The 30 scariest 80s horror movies

By Will Salmon
published

1. The Shining (1980)

The scary movie: Stephen King may have disowned Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of his novel, but we stand by it as one of the most elegant horror films ever made. Jack Nicholson plays the alcoholic writer who sets up camp with his family at the Overlook Hotel during off-season, only to go, well, a bit mad.

Hide behind a cushion when: You'll need that cushion a lot. There's the bit with the twins, the bit with the elevator, the bit with the lady in the bathtub. Hell, even that retina-frying red bathroom sets our nerves tickin'.

Will Salmon
Will Salmon
Comics Editor

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape – yes, really.

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