Goregirl’s TOP 10 Favourite Horror Films From 1987
#10 STAGEFRIGHT
Directed By: Michele Soavi
By no means does Soavi reinvent the wheel, but he definitely adds his own unique filming flair to Stage Fright. It’s easy to see the Argento influence. The theatre setting is a solid location for a massacre with its shadowed corners and hidden places. The production value and excellent direction from Soavi definitely elevates this film above many a slasher. To read the review click here.
#9 OPERA
Directed By: Dario Argento
The idea of tying someone up, covering their mouth and taping needles under their eyes so they are forced to watch brutal death is pretty dastardly but letting your victim free only to do it again is extra sadistic. Leave it to Argento to come up with such a wonderfully twisted idea! The film is well paced and felt much shorter than its running time and Opera’s visuals alone are easily worth the price of admission. Opera is a flawed but entertaining flick. To read the review click here.
#8 PSYCHOS IN LOVE
Directed By: Gorman Bechard
Psychos In Love is cheap, silly and charming in a mildly sleazy way. Two daft but likeable serial killers are brought together through their hatred for grapes. This movie is just silly fun and has some hammy and highly entertaining site gags and one-liners that gave me a hearty chuckle. I have my guest reviewer Scott Shoyer to thank for introducing me to this fun, low-budget horror comedy. To read his review click here.
#7 THE HIDDEN
Directed By: Jack Sholder
The Hidden is a genre stew covering Sci-fi, action, horror, comedy and buddy flicks all in one wonderfully wacky package. The local cop played by Michael Nouri is teamed up with an FBI agent played by Kyle MacLachlan and the two have great chemistry. Highly entertaining plot, action-packed, fast-paced fun!
#6 BLOOD DINER
Directed By: Jackie Kong
Some might say rip-off, but I say Blood Diner is a highly entertaining tribute to Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast. How could I not love a film with a character that is just a brain and eyeballs in a jar? How can I not appreciate deep-fried hooker? Cheap, cheesy, gory and ridiculous site gags that made me laugh my fool head off. Did I mention the topless aerobic class? So bad it’s awesome!
#5 ANGEL HEART
Directed By: Alan Parker
I was a huge fan of Mickey Rourke’s in the 80’s and rewatching Angel Heart reminded me why. He is just awesome as the films central character, sexy, sleazy and troubled Harry Angel. Not to be out done Robert Deniro also turns in a deviliously outstanding performance. A beautifully shot film with a captivating story that oozes atmosphere. Brilliant!
#4 NEAR DARK
Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow
Near Dark is a beautiful, bloody vampire road picture with more intelligence and balls than most. Perfectly cast with an intriguing story, serious intensity and some magnificent moments of violence. These vampires are badass, dirty and nasty as hell and have one goal, to survive. One of the most interesting and original vampire films ever made. To read the review click here.
#3 BAD TASTE
Directed By: Peter Jackson
Bad Taste boasts a most impressive amount of gore. There is brain and vomit eating, nasty head trauma, exploding sheep, entrail fondling, and tons of splatter. People die in various disgusting ways and it is all hysterically funny! Most of the humour is visual and relies heavily on the aforementioned gore. The effects are cheap and cheesy but effectively disgust and amuse. Low budget filmmaking at its silly best! To read the review click here.
#2 HELLRAISER
Directed By: Clive Barker
Hellraiser brought the world some of the greatest nightmare-inducing creatures to grace celluloid! A fascinating story, full of sexuality, deceit and dread with unforgettable images of gore and carnage. Strong performances and a wicked soundtrack up the ante. This film blows my mind! “No tears, please. It’s a waste of good suffering.”
#1 EVIL DEAD 2
Directed By: Sam Raimi
Evil Dead 2 is basically a remake of the original injected with considerable humour and some of the best site gags to ever grace a horror-comedy. Wicked effects and make-up, gunfire pacing and one action packed scene after another makes Evil Dead 2 a re-watchable timeless classic. Plus, Bruce Campbell was fucking hot and manly and his smart-assed, ass-kicking attitude made me love this film that much more.
Here are the rest of the films that made the shortlist: It’s Alive 3, Prince Of Darkness, Aenigma, Delirium, The Gate, The Stepfather, Dolls, The Monster Squad, The Believers
GOREGIRL'S DUNGEON 
July 28, 2010 at 7:48 am
I remember dragging a bunch of friends to the theater to see HELLRAISER on opening night. After reading Clive Barker’s fiction for a year or two at that point I knew we’d be in for a real horror flick–and I was not wrong! In fact, it rather ruined me for a lot of comedic/mainstream horror films for quite some time. Don’t think I saw EVIL DEAD II until a few years later, but fortunately by then I found it awesome as well. NEAR DARK I recall liking a lot as well, especially the massacre in the redneck bar to the tune of “Fever” by the Cramps…
July 28, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Will E. -I hadn’t read any Clive Barker before seeing Hellraiser and it completely blindsided me! I don’t think EPIC would be too strong here. Really, Evil Dead 2 and Hellraiser share equal parts of my heart and should both be in the #1 spot!
Near Dark’s bar scene is bad-ass. My parents bought me the soundtrack for my b-day or x-mas and I remember being disappointed The Cramps weren’t on it. The Tangerine Dream soundtrack did grow on me though.
July 28, 2010 at 8:08 am
Boy, I remember Bad Taste, or I think I do. Alien fastfood, right? That was my first introduction to British horror-comedy. Puts in mind of another more recent movie… Bad Aliens. It had a kind of tabloid humor (You’ll see what I mean if you watch it. heh)
The only movie I can agree with you on is The Hidden. I didn’t really like it. I would have inserted The Gate or Monstersquad in there instead. Though I heard they’re remaking Monstersquad (and they should all be hunted down and kicked in the nards for such sacrilege).
July 28, 2010 at 10:12 am
Yep….Alien Fast food! Hilarious. Do you mean EVIL ALIENS? Opens with a nasty anal probe? Reality show goes to remote island, yadda, yadda, yadda. I really like that one! I like all three films I’ve seen from that director (Jake West).
Not a fan of The Hidden? I appreciated this one much more as an adult than I did when I was a teenager. It is REALLY dated though! It screams 80’s! I wanted to show a little love for the motherland and include The Gate (one of very few Canadian horror films), but I just didn’t enjoy it that much on a recent watch. I enjoyed Monster Squad much more, tons of fun! I definitely struggled with whether or not to include it. Another remake????! Bloody hell! The remakes are really getting out of control! I couldn’t agree more…they should be hunted down and kicked in the NARDS!
July 28, 2010 at 9:54 am
This might be a dumb question, but is there a place that lists all the horror movies released in a given year? I was wanting to do something like this for my blog but am having a hard time finding a list of movies to watch from a given year. I figured if anyone would know it would be you. This is my first time visiting the blog, but it is excellent, and I am now a follower. Nice work here!
July 28, 2010 at 10:27 am
Gory greetings Branden! Thanks for the props. I’ve been keeping rated lists of every films I’ve seen for many years, so I have a lot of info to work from. But for complete year lists IMDB is the place to go. If you go to the bottom of the page and click search, you’ll get an advanced search option where you can search by year, genre etc.
July 28, 2010 at 10:36 am
Yeah, Evil Aliens! That’s it. I love the scene where they were chasing the aliens through the fields with the thresher or combine or whatever the heck it was and parodied the “Brand New Key” song. It’s one of those “so tasteless it’s awesome” kind of movies. Making the dialect of the island farmers intentionally incomprehensible was a master stroke, I thought, since indie British movie accents can sometimes be hard to decipher.
July 28, 2010 at 11:40 am
Thanks goregirl! I was at imdb.com before trying to find this, and I KNEW that site would be my key, I just wasn’t sure how to get it how I wanted. That has worked, and I thank you very much. I’m excited to get watching the ones I have missed.
July 29, 2010 at 10:10 am
Great screenshots as always goregirl! I agree with the ones I’ve seen but Near Dark is one of my all time faves so I’d put that straight to number 1.
Evil Dead II is fantastic – love it. Hellraiser remains one of the most frightening films I’ve seen.
The Hidden has been added to my list of films I must see.
July 29, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Loving Evil Dead 2 at number 1. I haven’t seen all of these… haven’t even heard of 6 to 10 I don’t think.
I will say I’m not a huge fan of Near Dark. It was good not great but I think that’s cuz it didn’t age too well and I only saw it a couple years back. That might be a film I’d be okay remaking. Great concept.
July 31, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Evil Dead 2 is just perfect…and as I mentioned, me had giant crush on Mr. Campbell!
Kai! NO! NO! No remake of Near Dark please!
July 30, 2010 at 6:14 am
There’s a few flicks in there that I still haven’t seen even though I have them in my collection. That Blood Diner really looks like something I’ve got to track down. Brains in jars are always good times!
July 31, 2010 at 3:09 pm
WILL….you absolutely, positively need to see BLOOD DINER! It’s unofficially known as Blood Feast 2, but HG LEWIS did his own version in 2002 Blood Feast 2: All You can Eat…which is also freaking awesome! Definitely put both on your list. I think you would really appreciate both of these flicks.
September 14, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Evil Dead 2’s my #1 of all-time, really need to quit slacking and see Near Dark & Bad Taste already. Awesome year.
September 15, 2010 at 6:04 pm
I am posting a ridiculously long review of Evil Dead 1 &2. EV2 is the best horror-comedy ever made. 23 years later only one films has even come close and that is Dead Alive (aka Braindead). Almost brings a wee tear to my eye it’s so fucking good!
Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste is outrageous, I love it, but it’s not quite as good as Dead Alive. Near Dark is essential viewing, Bill Paxton is awesome in this film.
April 18, 2011 at 5:09 am
Quick question, or thoughts…2 of my most beloved series also are Subspecies, and Trancers. I loved those, I wish they did more subspecies. I really think they could have done a whole lot with that series. Trancers was just fun and silly.