A Nightmare on Elm Street

Freddy Krueger is such an iconic bad guy, and if you wanted to see a young Johnny Depp before he just started playing Johnny Depp in various roles, this is a good chance. This one definitely is not a pure B-horror film, but it has some of those elements because of the time it was created and just how it’s aged. It still have a wonderfully terrifying slasher in it, and it hits on that peak slasher feel. Probably my favorite slasher franchise out there.

Hellraiser

I think what is so interesting to me about this one is the premise. This idea of people putting themselves through torture to feel basically, and this puzzle box and really Pinhead just make it an iconic horror film. The first one, especially does a good job of not just being about the world of the Cenobites but about the people who go there, eventually it becomes a bit more about the world and about the torture as you watch through the series, but overall quite enjoyable and interesting.

Friday the 13th

Another one that spawned a franchise, you think about the iconic character of Jason Voorhees, but he isn’t actually the villain in the first one. This is one that it’s been a while since I’ve watched it, but I need to go back and see it again. But it is one of the iconic horror films, and really spun out not only it’s on franchise but so many others that have that camp as the backdrop as well as a very good episode of Psych.

Re-Animator

This is a B-movie through and through based loosely off of Lovecraftian lore, and Frankenstien-esque monster, it is about a man who decides to bring someone back to life. Another series that it’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I remember it fondly as some glorious horror fun that isn’t too horrific and falls more in the line of just an interesting idea and B-execution and a good time. The main character portrayal is amazing as well, Jeffrey Combs is great as Herbert West and in that B movie role.

Sleepaway Camp

I don’t know that I’d as highly recommend this one as some. When I talk about how Friday the 13th spawned some other films, this is one. I think that this one, as compared to others on the list, takes itself a bit more seriously. With that said, it was well done film with a twist at the end, which I don’t know if it was shocking, I kind of figured it out, but it was interesting, though fairly well lead up to.

The Evil Dead

Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell.

If you need more reason than that, this movie is just a classic B-Horror film, it blends in a lot of horror with comedy as well. As compared to other of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell’s work together, this one is a whole lot more about the gore and horror than future installments. Still, The Evil Dead is one of the iconic 80’s horror films and worth checking out.

Gremlins

I feel like Gremlins is another amazing horror trope, where you get something that looks maybe a little bit cute, or at least not dangerous and then something happens and everything goes insane. Which of course is wonderfully fun, and as I’m looking at it, so many of these spawned franchises, whether or not any of the sequels were that great, but definitely checkout Gremlins for a weird spin on a creature feature.

They Live

Is this horror, kind of, but ultimately I would say that this is a wonderfully dystopian 80’s story with some horror elements, kind of in line with something like Soylent Green (which was from the 70’s so not on this list). They Live is just incredibly B as the try and pull in a popular wrestler to do some acting, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and while his performance isn’t horrible, this film is just all over the place and so much fun. It has several iconic scenes for something that critically can’t be called that good.

Now, there are a lot of great other horror films out there from the 80’s that are much more actual horror that I could talk about. These are just some of the weirder and what I would call iconic Halloween ones. While horror always gets associated with Halloween, these are the ones that people so often talk about. What are some of your favorite Halloween horror films, not the ones that are amazing horror but that blend that goofiness of Halloween together with the dark side of Halloween?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

So what makes those characters so Iconic and more, like Pinhead from the Hellraiser films, Pennywise from IT, etc?

I think that the starting spot is the look. Michael Myers has his mask, Voorhees his hockey mask, Freddy Krueger his gloves, and more. Each of these slashers or monsters has their very specific look to them and that’s going to make it stick out in your head more and be more memorable. And while there was something that it stick out in memories, they weren’t extremely over the top in their outfits with the exception of Hellraiser and Pinhead, but even his was more muted in tones. I think something that feels reasonable makes it stand out more with the parts that aren’t reasonable.

I think that a lot of them too hit about the right time for something like that. If you look at the iconic horror movie slashers, Halloween was made in 1978, Friday the 13th was made in 1980, A Nightmare on Elm Street was made in 1984. There was a peak time for these horror films that really made them stick out. Now, what the reason for that is, I’m not sure. But there is something about the 80’s horror icons that really stand out compared to a lot of the newer ones. It’s tough to put your finger on it, but I think the newer ones either go too light, in that they are shooting for a PG/PG-13 rating or delve too much into the R rating. The 80’s horror films definitely have horror, but there is some bit of camp to them.

And I would say that’s another thing, and might be why it works from the 80’s and less so now. But the movies having camp to them just a bit, makes it more iconic as well. It can’t be an intentionally campy movie. If it’s too obvious that the movie is trying to be campy, the slasher might get recognized for a little bit, but generally the movies don’t have as much staying power. None of the big three, or even the earlier Hellraiser films (later ones intentionally campy) are attempting to be campy, there is just something about them that allows them to blend horror and that campiness really well. I think some of it is budget, and I think some of it is technology. No matter how large budget or how much effort they put into making it feel horrific, it was never going to look like real life, so it was always going to be just a little bit off, which oddly enough, I think makes them stand the test of time and be memorable.

I think the final question to ask, and I’m not sure I know the answer to this, would it be possible for there to be a modern iconic slasher. Now, there have been good modern horror slasher films, and a lot of bad ones, and don’t think that in the 80’s there aren’t a lot of bad ones as well, but what would it take and would it be possible, to have a modern horror slasher film spawn a series the way that Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween have? And even those iconic ones as remakes really didn’t capture the same feel. The closest that I can see are the Saw films. Though, I’m not sure that I consider Jigsaw to be a slasher, but that started with a kind of absurd premise that took itself seriously, but overall couldn’t be actually taken that seriously. And even with those, I feel like Jigsaw wasn’t the iconic piece to it, like Freddy or Jason on to their franchises, but it was the traps and the puzzle horror.

So, what are your thoughts, what makes in iconic slasher? Is it possible to have an iconic slasher created like we had with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers again?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.