One of my great memories from the, put one way, debatable year of 2020 was Criterion Channel’s “’70s Horror,” a program that did what it said on the tin while offering discoveries aplenty—Texas Chain Saw next to Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, Deathdream given equal prominence as The Wicker Man. It is of course a delight to see they’re picking up their own baton with next month’s “’80s Horror,” which again runs a canon-to-obscurity gamut. Scanners, Near Dark, and Prince of Darkness will of course appear, but I’d just as soon direct people to Wolfen, Society, and The Keep—which made my jaw drop just a bit, given how averse Michael Mann seems towards any exhibition of it.
Criterion have released a nifty trailer encapsulating the spooks and scares to come. Find it below, as well as the full list of titles and more on the Criterion Channel.
Inferno, Dario Argento, 1980
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne, Walerian Borowczyk, 1981
Dead & Buried, Gary Sherman, 1981
The House by the Cemetery, Lucio Fulci, 1981
The Funhouse, Tobe Hooper, 1981
Strange Behavior, Michael Laughlin, 1981
Wolfen, Michael Wadleigh, 1981
Scanners, David Cronenberg, 1981
Road Games, Richard Franklin, 1981
The Fan, Ed Bianchi, 1981
Basket Case, Frank Henenlotter, 1982
Next of Kin, Tony Williams, 1982
Cat People, Paul Schrader, 1982
Q: The Winged Serpent, Larry Cohen, 1982
The Slumber Party Massacre, Amy Holden Jones, 1982
The Keep, Michael Mann, 1983
The Hunger, Tony Scott, 1983*
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, John McNaughton, 1986
The Hidden, Jack Sholder, 1987
Prince of Darkness, John Carpenter, 1987
White of the Eye, Donald Cammell, 1987
Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow, 1987
The Vanishing, George Sluizer, 1988
Brain Damage, Frank Henenlotter, 1988
Dream Demon, Harley Cokeliss, 1988
The Blob, Chuck Russell, 1988
Lair of the White Worm, Ken Russell, 1988
Vampire’s Kiss, Robert Bierman, 1989
Society, Brian Yuzna, 1989
Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989
*Available November 1