Horror Films: 1983

Updated on December 17, 2008 By Ken Begg 10 Comments

Wow, busiest year yet.

The Tops

Dead Zone: Of dozens and dozens of Stephen King adaptations, this is one of the handful of great ones. A seminal role for Christopher Walken. David Cronenberg’s most mainstream film until The Fly.

The Evil Dead: You’ve probably never heard of it, but it’s pretty good.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: The two kiddies leads sadly suck; had this film starred Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix circa Stand By Me, it would be an all-time classic. Still, it’s easily the film that comes closest to capturing the feel of Ray Bradbury, offers a typically great Jason Robards, Jr. and even Pam Grier, and introduced Jonathon Price in a perfect role. It also happens to contain what is probably one of my ten favorite movie scenes ever.

Endearingly Bad: Amityville 3-D; The Beyond (haven’t seen it, but Steve Billip’s word is good enough for me); Jaws 3-D; Piranha Part 2: The Spawning (James Cameron’s first directorial efforts, starring Lance Henriksen, and some damn goofy flying fish…a bit too gross for my taste, though);

Others: The Being (this cheapie flick once OWNED cable TV—don’t ask me why); Christine (pretty good, not great); The Entity (infamous woman raped by ghost movies, stars Barbara Hershey); The Keep (DEFINITELY made in the ’80s); The Lift (best Dutch killer elevator movie ever); Mortuary (typical slasher fare, starring the young Bill Paxton); Nightmares (goofy horror anthology film starring Lance Henriksen—if you ever wanted to see Emilio Estavez imperiled by a video game, this is the flick for you); Of Unknown Origin (another one-time cable staple; featuring Peter Weller fighting a very large rat…although the actually giant rats were in Nightmares); One Dead Night (Meg Tilly and Adam West…yes, Adam West); Psycho II (a bit over the top, but pretty good, and our second Meg Tilly movie in a row), Sleepaway Camp (best known for hilarious WTF ending, but again, way too gross for my tastes); Spasms (another cable mainstay—it was the times, my friend—featuring a giant snakes, gratuitous nudity, and an even more gratuitous Oliver Reed); Ten to Midnight (nasty Dirty Harry meets slasher movie film starring Charles Bronson); Twilight Zone the Movie (John Landis caused the deaths of three people for this? The last part is good, though);

I Haven’t Seen: A Blade in the Dark (Lamberto Bava); Boogeyman II; Cujo (big year for Stephen King adaptations); Curtains; The Final Terror (biggest Before They Were Stars slasher ever: Adrian Zmed, Daryl Hannah, Rachel Ward, Joe Pantoliano); The Hunger (best known for famous lesbian scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon); Night Warning; Pieces (very gross slasher); Sole Survivor; Videodrome (yes, I haven’t seen it…mea culpa); X-tro (gory killer alien flick).

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  • BeckoningChasm

    I wish, wish, wish that “Something Wicked” had been better than it was. One of my favorite books, and there were some brilliant scenes in the film, but that FX-filled ending kind of, well, deflated it a bit. Took out the poetry and put in the Spielberg.

    And I think “Dead Zone” remains Cronenberg’s best film, though I haven’t seen anything he’s done in recent years.

    “XTro” works best as a promo reel for the effects house that did the creatures, etc. It doesn’t really work as a film.

  • Not-So-Great Cthulhu

    Some of my own thoughts (on the off chance they’re actually necessary to the continued survival of the universe):

    The Evil Dead: Despite not liking this the first time I saw it (which is strange because I love it now), I was still able to realize that Sam Raimi was immensely talented.

    Something Wicked This Way Comes: I think I really need to read this story. Greatly enjoyed the movie in my youth.

    The Beyond: I’ve seen the butchered version of this called “7 Doors of Death”, which wasn’t very good. The general consensus seems to be that this is one of Fulci’s best (if not the best) films. Quite a bit of Italian (or perhaps European) horror from this era (not sure if it persists today) seemed to focus more on imagery rather than narrative plot, which led to movies that had a very dream-like quality to them. I haven’t seen a great deal of Fulci’s output, but the few that I have seen (Gates of Hell & House by the Cemetary) definitely follow this trend.

    Amityville 3-D: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    Piranah Part 2: The hell?

    The Being: More like The Bore. And yet it’s still better than drivel like the remake of The Fog.

    The Keep: I haven’t the faintest idea how F. Paul Wilson’s novel turned into this movie. But on that note, I’d recommend the novel (although be warned that it’s an early one by Wilson and his writing is still fairly rough).

    Of Unknown Origin: I rather enjoyed this.

    Psycho II: Not Hitchcock, but not bad, either.

    Twilight Zone the Movie: Meh…

    Videodrome: If I ever had an acid trip, it just might look like this. Seriously, it’s a great flick. You should definitely check it out sometime, Mr. Begg.

    X-tro: Gory, yes. Rather bizarre, too. Somehow typical of at least one flavor (or is that flavour?)of British sci-fi, though, in that it’s a mixture of science fiction and horror.

  • fish eye no miko

    Dead Zone: Great flick. And featured Martin Sheen as a presidential hopeful years before The West Wing. ^_^

    The Evil Dead: You’ve probably never heard of it, but it’s pretty good. That’s a joke, right…?

    The Beyond: OOh, another Fulci movie!

    Psycho II: I watched this and seem to recall it being pretty good. Another possible rental…

    Sleepaway Camp: I know the plot twist, I know the plot twiiiist…

  • Trident

    Hi Ken,

    Although i loathe political correctness and i don’t care about the mistake, i should let you know that i’m Dutch and “The Lift” is actually the best *Dutch* killer-elevator movie ever, not the best Danish killer-elevator movie.
    Just thought i’d mention it.

  • Trident

    P.S. Ken, of all the movies you mentioned you hadn’t seen, i can recommend both “Videodrome” and “Cujo”.

    Videodrome because it’s a real WTF movie; very early Cronenberg-esque and starring the always great James Woods.

    Cujo because i don’t think a dog has ever been scarier on film. It’s really intense (at least in the second half). Although the book is better.

  • David Fullam

    Mike Mann and Paramount need to quit their feud and get The Keep out on DVD already. If not, they will be hurt severely by your’s truly.

    Something Wicked, despite some good performances from the adult leads, is a really good cure for insomnia.

  • BeckoningChasm

    “The Keep” is one of those movies that I like without being able to say why. There are tons and tons of “Hang on a second, that doesn’t make sense!” and “How can that happen?” moments, but overall it just kind of works. That floating cloud-brain is almost poetic. (I have it on widescreen laserdisk.)

    F. Paul Wilson apparently hated the film, saying that the book was “raped.” If you want to see a movie he supports, watch (if you can) “Midnight Mass,” or as it’s known round these parts, “that boring, terrible, smelly thing.”

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Pieces–the same year that guy brought out his magnum opus, Pod People. I guess it’s considered sci-fi despite the alien judo-chopping so many people to death. I own PP and Slugs but I haven’t seen this one.

    Cujo–Considering your oft-professed love of large dogs I’m surprised you haven’t seen this, Mr. Begg. Fairly close adaptation of the many storyline without most of the subplots of the novel. The novel’s better, but that should be no surprise. Still, this is easily one of the better King movies. That dog is definitely frightening.

    Ten to Midnight–our ABC affiliate would play harder-edged (albeit edited) movies later at night on Fridays or Saturdays (don’t remember now). I remember this being one of them, although I didn’t catch it. I did, however, see Red Sonja in that time slot, as well as…

    Piranha 2: I haven’t seen P2 in ages…but even at the young age I saw it, I was laughing my ass off at that movie. Except for one certain shock scene, which did indeed make me jump…until I realized that even these superfish probably couldn’t stay out of the water THAT long…

    Something Wicked–was glad I’d read the book first. Still a fine movie, but like everyone else says, it could’ve been better.

    Nightmares–man that thing is rancid. The first two segments are crap, and the last two are all right but not enough to make up for everything else.

    Of Unknown Origin–I see nothing but positive opinions of this movie. I really need to see it, I guess.

  • David Fullam

    ““The Keep” is one of those movies that I like without being able to say why. There are tons and tons of “Hang on a second, that doesn’t make sense!” and “How can that happen?” moments, but overall it just kind of works. That floating cloud-brain is almost poetic. (I have it on widescreen laserdisk.)”

    The Keep is something, that to be blunt, is very important to me, it’s failure to get a DVD release irks me mightily. One of these days I’m going to tackle the film and my feelings on it in my blog. I know that Mann was angered at the fact that his cut never came out, but the film is still mesmerizing to me, and also unique in that it deals more with evil vs. Evil (Molasar vs. the SS Troopers). Simply beautiful, I watch it on You Tube a lot now. The Cloud Molasar sequence, scored to “Gloria” by Tangerine Dream is one of the most stunning movie moments ever. And Big Daddy Molasar is one of my most beloved horror heroes. A German Expressionistic film in color, with TG providing the score, I love it and always will.

  • PCachu

    Alas, my mental wiring being what it is, the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of “Something Wicked This Way Comes” is this…