10 Most Underappreciated '80s Horror Movies

10. The Mutilator

While the likes of Black Christmas, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Scream forever crop up when people think of the greatest slasher movies, one slasher that gets overlooked by the masses is Buddy Cooper's The Mutilator.

Hitting cinemas in 1984, The Mutilator stands out for its vast array of inventive, gruesome kills, and its quite frankly ridiculously catchy Fall Break theme song. Starting things off with a literal bang, we find an unnamed wife baking a birthday cake for her husband Big Ed, with their son, Ed Jr., polishing his old man's gun collection as they await the family patriarch to return home from work.

Unfortunately, Ed Jr. accidentally unloads one of those guns - because allowing a kid to mess around with loaded weapons is always wise... - and fatally shoots his mother, just as Big Ed arrives home. In a bizarre sequence, Big Ed hugs his wife's corpse and tries to get her to drink some bourbon - obviously to no avail.

Skipping ahead, we find Ed Jr. in college and get introduced to his collection of pals as they set out for a stay at Ed's family beach house. Having spent the ensuing years despising his son, Big Ed is waiting at this beachside locale, where he intends to slaughter these young adults in some incredibly imaginative ways.

Also, for fans of The Mutilator, the great news is that, after years of such rumblings, The Mutilator 2 has completed filming and is currently looking for a distributor.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 27th Mar 2024

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