The 80’s didn’t hold much back. If you were going to do anything, you did it big. This attitude was never more present than in the horror films of this great decade. From giant space slugs to murderous werewolves, these are the top monster flicks that are a must watch for any fan of 80’s horror.

Deadly Friend (1986)

What starts out as a seemingly innocent movie about a young man and his robot takes a dark turn when the young boy plays God. When his next door neighbor Samantha dies, he uses a chip from his robot to bring her back to life. The result is a bit less than sweet as she begins eating and murdering people around them. Much like his classic Last House on the Left, Wes Craven manages to mix the sweet and sincere with overly grotesque and outrageous concepts.

C.H.U.D. (1984)

The sewers have been the home to many pop culture creatures throughout the years: alligators, vampires, and even adolescent turtles skilled in martial arts. But none of them have been nearly as scary or as ridiculous as the mutated freaks that feast on unsuspecting New Yorkers in C.H.U.D. Who could have guessed that a movie created around these silly cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers could have turned out so awfully great? In fact, its popularity is still thriving today, with movie marathons featuring the film on the El Rey Network on DTV.

Alligator (1980)

Have you heard the rumors about the alligators that thrive deep in your city sewers? The cult classic Alligator shows you what it’s really like down there. The film centers on an alligator that was flushed down a toilet and lives by eating anything it can find in the sewer, which is usually dogs or rats discarded by a lab doing growth hormone research. Consequently, this feast of lab animals causes the alligator to mutate and gain an insatiable appetite. Like any other horror movie, this creature starts to devour human flesh, causing chaos and fear to the people of Chicago.

The Deadly Spawn (1983)

When you think of aliens from outer space invading the Earth, you naturally picture them as giant slugs that want to eat our faces off. At least, this is what The Deadly Spawn has led us to believe. This alien invasion story follows a group of teenagers as they discover the extraterrestrial threat and work to nullify it. Although this can be classified as a science fiction film, the over-the-top gore and death scenes land it squarely in B-horror territory.

The Howling (1981)

Although it seems that vampires and zombies are taking over the horror genre today, werewolves have definitely been truly terrifying cinematic creatures. The film follows a television news anchor who stumbles upon a colony of werewolves. Unfortunately, they do not need the help of a full moon to transform. After her husband is bit and becomes one of them, we discover a bloody violent mayhem that influenced seven other sequels and reboots, making The Howling a cult classic.