A Glean movie guide
The Golden Age of Horror
From slashers to supernatural chills.
Essential, iconic, and terrifying films that defined the 1980s.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Shining
Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece remains the definitive psychological descent into madness.
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
- 02
The Thing
John Carpenter’s sci-fi nightmare features some of the most impressive practical effects in cinema history.
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
- 03
A Nightmare on Elm Street
This genre-defining slasher introduced the world to the terrifying, dream-stalking Freddy Krueger.
Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...
- 04
The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi’s low-budget debut is a masterclass in relentless, inventive, and visceral horror.
In 1979, a group of college students find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented for a weekend getaway.
- 05
Poltergeist
Produced by Steven Spielberg, this film perfectly captures the terror of a suburban home turned upside down.
The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.
- 06
The Fly
David Cronenberg delivers a tragic and gruesome exploration of body horror that is impossible to forget.
When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.
- 07
An American Werewolf in London
This film expertly balances dark humor with a groundbreaking transformation sequence that still holds up.
American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.
- 08
Hellraiser
Clive Barker’s directorial debut introduced the iconic Cenobites and a unique, dark mythology.
A hedonistic man finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons a group of gruesome beings known as the Cenobites. These otherworldly entities open the doors to a dominion where pain and pleasure are indivisible.
- 09
Friday the 13th
A foundational slasher that launched one of the most enduring and influential franchises in horror.
Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.
- 10
The Lost Boys
The quintessential 80s vampire film, blending cool aesthetics with genuine supernatural thrills.
When an unsuspecting town newcomer is drawn to local blood fiends, the Frog brothers and other unlikely heroes gear up to rescue him.