Unofficial 1980s Horror Movie Tournament

[Disease]

The Beyond.

[The Villain]

The House by The Cemetery

[MichaelMyers]

The House by the Cemetery.

[knife_fight]

The Beyond

[_____V_____]

The Beyond

Indeed .

[Anthropophagus]

The Beyond

[realdealblues]

The Beyond

[fortunato]

City of the Living Dead

[dogmambo]

Hellraiser... different day I might've gone with NOES, both are quality.

Some Hellraiser humor to share http://officialhellraiser.mixxter.com/3205-thanks-for-this-eerie-ghoulsby-von-diabolic

[metternich1815]

It appears we have a winner! Here were the results:

City of the Living Dead: 1 (fortunato)

The Beyond: 6 (bamahorrorfan87, Disease, knife_fight, V, Anthropophagus, and realdealblues)

The House by the Cemetery: 2 (MichaelMyers and The Villain)

Thus, The Beyond is clearly the winner!

I have actually never seen any of these movies. If I had to choose, I would choose The Beyond.

[metternich1815]

Zombies Part III: Choose one film. The first to five wins!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Day_of_the_Dead_%28film%29_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Reanimator_poster.png

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Serpentandtherainbow.png

[roshiq]

The Serpent & the Rainbow

[Anthropophagus]

Day of the Dead.

[Sculpt]

Oh man, that's a tough one. Those were all good. It's been a long time since I saw Serpent. I'm going to vote Re-animator.

[_____V_____]

Tough to choose between Day and Re-An.

*flipping coin*

Re-Damnimator.

[realdealblues]

Day Of The Dead

[hammerfan]

Serpent and the Rainbow

[The Villain]

It appears we have a winner! Here were the results:

City of the Living Dead: 1 (fortunato)

The Beyond: 6 (bamahorrorfan87, Disease, knife_fight, V, Anthropophagus, and realdealblues)

The House by the Cemetery

Thus, The Beyond is clearly the winner!

I have actually never seen any of these movies. If I had to choose, I would choose The Beyond.

I guess mine and MichaelMyers votes dont count :rolleyes:

[The Villain]

Day of The Dead

[metternich1815]

I guess mine and MichaelMyers votes dont count :rolleyes:

Sorry, I thought I had written in your votes. I will edit the results to reflect your votes.

[The Villain]

Sorry, I thought I had written in your votes. I will edit the results to reflect your votes.

Its cool. I'm just fucking around

[fortunato]

Ah, this is a really tough one.

Ummmm, shoot. I'll just say Day and be done with it.

[bamahorrorfan87]

day of the dead

[Fulg HoarAR]

Re-Animator

[Disease]

Day of the dead

[horrorfangirl66]

Re-Animator

[metternich1815]

It appears we have a winner! Here were the results:

Day of the Dead: 6 (Anthropohagus, realdealblues, The Villain, fortunato, bamahorrorfan87, and Disease)

Re-Animator: 3 (Sculpt, V, and horrorfangirl66)

The Serpent and the Rainbow: 2 (roshiq and hammerfan)

Thus, Day of the Dead is clearly the winner.

For me, it would have been between Re-Animator and the Serpent and the Rainbow. I would probably go with Re-Animator. I thought it was both brilliant and hilarious. Some really good acting, as well.

We will now go back to determine the ultimate winners in each round.

[metternich1815]

Slasher Finals: Choose one film (to represent the best in this category). The first to five wins! (If there is a tie, I will cast tie-breaker. If no one acheives five than the one with the highest wins, in time.)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/Friday_the_thirteenth_movie_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Prom_night_film_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7b/My_bloody_valentineposter.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f1/SleepawayCampposter.jpg/393px-SleepawayCampposter.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Nightmare01.jpg

[hammerfan]

Friday the 13th

[The Villain]

Nightmare on Elm Street

[Rela1024]

This is a tough one...I love NOES but I love F13 too....imma go with.....NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET!

[Sculpt]

nightmare on elm

[fortunato]

Sleepaway Camp, a million times.

[bamahorrorfan87]

Nightmare on Elm Street

[Giganticface]

Sleepaway Camp, for being one of the few movies that actually creeped me out.

[Anthropophagus]

My Bloody Valentine

[_____V_____]

Nightmare might win this, but I'll stick with Sleepaway Camp. Still one of my favorite 80s films.

[roshiq]

A Nightmare on Elm Street

[realdealblues]

Friday The 13th...

[tiberius]

Friday the 13th.............

[MichaelMyers]

Tough choice, but not too tough. Friday the 13th.

[Freak]

Friday the 13th

[natedog722]

A Nightmare on Elm Street...............

[metternich1815]

It appears we have a winner! Here were the results:

Friday the 13th: 5 (hammerfan, realdealblues, tiberius, MichaelMyers, and Freak)

Prom Night: 0

My Bloody Valentine: 1 (Anthropophagus)

Sleepaway Camp: 3 (fortunato, Giganticface, and V)

A Nightmare on Elm Street: 6 (The Villain, Rela1024, Sculpt, bamahorrorfan87, roshiq, and natedog722)

Thus, A Nightmare on Elm Street is the winner for the Slasher section!

This would have been a real difficult one because these are all really good movies. I would probably have gone with A Nightmare on Elm Street because not only did it create a major movie icon and was directed by Wes Craven (my favorite horror movie director), but it was just a very unique horror film. It used the slasher formula, while taking it in a completely different direction. Also, unlike many of the other slashers (including and especially Friday the 13th, which is a series that I really enjoy too), it did not focus on body count, but on developing the characters and telling an interesting, unique story.

[metternich1815]

Sci-Fi Finals: Choose one film (to represent the best in this category). The first to five wins! (If there is a tie, I will cast tie-breaker. If no one acheives five, in a reasonable amount of time, than the one with the highest number of votes wins.)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/ThingPoster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0f/Videodromeposter.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Aliens_poster.jpg

[fortunato]

Hate to vote against Videodrome, but I have to go with The Thing.

[_____V_____]

Tough, tough, TOUGH...

Aliens.

[The Villain]

The Thing definitely

[hammerfan]

Tough, tough, TOUGH...

Aliens.

Agree on both counts!

[realdealblues]

It's a tough pick between Aliens and The Thing.

If it was the first Alien movie vs The Thing I might have to go the Alien route but I will have to go with The Thing in this matchup.

[MichaelMyers]

The Thing. Really upset about Friday the 13th losing. Recount!

[Anthropophagus]

Love all three,a very very hard choice.Flip a coin.....................The Thing wins..........just.

[Sculpt]

It's a tough pick between Aliens and The Thing.

If it was the first Alien movie vs The Thing I might have to go the Alien route but I will have to go with The Thing in this matchup.

Same here, would rank Alien, The Thing, Aliens. Thing it is.

[Giganticface]

If it was the first Alien movie vs The Thing I might have to go the Alien route but I will have to go with The Thing in this matchup.

Agree completely. Alien (singular) is the winner, but since it's not in the race, I vote The Thing.

[Kandarian Demon]

The Thing... but I love all 3 movies.

[tiberius]

The Thing......

[natedog722]

Aliens........

[knife_fight]

Aliens........

[Sculpt]

I don't recall, how did Alien get knocked out of the running?

[realdealblues]

I don't recall, how did Alien get knocked out of the running?

I don't know that it got knocked out. This is supposed to be 80's and Alien was released in the 70's.

[Sculpt]

I don't know that it got knocked out. This is supposed to be 80's and Alien was released in the 70's.
Ah, that's right, it was released 1979.

[xX_StarChild_Xx]

The Thing, though it's a very close contest for me. Both of them were incredibly intense experiences for me, but the blood test scene alone puts Thing ahead in my eyes.

[metternich1815]

We have a winner! Here were the results:

The Thing: 10 (fortunato, The Villain, realdealblues, MichaelMyers, Anthropophagus, Sculpt, Giganticface, Kandarian Demon, tiberius, and xX_StarChild_Xx)

Videodrome: 0

Aliens: 4 (V, hammerfan, natedog722, and knife_fight)

Thus, The Thing is clearly the winner!

Personally, although I loved Aliens, I would choose The Thing hands down. This film was an all-around brilliant film. Acting, direction, writing, score, messages. It was all incredible.

On another note, I sincerely apologize for taking such a long time to announce the results. I sometimes get insanely obsessed with something and neglect all other things, especially during the summer. I will try to stay on top of this thread.

[metternich1815]

Supernatural Finals: Choose one film. The first to five wins!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/The_Shining_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Evil_dead_ver1.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/43/Poltergeistposter.jpg

[The Villain]

Poltergeist

[MichaelMyers]

The Shining.

[xX_StarChild_Xx]

All three of these are personal favourites of mine. The slight edge goes to The Shining though.

[bamahorrorfan87]

Poltergeist

[Giganticface]

That is a very strong threesome. I've gotta go with The Shining because it's probably my favorite all time horror movie (although on some days I might say The Exorcist).

[_____V_____]

The Evil Dead. A pioneer of many contemporary works today.

Besides, Kubrick's version deviated from the source material (the novel is much more terrifying) and despite a brilliant performance by Nicholson, isn't all that memorable except for a couple of scenes. King has said repeatedly that he hated this version. Personally, I give equal weightage to this and Mick Garris's made-for-TV version.

[Anthropophagus]

Evil Dead for me.

[realdealblues]

I'm going with Evil Dead too. For what little they had to work with, it's one of the best films made.

[tiberius]

The Shining

[Rela1024]

Evil Dead.......

[knife_fight]

The Shining....

[Greenskeeper]

3 great movies! The Shining for me.

[natedog722]

The Shining...

[metternich1815]

It appears we have a winner! Here were the results:

The Shining: 7 (MichaelMyers, xX_StarChild_xX, Giganticface, tiberius, knife_fight, Greenskeeper, and natedog722)

The Evil Dead: 4 (Anthropophagus, V, realdealblues, and Rela1024)

Poltergeist: 2 ( The Villain and bamahorrorfan87)

Thus, after a close match between The Shining and The Evil Dead, The Shining came back for the win!

Personally, I would have voted for The Shining because it was a brilliant film loaded with all kinds of hidden messages (as is common in Kubrick films). Additionally, it was able to very effectively build suspense, despite occurring mostly during the day. With perhaps the best performance in Jack Nicholson's career as Jack Torrance. In my opinion, it was one of the greatest horror films of both the 1980s and in general. Certainly the best in the supernatural category. V brought up the point about the book and I just wanted to say the way I look at it is that the movie and the book are two entirely different works with a few similarities, but ultimately portraying two entirely different stories (not to undermine your views V, I am merely stating how I approach the book and the film). With all this being said, I want to note that this was not an entirely easy decision because the other two films are quite brilliant as well (I know for a fact that The Evil Dead would also be on my list of the greatest horror movies because it is very brilliant as well).

[metternich1815]

Stephen King Finals: Choose one film. The first to five wins!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/CreepshowPoster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/ChristinePoster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/Pet_sematary_poster.jpg

[knife_fight]

Pet Sematary....

[The Villain]

Pet Semetary

[MichaelMyers]

Creepshow.

[tiberius]

Christine...

[ManchestrMorgue]

Creepshow .

[fortunato]

Hmm, I'll go with Creepshow.

[_____V_____]

Hmm, I'll go with Creepshow.

I'll have what he's having.

[realdealblues]

Creepshow for me as well.

[xX_StarChild_Xx]

*Closes menu and sets it down* Yeah, I'll have another order of Creepshow please.

[Anthropophagus]

Creepshow for this one

[natedog722]

Ill go with Christine

[metternich1815]

It appears we have have a winner! Here were the results:

Creepshow: 7 (MichaelMyers, ManchestrMorgue, fortunato, V, realdealblues, xX_StarChild_Xx, Anthropophagus)

Christine: 2 (tiberius and natedog722)

Pet Sematary: 2 (knife_fight and The Villain)

Thus, Creepshow is clearly the winner!

Personally, I would have gone with Pet Sematary because I love the film. It had an intriguing plot and great acting. Additionally, I loved all the messages (for example, the existence of God, the purpose of life and even death, and many other things). I thought it was one of the best Stephen King movies. I love Creepshow, it was a great movie, but it would still probably be my least favorite of the three (It definitely was a lot of fun, except for the cockroach part). Christine was a really great film (my second favorite of the bunch) and was directed by horror master John Carpenter.

[metternich1815]

Classic Monsters Finals: Choose one film. The first to five wins!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/An_American_Werewolf_in_London_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Fright_night_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Lost_boys.jpg

[The Villain]

I've always preferred vampires over werewolves but I love American Werewolf so I'm going with that

[xX_StarChild_Xx]

I'll have to go with Tom Holland's Fright Night on this one. They're all good films though.

[Sculpt]

Sorry, call my crazy, but I thought Werewolf in London and Lost Boys were overrated. I enjoyed both, but story/plot-wise, I wouldn't say they were particularly good. Frightnight on the other hand really surprised me how good it was. I vote Frightnight.

[knife_fight]

An American Werewolf in London, but I really love all 3 of these.

[Giganticface]

I'll vote American Werewolf, although I've seen Fright Night quite a few more times.

[natedog722]

Fright Night

[Greenskeeper]

Fright Night.

[hammerfan]

The Lost Boys

[MichaelMyers]

American Werewolf.

[Anthropophagus]

American Werewolf easily.

[realdealblues]

Fright Night for me.

[metternich1815]

Well, even though Werewolf was the first to five, I would prefer for one film to have more votes than the other, so I say that the next vote determines which wins.

[_____V_____]

An American Werewolf in London

[MichaelMyers]

an american werewolf in london

boom.......

[bamahorrorfan87]

Fright Night

[metternich1815]

Well, I know I said next vote wins, but then somebody voted tying it up again. So, hopefully after the next vote come in (assuming it's for the two tied up) will decide the winner.

[MichaelMyers]

Well, I know I said next vote wins, but then somebody voted tying it up again. So, hopefully after the next vote come in (assuming it's for the two tied up) will decide the winner.

Why don't you cast the deciding vote on this one?

[metternich1815]

Why don't you cast the deciding vote on this one?

I will give it one more hour and if we don't have a winner by then. I will cast the deciding vote.

[MichaelMyers]

I will give it one more hour and if we don't have a winner by then. I will cast the deciding vote.

Choose carefully.

[tiberius]

Fright Night........

[metternich1815]

It appears we have a winner! Here were the results (note: I am aware that Werewolf received five votes first, but it was technically tied with Fright Night and, as I said, I prefer one to have more votes than the other):

An American Werewolf in London: 6 (The Villain, knife_fight, Giganticface, MichaelMyers, Anthropophagus, and V)

Fright Night: 7 (xX_StarChild_Xx, Sculpt, natedog722, Greenskeeper, realdealblue, bamahorrorfan87, and tiberius)

The Lost Boys: 1 (hammerfan)

Thus, after a really close round Fright Night came out the winner (without me having to cast a vote, although it was very close)!

If I would have voted, I would have gone with Fright Night. I thought the film was relatively brilliant. It had a really interesting, unique plot and the acting was pretty good. I also thought it was really funny, while still being clearly a horror movie. I especially liked how it parodied the classic days of horror (for example Peter Vincent, a combination of Vincent Price and Peter Cushing-two of the biggest horror stars of their day), while bashing the very popular slashers. I just want to note, that I consider horror comedies as horror the same as regular horror movies. I have never seen The Lost boys and for American Werewolf it is really good and like Fright Night it has comedic elements, while still being serious (I just believe that Fright Night did it more effectively).

[metternich1815]

Zombies Finals: Choose one film. The first to five wins (unless of course there is a tie again before I can check it)!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/The_Beyond_original_Poster.jpg/430px-The_Beyond_original_Poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Day_of_the_Dead_%28film%29_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/The_Return_of_the_Living_Dead_%28film%29.jpg

[MichaelMyers]

L'Aldila'...

[metternich1815]

Just for anyone that does not know L'Aldila's English title is The Beyond (I forgot to write the translation below it).

[The Villain]

Day of The Dead

[Giganticface]

If Dawn of the Dead were on the list, I'd probably choose that, since its been a long time favorite, but between those three, easily The Beyond. Eyeball injuries and flesh eating spiders FTW.

[_____V_____]

Return of the Living Dead, for Linnea's boobs alone.

[hammerfan]

Return of the Living Dead

[realdealblues]

I am a rabid Fulci fan and Linnea Quigley is probably my favorite scream queen, but Day Of The Dead is still top of the Zombie peak for me. It took me a long time to realize it, but I now believe it's George's true masterpiece.

[Anthropophagus]

The Beyond or Day,Day or Beyond.................argh the agony.Ok,i go for.................Day of the Dead.But only by a whisker.

[Sculpt]

I vote Return of the Living Dead. A movie that knows what it is, and does that well. Day of the Dead is a solid movie, I liked it more than Dawn, because it had a little more substance and story. For Dawn, I get 1978 mall consumers are like walking dead. That said, it pales in comparison to NOTLD.


I just watched The Beyond last night from Youtube. It's in english with subtitles in I don't know what language. It has that spaghetti western sound, where all non-music is recorded after it's shot, even though the mouths appear to be speaking english. Anyway, people have different opinions, I respect other opinions. My opinion is Beyond wasn't very good, because I thought it was a bit silly, and weak script/characters:

(SPOILERS) Like a guy is 'invisibly nudged' off a library ladder and then bitten by non-indigenous tarantulas, which wouldn't kill him, unless he was allergic to the mild venom, or maybe the 10 foot fall killed him. He was pushed by a dead, or not dead, conjurer who was killed by acid 40 years ago. There's a mother in a hospital corpse room, with the dead acid guy, and her unconscious head ends up under a tripped vat of acid, and her 13yr old daughter comes in just in time to see the first drip, and she does nothing but watches for a minute (maybe she was a gore horror fan). And a blind woman, with a seeing eye dog, runs out of a house, and down the porch steps, with her dog trailing behind her. Later the dog attacks the acid man, and then the dog attacks and kills the blind woman. And the dead/patients at the hospital attack, and you have to shoot them in the head to put them down, even though the acid man didn't seem to need a healthy brain (there's limits, or not). And the last scene is the heroes run down the hospital basement steps, but end up in the hotel basement, decide to walk through a hole in the wall, and are trapped in an 'other world' desert limbo. Movie was sort of some gore scenes, with a premise, but no reasoning or convincing story or characters behind it. And something I don't like, it wasn't about the beyond or gates of hell, except the last 20 seconds of the movie. Just my opinion. = )

[tiberius]

The Beyond

[knife_fight]

Return of the Living Dead

[xX_StarChild_Xx]

Day of the Dead

[realdealblues]

I just watched The Beyond last night from Youtube. It's in english with subtitles in I don't know what language. It has that spaghetti western sound, where all non-music is recorded after it's shot, even though the mouths appear to be speaking english. Anyway, people have different opinions, I respect other opinions. My opinion is Beyond wasn't very good, because I thought it was a bit silly, and weak script/characters:

(SPOILERS) Like a guy is 'invisibly nudged' off a library ladder and then bitten by non-indigenous tarantulas, which wouldn't kill him, unless he was allergic to the mild venom, or maybe the 10 foot fall killed him. He was pushed by a dead, or not dead, conjurer who was killed by acid 40 years ago. There's a mother in a hospital corpse room, with the dead acid guy, and her unconscious head ends up under a tripped vat of acid, and her 13yr old daughter comes in just in time to see the first drip, and she does nothing but watches for a minute (maybe she was a gore horror fan). And a blind woman, with a seeing eye dog, runs out of a house, and down the porch steps, with her dog trailing behind her. Later the dog attacks the acid man, and then the dog attacks and kills the blind woman. And the dead/patients at the hospital attack, and you have to shoot them in the head to put them down, even though the acid man didn't seem to need a healthy brain (there's limits, or not). And the last scene is the heroes run down the hospital basement steps, but end up in the hotel basement, decide to walk through a hole in the wall, and are trapped in an 'other world' desert limbo. Movie was sort of some gore scenes, with a premise, but no reasoning or convincing story or characters behind it. And something I don't like, it wasn't about the beyond or gates of hell, except the last 20 seconds of the movie. Just my opinion. = )

The Beyond was in Italian and dubbed into English other than David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl I think. Also, it was Fulci's idea of "Absolute Film" where it doesn't really have a plot per say. His idea was that it should be more like a nightmare where things don't make sense. Example, go in your basement and suddenly you're in some other basement, just like in a dream. The main idea, as he said, is there is a Hotel that sits on one of the Gates Of Hell, there are some people and some living dead and this is what happens. You have to remember the movie was also made for less than the catering budget of most American films at the time. Fulci was a magician who was usually given pretty much nothing to work with and had to pull a rabbit out of his ass to make a movie that most directors couldn't have made anything out of. You're welcome to think it's silly or not very good, but it also helps if you understand more of the background of what Fulci had to work with and what he was trying to achieve at the time. For me it was a very revolutionary film.

[natedog722]

The Return of the Living Dead

[Sculpt]

The Beyond was in Italian and dubbed into English other than David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl I think. Also, it was Fulci's idea of "Absolute Film" where it doesn't really have a plot per say. His idea was that it should be more like a nightmare where things don't make sense. Example, go in your basement and suddenly you're in some other basement, just like in a dream. The main idea, as he said, is there is a Hotel that sits on one of the Gates Of Hell, there are some people and some living dead and this is what happens. You have to remember the movie was also made for less than the catering budget of most American films at the time. Fulci was a magician who was usually given pretty much nothing to work with and had to pull a rabbit out of his ass to make a movie that most directors couldn't have made anything out of. You're welcome to think it's silly or not very good, but it also helps if you understand more of the background of what Fulci had to work with and what he was trying to achieve at the time. For me it was a very revolutionary film.
Thx, Realdeal. Yes, that does make more sense, it being meant as a bad dream. I wouldn't have guessed that. I thought a movie like Lenora, was similar, but with much better results. I tend not to give extra points for being low budget, unless I actually liked it over all. As always, it's personal taste. I lost an appreciation for a movie like this around 14 (just when I happened, not saying it's an adult thing). But that does help to know the intent. Still, a movie should stand on it's own; easy enough for the director to indicate it's a dream (in the movie itself, though it may just have escaped me) -- such as the indications of 'dreamish' in Jacobs Ladder, Johny Darko, etc.

[metternich1815]

Once again we have a tie, despite one film getting five votes first. I will give this tournament until tomorrow. If a film does not win by tomorrow (I do not know exact time, it could be midnight, could three P.M.), then I will, for the first time, break the tie.

[MichaelMyers]

Once again we have a tie, despite one film getting five votes first. I will give this tournament until tomorrow. If a film does not win by tomorrow (I do not know exact time, it could be midnight, could three P.M.), then I will, for the first time, break the tie.

Do the right thing, metternich. The lure of the choice is great, but beware...with great power comes great responsibility.

[metternich1815]

Well, today has arrived, so I will cast the deciding vote. I will vote between the two tied items. My vote goes to Return of the Living Dead (I will explain why I like it in the results section).

[metternich1815]

It appears we have a winner! Here were the results:

The Beyond: 3 (MichaelMyears, Giganticface, and tiberius)

Day of the Dead: 5 (The Villain, realdealblues, Anthropophagus, knife_fight, and xX__StarChild_Xx)

Return of the Living Dead: 6 (V, hammerfan, Sculpt, knife_fight, natedog722, and metternich1815-tie breaking vote)

Thus, after an incredibly close match and with the thread creator participating, Return of the Living Dead has come out the winner!

Unfortunately, I have never seen Day of the Dead and this is the primary reason I could not vote for that film (it is in my Netflix DVD queue though). If the tie would have been between The Beyond and Return of the Living Dead, it would have been much harder, but unfortunately it was not. With that being said, I believe that Return of the Living Dead is a brilliant spin on the zombie sub-genre. It is both funny with numerous one-liners and an intentionally over-the-top ending, while also remaining quite dark. Plus, this is the film where people get the idea that zombies eat brains (also the director of this film, Dan O'Bannon, was the principal writer of Alien). Definitely a worthy film to represent the zombie sub-genre in the 1980s.

We will now move into our final round. Deciding which film is the best of the 1980s.

[metternich1815]

1980s Horror Movie Tournament Final Round: This section will be organized according to sub-genre with the first sub-genre going first (the other sections were organized according to release date). Choose one film (to represent the best horror film of the 1980s). The first to five wins! (If there is a tie, I will cast tie-breaker. If no one achieves five, I will probably allow a maximum of two weeks if we do not have a winner by then, then the film with the highest number of votes wins.)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Nightmare01.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/ThingPoster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/The_Shining_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/CreepshowPoster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Fright_night_poster.jpg

Vs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/The_Return_of_the_Living_Dead_%28film%29.jpg

[Anthropophagus]

A great line up but The Thing wins it for me.

[_____V_____]

Tough...

A Nightmare on Elm Street.

[The Villain]

Nightmare on Elm Street

[realdealblues]

It was between Fright Night and The Thing for me, but I'm going with John Carpenter's Masterpiece "The Thing".

[Giganticface]

The Shining.

[tiberius]

The Thing........

[xX_StarChild_Xx]

The Shining...

[MichaelMyers]

A Nightmare on Elm Street, the 80s were all about the slashers and this was one of the best.

[Sculpt]

I vote: The Thing

This one is actually pretty easy for me. What doesn't The Thing have? Follows the excellent short story 'Who Goes There' well, creates the paranoia well, acting is excellent, setting, music, mood is so effective. The special effects are great, and they aren't CG. I'd say it's Carpenter at his epoch.

I think it represents the 1980's well too. By far, the top grossing films of the 80s were science fiction fantasy: Empire Strikes Back/Jedi, ET, Blade Runner, Tron, Raiders Lost Ark, Dragonslayer, etc. There's kind of a upbeat realism to sci-fi/horror 80s films. The Thing is classic sci-fi horror. Not only that, but 1980's sci-fi horror was huge too -- The Thing, Poltergeist, Aliens, The Fly, Day of Dead, Scanners, Terminator. Shinning plots more like a 1970's film, as opposed to breaking ground into the 80s.

[fortunato]

Definitely between The Shining and The Thing; the others can't hold a candle to those two.

Hm, I'll with The Shining, though. But it's tough.

[natedog722]

Nightmare on Elm Street

[TokyoTenshi]

So very tough. But it's for the 80s, so I find the best one for the 80s would be 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. I vote that.

[Nates Vault]

The Thing all the way! Carpenter's The Thing is the best paranoia film ever. Invasion of the Body Snatchers gets the runner up in that category.

[Kandarian Demon]

A Nightmare on Elm Street

[Fearonsarms]

The Shining.....

[metternich1815]

Well, I allowed a little more than two weeks, but I will now announce the winner. Here were the results:

A Nightmare on Elm Street: 6 (V, The Villain, MichaelMyers, natedog722, TokyoTenshi, and Kandarian Demon)

John Carpenter's The Thing: 5 (Anthropophagus, realdealblues, tiberius, Sculpt, and natesvault)

The Shining: 4 (Giganticface, xX_StarChild_Xx, fortunato, and fearsonarms)

Creepshow: 0

Fright Night: 0

Return of the Living Dead: 0

Thus, after a close match between A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Thing, A Nightmare on Elm Street emerged the winner of the tournament!

Personally, it would have been a pretty tough call between the top three, but ultimately I would have gone with The Thing. It is an all-around amazing film, in my opinion. Definitely Carpenter's best film.

I would like to thank everyone who has participated in this tournament, it has been quite fun and interesting. Anyway, thank you.