The Shining...

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

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.

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.

Nightmare on Elm Street

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.

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.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

The Shining.....

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.