10 '80s Horror Movie Flops That Should’ve Been Hits
If there is any genre that is full of box office flops that became cult classics, it's horror movies—particular ones from the 1980s.
Horror films live and die on their scares. The genre is also fickle, with high and low periods that leave a lot of movies out in the cold. The genre is on the upward trend recently with lots of great films like It doing very well at the box office. Many of the genre staples that fans think of as classics actually didn't do that well at all financially, and it's only with time they've come to prominence.
Some of the best horror movies of the 1980s were flops, judging simply from their box office performance anyway. Still, the decade looms large for horror fans, which is one reason so many modern films and television series are set in the period. All production budgets and box office tallies below are taken from Box Office Mojo.
10 Scanners
Scanners found a second life in the 21st century thanks to a viral gif. The now-iconic head explosion gif— which has fittingly been used a lot in 2020— is the gory result of the film's plot about telepathic and telekinetic individuals. The film grossed a paltry $14,225,876 in its original box office run, which even by the standards of 1981 wasn't that great. This David Cronenberg film nonetheless became a cult classic and did inspire a series of less-successful sequels.
9 Day Of The Dead
Day of the Dead is a 1985 sequel to one of the best zombies movies of all time, 1968's Night of the Living Dead. Though like a lot of sequels, they might have been better off leaving well enough alone. Geroge R. Romero wrote and directed this film, which takes place largely inside a shopping mall. The movie only grossed $5.8 million domestically in its initial box office run, though it fared much better internationally, and later via VHS and DVD sales.
8 Night Of The Comet
Night of the Comet is one of many horror films of the '80s that intersect with sci-fi and comedy. The film stars two sisters who are among the few survivors after the Earth passes through the tail of a comet. Relative to its budget, the film did pretty well. It was produced for only $700,000 and made a little over $14 million at the box office. Still, it didn't make anywhere near the splash it could have but has since become a cult favorite thanks to DVD and streaming.
7 Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer is one of the most disturbing films of the '80s. Based on a real-life serial killer, this early star turn for Michael Rooker struggled to find distribution. Ultimately, it was rated X upon its release in 1985, a kiss of death for any movie at the box office.
The film cost $110,000 to produce and grossed only $609,939 at the box office. Later editions on VHS and DVD recut the film and gave it a second life.
6 Re-Animator
Re-Animator is a bona fide cult classic, though its success at the box office didn't reflect its eventual status. The movie cost $900,000 to make and only made $2,023,414 at the box office. The film, which ranks high among the best adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft's work, went on to find an audience on cable, VHS, and DVD. A large part of that certainly has to do with Jeffery Combs, whose performance lends the film a unique and kooky charm.
5 Near Dark
Near Dark is cool for lots of reasons, not least of which is that the movie reunites a number of cast members from Aliens. The 1987 film incorporates elements of Westerns and horror, as it follows a young man who encounters vampires in the Midwest. The Kathryn Bigelow-directed feature cost $5 million to produce, but only made $3.4 million at the box office. A definite flop in any era, it nevertheless went on to become something of a favorite on home media.
4 The Monster Squad
The Monster Squad is an unusual horror-comedy hybrid from 1987. The basic idea is interesting— the Universal Monsters, led by Count Dracula, try to take over the world and a group of teenagers tries to stop them. Audiences didn't gravitate towards the movie though, at least not initially. The movie cost $12 million to make but only made $3.8 million at the box office. The film has since become a beloved cult classic, with a fandom that digs into all its behind the scenes details.
3 They Live
John Carpenter is legendary in the horror genre and for good reason, but his films haven't always performed well at the box office. However, their low budgets help mitigate their lack of massive mainstream success, which was the case with They Live.
The movie cost $3 million to make and grossed $13 million at the box office. Expectations were much higher, especially given Carpenter's track record. It nonetheless became a cult classic and became very meme-able in the age of the internet.
2 Halloween III: Season Of The Witch
The Halloween franchise has had lots of movies and lots of different takes over the years. One of the most unusual was Halloween III: Season of the Witch. This film had no connection at all to the Michael Myers mythos and sought to jump-start a new series of anthology films that would have featured a new story with each film based around the night of Halloween. Audiences didn't go for it. This underrated movie is nonetheless the least successful at the box office, grossing only $14 million and leading to the franchise taking a long break.
1 The Thing
The Thing is generally considered one of the best horror movies of the 1980s, but few people saw it when it originally debuted in theaters. The 1982 movie grossed a little over $19 million at the box office, a bit better than others on this list, but that was off of a $15 million budget— those creature effects didn't come cheap. The film was considered a failure at the beginning but found a second life on cable and VHS. It remains popular to this day and inspired a well-received 2002 horror video game as well as a film remake in 2011.