1980s vrs All Other Decades for Horror

[meezookeewee]

Looking at what each decade had to offer, I would personally say that the 80s were no better than any other decade. While you certainly had some top-notch horror films in the 80s, just about as much crap films were released at the same time, and the 80s also introduced for horror movies, sequels. There may have been sequels to horror movies in the decades prior to 1980, but it was in the 80s that the sequel became prevalent. Look at Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday The 13. Unfortunately, the quality of said sequels were....random at best. You had some good sequels, and you had some really bad ones. I think what was most important about the 80s for horror movies, were special effects. Take John Carpenter's The Thing for example: Completely practical special effects that still stand up today. Same thing with Street Trash. The visual effects still work, even though it's a cheesy-ass film. Looking back, to me, I wouldn't necessarily say the 80s was the best decade for horror, but more in terms how those movies were made. John Carpenter's The Thing raised the bar for visual effects, and no other horror movie has come close to matching what Rob Bottin did for that film. But in terms of storytelling, it's basically been a roller coaster ride for the past 20 years. You have some movies that manage to actually tell a decent story, while not skimping out on the gore. Saw comes to mind, and while they went overboard with six sequels, the first film did a good job telling a decent story while delivering the red stuff. Most of the horror films during the 80s, didn't really care for that, it was more about who was going to die next and how. For me, there is NO definitive decade for horror. Each decade has it's fair share of treasure as well as trash. To say that one decade was better than another, for me, it's not very accurate. The 80s was The decade of the Slasher and monster movies. The 90s: The supernatural, with films like In The Mouth of Madness, Sleepy Hollow, and Night of the Demons. 00s: Torture/Re-make films. Each decade seems to have a particular theme, and that's not always a bad thing. But for some, like me, a decade doesn't necessarily mean all of the 80s or 90s, but rather a ten-year period between two decades. For me, some of the best horror films were made between 1985 and 1995, like Aliens, Evil Dead II, Near Dark, Tremors, Bram Stoker's Dracula and In The Mouth of Madness. That's my two cents.