A quick rundown of some scary movies coming to movie theaters soon include . Full details for those new movies and more you can find here .
Page 1 of 4 Total Pages
List of horror movies released in 1981 list sorted by popular, most voted, and alphabetical order. Check out which movie was the top grossing movie of 1981.
Plot / Synopsis: An unknown killer, clad in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small New Jersey town bent on reliving a 35 year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual Spring Dance.
Tagline: You don't need a chainsaw to have a massacre. (1984 re-release as "Pitchfork Massacre")...
Director: Joseph Zito Stars: Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney, Farley Granger, Cindy Weintraub
Plot / Synopsis: Four teenage friends spend the night in a carnival funhouse and are stalked by a deformed man in a Frankenstein mask.
Tagline: Something is alive in the funhouse...something that has the form of a human, but not the face...something that feeds off the flesh and blood of young innocents...
Director: Tobe Hooper Stars: Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson, Jeanne Austin, Jack McDermott, Cooper Huckabee
Plot / Synopsis: Enterprising local news anchor Jane Harris discovers that one of her neighbors is actually the serial killer/rapist who has been terrorizing the city. Jane must prove her suspicions before the killer gets to her.
Tagline: Sorry, your party is dead...
Director: Ken Wiederhorn Stars: Lauren Tewes, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John DiSanti, Peter DuPre, Gwen Lewis
Plot / Synopsis: Five campers arrive in the mountains to examine some property they have bought, but are warned by the...
Tagline: Will Anyone Survive Those Hours Just Before Dawn?...
Director: Jeff Lieberman Stars: George Kennedy, Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry, Deborah Benson
Plot / Synopsis: Mrs. Voorhees is dead, and Camp Crystal Lake is shut down, but a camp next to the infamous place is stalked by an unknown assailant. Is it Mrs. Voorhees' son Jason, who did not really drown in the lake some 30 years before?
Tagline: 2x The Fear...2x The Carnage...2x The Terror! (Deluxe Edition DVD)...
Director: Steve Miner Stars: Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King, Kirsten Baker, Stuart Charno
Plot / Synopsis: A janitor at a summer camp is accidently burned severely from a prank. Years later, he is released from an institute, and returns to the camp with a pair of hedge clippers to take revenge on the campers.
Tagline: Gather Around the Campfire to Die!...
Director: Tony Maylam Stars: Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, Jason Alexander
Plot / Synopsis: Two generations of men find themselves haunted by the presence of a spectral woman. When the son of one of the elderly men returns to his hometown after his brother's mysterious death, they attempt to unravel her story.Tagline: The time has come to tell the tale...
Director: John Irvin Stars: Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Houseman, Craig Wasson
Plot / Synopsis: A New York cop investigates a series of brutal deaths that resemble animal attacks.Tagline: It will tear the scream from your throat...
Director: Michael Wadleigh Stars: Albert Finney, Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines, Tom Noonan
Plot / Synopsis: Valentine's Day is coming around and the young people of the small mining town of Valentine's BLuffs are organising a party. A few decades earlier an explosion at the mine trapped six miners underground. One, Harry Warden, survived, though in a deranged state. Warden is sent to a mental hospital but escapes and murders those he deems responsible for...
Director: George Mihalka Stars: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, Keith Knight, Alf Humphreys
Plot / Synopsis: Psychological and Supernatural drama/horror. Wife is suspecting husband's infidelity since arrival of their young housekeeper who carries a mysterious wooden doll with herself...
Director: Young Nam Ko Stars: Il-bong Yun, Yeong-ae Kim, Ki-seon Lee, Hye-ri Han
Plot / Synopsis: A suspense horror film set in a small coastal town where, after a series of gory murders commited by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses begin to come back to life.
Tagline: The writers of alien... ...bring a new terror to earth...
Director: Gary Sherman Stars: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Nancy Locke
Plot / Synopsis: After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.Tagline: All your nightmares are about to be transformed into one single inescapable fear!...
Director: Joe Dante Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone, Belinda Balaski
Plot / Synopsis: While Sheriff Brackett and Dr. Loomis hunt for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to hospital, and the serial killer is not far behind her.Tagline: More Of The Night He Came Home...
Director: Rick Rosenthal Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer, Lance Guest
Plot / Synopsis: A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer on a desolate Australian highway.
Tagline: The truck driver plays games... The hitchhiker plays games. And the killer is playing the deadliest game of all!...
Director: Richard Franklin Stars: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Grant Page, Thaddeus Smith
Plot / Synopsis: A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where after a series of supernatural 'accidents', she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.
Tagline: Behind this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell. No one who sees it lives to describe it. And you shall live in darkness for all...
Director: Lucio Fulci Stars: Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale, Antoine Saint-John, Veronica Lazar
Plot / Synopsis: A glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with a collection of stories of dark fantasy, er***cism and horror.
Tagline: A Step Beyond Science Fiction...
Directors: Gerald Potterton, John Bruno, John Halas … Stars: Don Francks, Caroline Semple, Richard Romanus, Susan Roman, Al Waxman
Plot / Synopsis: A scientist sends a man with extraordinary psychic powers to hunt others like him.
Tagline: There are 4 billion people on earth. 237 are Scanners. They have the most terrifying powers ever created... and they are winning.
Scanners is the cornerstone of 1980s horror/sci-fi and a breakthrough for the now legendary director David Cronenberg (Crimes of the Future, The Fly, Videodrome), now the seminal...
Director: David Cronenberg Stars: Jennifer O''Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside
Plot / Synopsis: During a secretive business trip away, Mark learns that his wife Anna is growing restless in what he believed was their happy marriage. Upon his return home, he learns from her that she wants a divorce. They both go through a series of different emotions related to their situation, Mark's which is generally obsessive about learning why Anna, who...
Director: Andrzej Zulawski Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent, Johanna Hofer
Plot / Synopsis: Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Tagline: They got up on the wrong side of the grave...
Director: Sam Raimi Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly
An American Werewolf in London is Streaming on Tubi
Plot / Synopsis: Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.Tagline: John Landis - the director of Animal House brings you a different kind of animal...
Director: John Landis Stars: Joe Belcher, David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, David Schofield, Brian Glover
Plot / Synopsis: A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer on a desolate Australian highway.
Tagline: The truck driver plays games... The hitchhiker plays games. And the killer is playing the deadliest game of all!...
Director: Richard Franklin Stars: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Grant Page, Thaddeus Smith
An American Werewolf in London is Streaming on Tubi
Plot / Synopsis: Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.Tagline: John Landis - the director of Animal House brings you a different kind of animal...
Director: John Landis Stars: Joe Belcher, David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, David Schofield, Brian Glover
Plot / Synopsis: During a secretive business trip away, Mark learns that his wife Anna is growing restless in what he believed was their happy marriage. Upon his return home, he learns from her that she wants a divorce. They both go through a series of different emotions related to their situation, Mark's which is generally obsessive about learning why Anna, who...
Director: Andrzej Zulawski Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent, Johanna Hofer
Plot / Synopsis: Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Tagline: They got up on the wrong side of the grave...
Director: Sam Raimi Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly
Plot / Synopsis: After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.Tagline: All your nightmares are about to be transformed into one single inescapable fear!...
Director: Joe Dante Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone, Belinda Balaski
Plot / Synopsis: A suspense horror film set in a small coastal town where, after a series of gory murders commited by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses begin to come back to life.
Tagline: The writers of alien... ...bring a new terror to earth...
Director: Gary Sherman Stars: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Nancy Locke
Plot / Synopsis: Widowed John Brady is the Chief of Police in small town Galesburg, Illinois, where he has lived most of his life. His only offspring, Pete Brady, is a bright high school senior. John has been in turmoil since the suspicious death of his wife Catherine years earlier, which he always believed had something to do with her boss, Dr...
Director: Michael Laughlin Stars: Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, Dan Shor, Fiona Lewis, Arthur Dignam
Plot / Synopsis: A scientist sends a man with extraordinary psychic powers to hunt others like him.
Tagline: There are 4 billion people on earth. 237 are Scanners. They have the most terrifying powers ever created... and they are winning.
Scanners is the cornerstone of 1980s horror/sci-fi and a breakthrough for the now legendary director David Cronenberg (Crimes of the Future, The Fly, Videodrome), now the seminal...
Director: David Cronenberg Stars: Jennifer O''Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside
Plot / Synopsis: A New York cop investigates a series of brutal deaths that resemble animal attacks.Tagline: It will tear the scream from your throat...
Director: Michael Wadleigh Stars: Albert Finney, Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines, Tom Noonan
Plot / Synopsis: A janitor at a summer camp is accidently burned severely from a prank. Years later, he is released from an institute, and returns to the camp with a pair of hedge clippers to take revenge on the campers.
Tagline: Gather Around the Campfire to Die!...
Director: Tony Maylam Stars: Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, Jason Alexander
Plot / Synopsis: A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where after a series of supernatural 'accidents', she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.
Tagline: Behind this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell. No one who sees it lives to describe it. And you shall live in darkness for all...
Director: Lucio Fulci Stars: Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale, Antoine Saint-John, Veronica Lazar
Plot / Synopsis: Four teenage friends spend the night in a carnival funhouse and are stalked by a deformed man in a Frankenstein mask.
Tagline: Something is alive in the funhouse...something that has the form of a human, but not the face...something that feeds off the flesh and blood of young innocents...
Director: Tobe Hooper Stars: Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson, Jeanne Austin, Jack McDermott, Cooper Huckabee
Plot / Synopsis: In 1970, three children are born at the height of a total eclipse. Due to the sun and moon blocking Saturn, which controls emotions, they have become heartless killers ten years later, and are able to escape detection because of their youthful and innocent facades. A boy and his teenage sister become endangered when they stumble onto the bloody...
Director: Ed Hunt Stars: Lori Lethin, Melinda Cordell, Julie Brown, Joe Penny, Bert Kramer
Plot / Synopsis: Five campers arrive in the mountains to examine some property they have bought, but are warned by the...
Tagline: Will Anyone Survive Those Hours Just Before Dawn?...
Director: Jeff Lieberman Stars: George Kennedy, Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry, Deborah Benson
Plot / Synopsis: A writer of horror stories is invited to a "monster club" by a mysterious old gentleman. There, three...
Tagline: You'll meet some interesting people and hear some great songs at The Monster Club...
Director: Roy Ward Baker Stars: Vincent Price, John Carradine, Anthony Steel, Roger Sloman, Fran Fullenwider
Showing 1 to 15 from Page 1 of 4
24 List of 1981 Horror Films Worth Watching!
Looking for the best 1981 horror movies? Included in our best horror movies of 1981 list are "Road Games (1981), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Possession (1981), The Evil Dead (1981), and The Howling (1981)." Our top list is an average of our review scores, our movie fans and movie viewers like you, and a few other sources.
The best horror film of 1981 is Road Games (1981) scoring 7.63/10 stars with our combined scores. IMDB already has over 10,260 votes for this movie. Starring in Road Games (1981) is Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Grant Page, and Thaddeus Smith. Director Richard Franklin did a phenomenal job treating us with this 1981 best horror film which was remarkable.Road Games (1981) is in Horror, Thriller, and Mystery movie genres.
The next best 1981 horror movie is An American Werewolf in London (1981) with a score of 7.55/10 stars.
Joe Belcher, David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, David Schofield, and Brian Glover star in "An American Werewolf in London (1981)". An American Werewolf in London (1981) is directed by John Landis and has over 129,850 IMDB votes. You can find An American Werewolf in London (1981) in Horror, and Comedy movie genres.
These are the best horror films of 1981, and we hope you enjoy the 56 movies on our list of good 1981 horror movies sorted best to worst.
Please let us know if there is a movie that you think belongs on our list that we missed.
The next best 1981 horror movie is An American Werewolf in London (1981) with a score of 7.55/10 stars.
Joe Belcher, David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, David Schofield, and Brian Glover star in "An American Werewolf in London (1981)". An American Werewolf in London (1981) is directed by John Landis and has over 129,850 IMDB votes. You can find An American Werewolf in London (1981) in Horror, and Comedy movie genres.