The Eighties were a very vivid time to be in if you were a fan of horror movies. We recount the 6 greatest horror movie icons of the era that shaped the entire genre.
Audrey II
To be honest the flesh eating plant was even creepier than Steve Martin’s Orin Scrivello D.D.S in Little Shop of Horrors. Audrey II had a mesmerizing voice. She sang her way into the heart of Seymour Krelborn. The flesh eating plant also ended up almost bringing down an alien invasion and personally led to a series of deaths. In the Director’s Cut, Audrey II was responsible for plants taking over the Earth and ending human civilization as we know it. Rick Moranis played Seymour while Ellen Greene played the first, not evil Audrey. The movie was a bomb but it had its fair share of moments.
Michael Myers
Without 1978’s Halloween and its antagonist Michael Myers, the horror genre would have never been the same. A creepy pale white mask wearing adult stalking teenagers became the template for literally every horror slasher movie that came in the 1980’s and 1990’s. 2018’s Halloween was a huge success, only adding to the fame of Michael Myers.
Jerry Dandrige
What’s your greatest fear? Is it heights, small spaces, or the dark? Maybe spiders or snakes? As social animals, our greatest fear is being stuck with a bad neighbor. If that neighbor is a blood sucking vampire with a score to settle with you, then you are in for one hell of a surprise. That was the predicament that befell Charley Brewster in 1985’s Fright Night. Charley sees a young and handsome neighbor that has just moved into the neighborhood, kill a woman and drink her blood. He knows Jerry Dandrige is trouble and he needs to stop him. But to do so, he would need the help of horror TV Show host Peter Vincent.
Pinhead
Pinhead debuted in the 1987 horror cult classic Hellraiser. Pinhead is the creation of Clive Barker, a genius of the horror genre. He is the leader of the demonic cenobite race. When Frank Cotton escapes hell, Pinhead and his henchmen come to Earth to retrieve him, spreading sadomasochistic horror along the way. The villain was never named in the first movie. The moniker “Pinhead” was given to him by the fans. They were the ones who came up with that name. Pinhead has appeared in 10 movies till now in the Hellraiser franchise. HBO is even making a series centering on the Cenobite race and their leader.
The Thing
The 1982 John Carpenter movie has the most polarizing conclusion of all time. We can all agree though that the movie’s horrifying alien villain is one of the creepiest antagonists of all time. The movie is set in Antarctica, with a group of researchers encountering an extra-terrestrial alien that can take the form of any one of them. The movie has some of the greatest practical effects to have been ever utilized for a movie, thanks to Robert Bottin and team. The villain looks even more terrifying because Carpenter heightened the tension with every passing scene coupled with some stellar performances by the movie’s cast.
Freddy Kreuger
Freddy Kreuger is the most famous horror movie icon of the 1980’s. With his razor sharp claws and his burned face, Kreuger used dreams to slip into the minds of unsuspecting bystanders and kill them in their sleep. Wes Craven’s brainchild started as one of the scariest and creepiest movie characters before becoming an evil trickster. Freddy Kreuger is truly a cultural icon. They don’t make it like them anymore.
