JoBlo.com recently launched a new weekly documentary series called 80s Horror Memories, where each year of the 1980s has five episodes dedicated to it. Looking back at 1980, we discussed Maniac, Dressed to Kill, Alligator, Friday the 13th, The Shining, Prom Night, and The Fog. The second five episodes were a journey through 1981, covering The Funhouse, The Burning, Friday the 13th Part 2, My Bloody Valentine, Halloween II, The Evil Dead, The Howling, and An American Werewolf in London, as well as the careers of horror hosts Elvira and Joe Bob Briggs. The next five were, of course, all about movies that came out in 1982: Conan the Barbarian, The Thing, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and Poltergeist, with an examination of the short-lived 3-D boom along the way. For 1983, we talked about a trio of Stephen King adaptations, Jaws 3-D, Sleepaway Camp, the rise of TV horror anthologies, and Psycho II.
For 1984, we covered the creation of the PG-13 rating, The Terminator, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Our trip through 1985 included Teen Wolf, Re-Animator, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Fright Night, Lifeforce, Day of the Dead, and The Return of the Living Dead. For 1986, we covered David Cronenberg’s The Fly, the horror comedies that were released during the year (including Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Aliens, the connection between horror movies and heavy metal, and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. For our trip through 1987, we looked at Hellraiser, RoboCop, Predator, Evil Dead II, and The Lost Boys. And of 1988’s horror offerings, we examined They Live, The Blob, Beetlejuice, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, and Child’s Play.
Now we’re making our way through the final year of the decade, and we got our look at 1989 started with an episode about the first movie from Charles Band’s legendary company Full Moon, Puppet Master. Unfortunately, ’89 was a year when three major franchises – A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween – all got sequels that many fans found to be underwhelming. There were A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, and Halloween 5, and you can hear all about them in the video embedded above.
New episodes of 80s Horror Memories are released through the YouTube channel JoBlo Horror Originals every Friday.
Here’s the info on 80s Horror Memories: It’s been over 40 years since the decade that shaped the horror movie industry began and having lived through most of those years personally, we at JoBlo/Arrow in the Head have decided to create a 10-part documentary series in which not only cover every nook and cranny of the biggest horror themes from 1980 to 1989 but also what was happening in the world at the time. Join us as we walk down Horror Memory Lane!
And here’s the info on this particular episode: Today on 80s Horror Memories, we are going to examine 3 movies that came from some of horror’s biggest franchises, all from 1989, and see why slam dunk franchises don’t always produce slam dunk movies.
This episode of 80s Horror Memories was written by Andrew Hatfield, narrated by Tyler Nichols, edited by Mike Conway, produced by Berge Garabedian and John Fallon, co-produced by Mike Conway, and executive produced by Berge Garabedian. The score was provided by Shawn Knippelberg. Special Guest: Craig Perry (Final Destination).
Let us know what you thought of this episode, plus share some of your own ’80s horror memories by leaving a comment!
Two of the previous episodes of 80s Horror Memories can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!