragraph again, don't stop me.
What was your most terrifying experience?