So we stormed through the 1950s and 60s, struggled a little in the 1970s, as movie monsters were a bit thin on the ground. Now we hit the 1980s, and oh what a great selection of weirdness to choose from. A decade that includes some of my personal favourite movie monsters ever. Then again, this is my era!
#1. The puppet pervert from the unbelievably bad Black Devil Doll From Hell (1984).
#1. The puppet pervert from the unbelievably bad Black Devil Doll From Hell (1984).
| I really do love Black Devil Doll From Hell, it was a Cult Film Friday selection back in October. The jive-talkin' demonic puppet is both deeply creepy and hysterically funny at the same time. A rare balance to achieve, in what is one of the worst movies of all time. It really is truly terrible amateur straight-to-video piece of trash cinema from Chester Turner. But in it, he managed to create such an iconic little bastard, with his evil potty mouthed ventriloquist's dummy rapist. |
#2. Belial, the co-joined twin, separated at birth in Basket Case (1982).
| A twisted and funny little monster, for what is a twisted and funny little movie. A low-budget comedy horror, filmed on 16mm, that spawned one of the most recognisable movie monsters of the 1980s. And two sequels, Basket Case 2 (1990) and Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1991). Despite being a psychotically murderous little fuck, you have got to feel for poor Belial. You just want to take him home in his picnic basket and look after him. No?! Just me then? |
#3. The evil alien Killer Klowns, from the sci-fi schlock horror Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988).
| Oh how Loved Killer Klowns when it came out. I watched over and over again. I did try watching it again recently, and it hasn't aged well. Or I have lost some of my puerile sense of humour in the subsequent years. But those clowns. They may be far less scary than "real" clowns, and a bit cutesy in a evil maniac kind of way. The best screen clowns after Pennywise. The Killer Klowns was written and directed by The Chiodo Brothers, who created the movie monsters for that other classic sci-fi horror comedy from 1986, Critters. |
