The 1980s was a decade filled with wonders when it comes to movie-making. Practical effects were front and center, with makeup artists such as Tom Savini, Rob Bottin, and Rick Baker becoming superstars in their field. When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to introduce a category for Best Makeup in 1981, it was Baker who took home the very first Oscar for his work on An American Werewolf in London. Forget CGI, these magic tricks were all done by hand, and would sometimes take weeks, or even months, to complete. All for just a few moments of screen time.
It’s no surprise then that as the ’80s progressed, the effects would become more elaborate as colleagues would try and outdo one another, making for some of the most gruesome and gory sci-fi horror movies to ever grace theaters. While not all of these films had big budgets, they definitely made the most of what they had, featuring over-the-top effects that made it hard for moviegoers to keep down their popcorn.
12 The Fly (1986)
An updated version of the 1958 classic featuring Vincent Price, The Fly stars Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle, a scientist experimenting with teleportation pods. After he decides to become a human test dummy, things go horribly wrong when an ordinary housefly gets its DNA mixed with Seth’s, creating a human/insect hybrid.
With makeup by Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis, The Fly features gross-out effects such as Goldblum vomiting digestive enzymes onto a man’s foot, Gina Davis giving birth to a weird maggot creature, and a broken bone effect that will make you cringe.
11 Videodrome (1983)
Directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Woods as president of a UHF television station, Videodrome is a Canadian sci-fi horror film that sees Woods trying to track down a mysterious satellite signal. This leads to all sorts of weird hallucinations as Cronenberg takes viewers on a wild ride featuring some of the best body horror effects ever seen.
The makeup for Videodrome was done by Rick Baker and his team of young artists, whose age averaged just 23 years old. They treat us to a vagina-like slit in Wood’s torso that Betamax cassettes are inserted into, and a beautifully done flesh gun that shoots cancer bullets which cause the victim to explode in a mass of tumors and gore.
10 The Blob (1988)
This sci-fi horror is a remake of the 1958 film of the same name. Directed by Chuck Russell, it follows what happens after a meteorite crashes in a small town and releases sentient slime that threatens to engulf humanity.
The effects for The Blob were created by Tony Gardner and his crew of 33 artists that did their best to gross viewers out. After seeing bodies covered in slime and melting flesh slipping off the bone, audiences would say they succeeded upon leaving the theater sick to their stomachs.
9 Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
Originally offered to Joe Dante of Gremlins fame, Humanoids from the Deep was executive produced by Roger Corman and directed by Barbara Peeters after Dante turned it down. It features sex-hungry mutations whose sole purpose seems to be killing men and impregnating women in the small fishing village of Noyo, California.
The half man, half fish creatures were created by Rob Bottin, with additional effects by Chris Walas and Steve Johnson. The film features the fishy mutations ripping apart bodies, accosting women against their will, and an end scene blatantly ripped off from Alien in where a creature bursts forth from a woman’s stomach. This B-movie feature was made for just $2.5 million dollars, and offers a lot of gross out moments in replace of plot.
8 Scanners (1981)
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Another David Cronenberg entry, Scanners is a cult classic that features Michael Ironside and Stephen Lack, two men with the psychic abilities of telepathy and telekinesis that do battle with one another throughout the course of the film.
While not filled with blood and guts like a lot of ’80s sci-fi horror, Scanners is remembered for its pivotal gross-out moment: an exploding head. The sequence was created by Chris Walas, with the ultimate effect going to Gary Zeller. After much trial and error, a gelatin head fitted with a plaster skull was filled with various materials such as latex scraps, wax, and whatever else was available. Zeller then got on the ground behind the head with a shotgun and pulled the trigger, creating a gross-out moment that’s still memorable to this day.
7 From Beyond (1986)
Starring Jeffrey Combs and Scream Queen Barbara Crampton, From Beyond was directed by the late Stuart Gordon. The film follows two scientists who use a device called the Resonator in the hopes of stimulating the pineal gland. The result is monsters from another dimension entering our world to wreak havoc.
With effects by Mark Shostrom and his team, From Beyond offers us shape-shifting creatures, Ken Foree being eaten alive by bees, and a truly gross moment toward the end with Ted Sorel playing the mad Dr. Pretorius devouring another man whole.
6 Bad Taste (1987)
Bad Taste is Peter Jackson’s first feature film, whom you might know from such things as The Lord of the Rings franchise. Before Frodo ever took the ring to Mordor, though, Jackson directed and acted in this New Zealand movie that sees aliens snatching up humans to use for food in their intergalactic fast food restaurants.
Making most of the effects himself, including baking the alien heads in his mother’s oven, Peter Jackson gave audiences some truly gross practical effects, including his own brain oozing out of his head throughout the film, which he constantly has to keep stuffing back into his skull.
5 Parasite (1982)
Featuring Demi Moore in her first major film role, Parasite was directed in 3-D by Charles Band, who would later go on to form Empire Productions. While the plot runs thin and centers around a scientist injecting himself with a deadly parasite that then gets loose, the effects in the film are gross enough to make the list.
Created by a young Stan Winston, known for his work on The Terminator, the parasite jumps from host to host, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake as it continues to munch on humans as it grows bigger and bigger, and its teeth get sharper and sharper.
4 The Hidden (1987)
The Hidden was directed by Jack Sholder of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge fame, and stars Kyle MacLachlan as an extraterrestrial disguised as an FBI agent on the hunt for a body-swapping alien.
With effects by Kevin Yagher Productions, The Hidden doesn’t rely on the gross out for its plot to be effective, but when that slug-like alien transfers from body, to dog, and back to body, it definitely leaves viewers feeling squeamish. Not to mention there’s a pretty cool looking charred corpse of a senator at the end in case that wasn’t enough.
3 Xtro (1983)
This bizarre British sci-fi horror film was directed by Harry Bromley Davenport and features a father who is abducted by aliens, only to be returned three years later to go in search of his son. While it seems simple enough, it’s the effects that really make this movie shine.
In one of the grossest scenes ever to take place on film, an alien creature impregnates a woman, who quickly gives birth to a fully-formed man. The filmmakers don’t hold back in showing the adult male tearing through the woman’s vagina, biting off his own umbilical cord (which was made from spaghetti), and washing all the gore off of himself. It only lasts two and a half minutes, but it definitely makes Xtro a gross-out picture.
2 Night of the Creeps (1986)
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Featuring the directorial debut of Fred Dekker, Night of the Creeps stars Tom Atkins as Detective Ray Cameron, who’s tasked with finding a missing corpse. Unbeknownst to him, the corpse contains slug-like alien creatures that came to earth 27 years prior and are ready to find new hosts.
With an effects team that featured Howard Berger, who would go on to win an Oscar for his work on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the most memorable scene from Night of the Creeps is one that still grosses out audiences. In it, the head of the corpse that Cameron is looking for splits open, spilling out all these slugs that squelch to the ground to find new bodies to jump into. The effect, combined with the film’s sound design, is GIF material to this day.
1 The Thing (1982)
Besides 1978’s Halloween, The Thing is one of the films that director John Carpenter is most known for. Featuring Kurt Russell as no-nonsense R.J. MacReady, this movie tested the boundary of practical effects back in the day, and the results are undeniably some of the best.
Artist Rob Bottin worked tirelessly for over a year creating almost every creature you see in The Thing, except for the deformed dog, which he got some help from Stan Winston for. This movie has it all. From human heads turning into spiders, to chest-chomping teeth ripping off someone’s arms. In one of the more memorable scenes, a disfigured alien head splits open and shoots out a tongue-like appendage that ensnares a clueless human. For viewers looking for gross-out movies, The Thing will not disappoint.
